DALLAS -- A proposed aerial tramway in Austin under consideration by a central Texas transportation planning agency could carry up to 5 million riders per year high above the city's congested streets.
The Wire One proposal would include 10-passenger gondolas operating on eight miles of aerial cable with 19 stations along the route from the University of Texas campus, the state capitol complex, and downtown to Austin's southern city limits.
Jared Ficklin, a partner and "chief creative technologist" with Austin-based design firm argodesign, told members of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority board that building the system could cost between $287 million and $555 million. Maintenance and operational costs would be between $3 million and $6 million per year, he said.
"Who can pay for it? I don't know," Ficklin said. "That might be why I'm here."
The CTRMA board will likely be asked later this month to fund a $15,000 viability study on the Wire One proposal, said deputy executive director Mike Heiligenstein. Texas A&M University's Texas Transportation Institute, which is located in Austin, may be asked to carry out the study, he said.
The city of Austin will need to cooperate with CTRMA to provide sites for the towers and stations, Heiligenstein said.
"My biggest concern is you've got to have city buy-in," he told the board. "We as an agency do not have rights to the right-of-way inside the city limits. That is their right-of-way."
CTRMA director Charles Heimsath said he liked what he heard during Ficklin's Wire One presentation.
"I think it's a fabulous idea," he said. "I think it's interesting and certainly worth exploring."
Passengers in the gondolas would fly above the city's often-congested roadways at the speed of a bicycle, Ficklin said. The 19 stations would be located about a half-mile apart, and the system would operate for 19 hours per day.
Rough estimates indicate that ridership could eventually reach 4.9 million passengers a year, he said, or more than 13,300 per day, he said.
The capabilities of the aerial tram system would allow city bus operator Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority to discontinue its mainline Number 10 route and develop a bus system to feed passengers to Wire One stations, Ficklin said.
The Wire One project would be similar in concept to a $250 million private proposal in Chicago, Ficklin said.
"I think Austin would be a great city for this to happen," he said. "The industry has matured around this internationally and you see a lot of cities in North America considering the technology."
There are currently two active aerial tramway systems in the U.S., in New York City and Portland, Ore. Both are short lines with only two stations.
In another effort to reduce traffic congestion in Austin, voters will decide in November on the city's request for $720 million of general obligation bonds for transportation projects.
The bonds would provide $482 million of proceeds to fund seven major thoroughfares, $137 million for bike lanes and local street upgrades, and $101 million for regional highway projects.
Austin Mayor Steve Adler, who pushed for the November mobility bond referendum, has no objection to CTRMA's proposed Wire One study, said spokesman Jason Stanford.
"Our mobility crisis is so severe that any and all solutions should be evaluated," Stanford told the Austin Monitor newspaper. "The mayor thinks the public would want their transportation leaders to evaluate all ideas, no matter how novel."
CTRMA operates two toll roads in the Austin area that generated $53 million of revenue in 2015. The authority's $795 million of outstanding debt is rated Baa2 by Moody's Investors Service and BBB-plus by S&P Global Ratings.
