DALLAS - An Austin group is proposing a $1.4 billion urban rail network that would include a $175 million bridge over Lady Bird Lake and a $220 million tunnel.
Officials plan to outline the project at a May 16 meeting, where costs, means of finance, and governance will also be discussed.
"The initial urban rail project is something that can meet today's needs and be expanded to meet the area's growing needs for mobility as growth continues to occur, creating the backbone for a system of mobility within the city's central core," said Central Corridor Study project lead Kyle Keahey.
The urban rail plan is long-sought project by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, who has postponed calls for bond elections in recent years out of economic considerations. Leffingwell, who is in his last year as mayor, coined the phrase "rail or fail" in his state of the city report Feb. 25. The rail line is expected to finally make the ballot in November.
"We must - we must - prioritize and invest now in a real multi-modal mass transit system for this region, if we want Austin to continue to prosper," Leffingwell said.
Federal grants could provide about half the total cost, officials said.
With its dramatic growth in the past 20 years, Austin has become one of the most congested cities in Texas, with rudimentary mass transit.
The proposed 9.5-mile urban rail system is expected to draw a daily ridership of between 16,000 to 20,000 each day by 2030 on a dedicated right of way. The route would cross Lady Bird Lake, a reservoir formed from the Colorado River, into densely populated South Austin.
Transit planners have yet to determine phasing for the project, which will determine how much voters may be asked to approve at the bond election in November.
Project Connect is the concept for Central Texas' high-capacity transit system, endorsed by the Transit Working Group, a subcommittee of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization that distributes federal transportation funds.
The current timeline calls for the recommended route and phasing options to be presented to the Capital Metro board of directors during a board work session on May 20. The recommendation will then be presented to the Austin City Council May 22 as a briefing during the regular council meeting.
The Central Corridor Advisory Group is expected to take action on the project team's recommendation during its regular meeting before forwarding the recommendation to the Austin City Council, Capital Metro and the Lone Star Rail boards. The final recommendation will be presented to the Capital Metro Board of Directors and the Austin City Council during a joint meeting of the two bodies on June 19.
During the Central Corridor Study, more than 50 public meetings and briefings for community members and organizations were held throughout the region, officials said.
According to the INRIX Traffic Scorecard, Austin currently ranks as the fourth most congested metropolitan area in North America and the 12th most congested in the world.
