Urban Rail

Austin Urban Rail Corridors Project

History

On Thursday, February 2008, the Austin City Council approved the expansion of ROMA Design Group's original scope of work for the Downtown Austin Plan to include additional transit planning services in an amount not to exceed $250,000.

ROMA's April 21, 2008 proposal called for a 14-mile light rail or "ultra" light rail route to run from Austin Bergstrom International Airport traveling toward downtown on Riverside Drive, crossing the Congress Avenue Bridge up to Fourth or Ninth Streets and across to San Jacinto Boulevard. The rail would continue through downtown on San Jacinto Boulevard through the University of Texas campus, turning east on Dean Keaton and running along Manor Road to the Mueller Airport redevelopment. The proposal calls for double tracks, allowing travel in both directions simultaneously, in dedicated lanes. These lanes would likely be where there is current parking or sidewalks, but would be segregated from cars. The cost of this proposal was uncertain, with estimates ranging from $70 - $420 million, depending mostly on how many underground utility lines will be relocated. Also, this estimate does not include the cost of rail cars. It was proposed that the City would take the lead in financing and building the rail lines and Capital Metro would likely operate the system. The City will likely look to other entities to partner with it on financing, like Travis County and Capital Metro. 

On Thursday, July 24, 2008, ROMA presented a revised report on the transit portion of the Downtown Austin Plan to the Austin City Council. The ROMA report was presented by the Downtown Austin Plan project team: Jim Robertson, DAP Project Manager and the Manager of the Urban Design Division of the city's Neighborhood Planning and Zoning Department; Jim Adams, ROMA Principal and Director of Urban Design; Jana McCann, ROMA-Austin Principal; and Tom Matoff, Director of Transportation Planning for LTK Engineering. The report on the transit portion of the Downtown Austin Plan proposed three rail lines and four implementation phases as follows:

RAIL LINES -

Line 1: Seaholm to Mueller Redevelopment with stops at Seaholm, Central Business District (CBD), Redline, Capitol complex, Brackenridge Hospital, University of Texas (UT), Manor Road, Red Line/MLK, Mueller Redevelopment, and Dell Children's Hospital.

Line 2: Downtown to Austin Bergstrom International Airport (ABIA) with stops at Seaholm, CBD, Redline, TxDOT office on Riverside Drive, Travis Heights, Riverside apartments, Tokyo Electron, Montopolis, ABIA Park and Rides, and ABIA.

Line 3 (spur line): CBD to Zilker Park with stops at TxDOT office on Riverside Drive, hotels around Barton Springs/Riverside Drive, and the Long Center/Zilker Park.

IMPLEMENTATION PHASES -

Phase 1: 4.4-mile track connecting Seaholm to Manor Road, estimated cost of $192-$231 million.
Phase 2: 3.2-mile track connecting CBD to Riverside Drive and Pleasant Valley, estimated cost of $133-$147 million. 
Phase 3: 2.2-mile track connecting Manor Road to Mueller, estimated cost of $68-78 million.
Phase 4: 5.4-mile track connecting Riverside to ABIA, estimated cost of $157 million.

The proposal contemplates 15.3 rail miles served by streetcar instead of light rail, mostly on dedicated lanes with limited shared lanes as follows: Seaholm to Mueller Redevelopment (6.7 miles) and ABIA to UT (9.9 miles). The anticipated cost is $550-$614 million with annual operating costs of $21-$23 million, excluding anticipated fares. These costs assume laying double tracks throughout the line and buying 20 electric-powered rail cars that will run at 10-minute intervals, 17 hours a day. This proposal has the streetcars sharing lanes with automobiles at least on Congress Avenue and Manor Road, with streetcars on Congress Avenue either in the center lanes or in outside lanes. On Riverside Drive and other downtown streets, consultants suggest dedicated lanes for the streetcars.

The report does not include specific opportunities for transit-oriented development, but does estimate that approximately 1,350+ acres of redevelopment can be anticipated along Manor Road and Riverside Drive, the densest redevelopment corridors along the proposed lines.

The stated next steps are (1) to move forward with meetings to gather public opinion, (2) work with Capital Metro to prepare a CAMPO TWG presentation, and (3) present that submittal to Council for final approval before taking it to the TWG. City officials can take their proposal before CAMPO's Transit Working Group (TWG) after deciding on a financing mechanism. The TWG has a four-part decision tree for vetting rail proposals, with a financing analysis and plan being the third part. The fourth part is a voter referendum. 

The City of Austin, in conjunction with ROMA Design Group as part of the Downtown Austin Plan, hosted a series of public meetings in September 2008 to discuss the urban rail proposal, i.e., the proposed 15.3-mile streetcar system with the following destinations: ABIA airport; the East Riverside Drive corridor; the Long Center; the central business district; the State Capitol complex; the University of Texas; Manor Road; and the Mueller redevelopment.

URBAN RAIL STUDY CONTRACTED

On Thursday, December 10, 2009, the Austin City Council approved $1 million for the for a preliminary engineering study by local firm Austin Urban Rail Partners for the Austin Urban Rail Plan. The current plan includes the information from the 2006 Capital Metro Alternatives Analysis, which the City of Austin’s Transportation Department completed in 2008. This plan is for a circular route connecting the Mueller redevelopment, the University of Texas, the State Capitol complex, the central business district (CBD), and Seaholm. The plan also incorporates the recommendations of the transit portion of the 2008 Downtown Austin Plan for additional connections south of Lady Bird Lake to Long Center and east to ABIA airport. The result is two overlapping routes comprising a 15.3-mile segment of urban rail as described above.

Staff recommended to the City Council that the following questions need to be addressed before taking this plan to voters:

• Where should the first investment segment be?
• How many people will ride the first segment?
• How does it get constructed?
• Who operates the system?
• How much will it cost?
• How could it be funded?
• How much design is needed?
• How could the remainder of the system be procured?
• What will happen if it’s built?
• Can environmental impacts be mitigated?
• What are the possible extensions to the system?

Staff further committed to a deadline of March 2010 to deliver an alternatives analysis on downtown options and the best way to get across the river and identify the first operating segment.

 City of Austin Assistant City Manager Robert Goode and Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar presented an update on the Strategic Mobility Plan to the Austin City Council during a morning briefing on Thursday, February 25, 2010. Regarding the Urban Rail portion of the plan, Spillar presented the following proposed corridors for rail (see map below)l:

• Two north-south corridors: one along Congress Avenue and San Jacinto Boulevard and the other along Guadalupe Street and Lavaca Street.
• Two east-west corridors: one on 4th Street and the other on 17th Street and 18th Street.
• The line would cross the river south of downtown either on an existing bridge or on a new one east of the South 1st Street bridge. It would continue west along Barton Springs Road and east along Riverside Drive with a terminal at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. 
• The line would go north of downtown to service the University of Texas campus and terminate in the Mueller neighborhood.

Spillar also presented slides summarizing some of the data they gathered at public forums. While no potential costs were discussed during the briefing, City staff indicated those estimates would be available in May 2010. Spillar also proposed taking the plan to the CAMPO Transit Working Group twice, once in April 2010 and again in May 2010.

After the presentation, Mayor Lee Leffingwell stressed several important points. First, doing nothing about mobility is not an option because of current congestion and projected growth. Second, the City's plan is multi-modal and includes improvements to trails, bike paths, and the following road improvements:

• Adding managed lanes on MoPac.
• Fixing the "Y" at Oak Hill.
• Constructing U-turn lanes at Braker Lane and MoPac.
• Addressing congestion on I-35 at Riverside Drive.
• Improving traffic circulation in Montopolis.

On Wednesday, March 10, 2010, Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell announced that there are too many unanswered questions for an urban rail proposal to be included in the transportation bond package the City intends to have on the ballot in November 2010.  However, he indicated that there is simply not enough time to gather all the information voters would need for a November 2010 election on urban rail. RECA submitted a letter and list of questions concerning urban rail to Transportation Department Director Rob Spillar on February 18, 2010.

Mayor Leffingwell also stated that he plans to bring a proposal to the City Council to direct City staff to prepare a transportation bond package for the ballot in November 2010 to include an estimated $100 million in road, sidewalk, bike, and trail projects, which was subsequently reduced to $90 million.

On Thursday, June 24, 2010, the Austin City Council directed City staff to prepare for a November 2012 bond election and unanimously approved $100,000 for a study of funding options for the proposed $1.3 billion urban rail system; some portion of this cost and related tax increase is expected to be on the 2012 ballot. The 2012 bond package is proposed to fund not only urban rail, but also roads, sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, trails, and other needs, such as parks, libraries, open space, and affordable housing. Every one-cent in property tax increase generates $8 million in revenue, providing $130 million in bond capacity. A 3-cent tax increase would equate to a $30 per year property tax increase for each $100,000 in a home's value by the end of the third year of a bond issuance. The projected tax impact for various levels of bond packages is as follows:

*NOTE: A December 18, 2011 Austin American-Statesman story quoted Deputy Chief Financial Officer Greg Canally providing bond amounts for all levels except 4-cent increase above as $385 million, $500 million, $625 million, and $725 million, respectively.

On Thursday, July 15, 2010, the City released its draft urban rail report, called the Central Austin Transit Study. It was prepared by the City Transportation Staff and the URS Corporation in collaboration with Baer Engineering, Beverly Silas & Associates, CAS Engineers, Encotech Engineering Consultants, and Rifeline.The study recommends a major investment in urban rail. NOTE: This document will be updated and expanded into a Federal Transit Administration "Alternatives Analysis" (AA) concurrently with the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

The design, scope, and budget for that investment is as follows:

City of Austin Transportation Staff Recommendation

• Recommended Technologies: Urban Rail is the City of Austin's terminology for a blend between a modern streetcar and a light rail transit (LRT) vehicle. An Urban Rail vehicle is smaller, lighter, and more maneuverable than a typical LRT and can operate in mixed traffic and in dedicated rights-of-way.
• Length: 33.8 track miles, 16.5 route miles
• Capital Cost: $995 million in first quarter 2010 dollars, or $1.3 billion accounting for inflation.
• Operations Cost: Approximately $25 million per year.
• Ridership: Average weekday ridership projected to be 27,000 by year 2030.
• Operations Plan: Two crossing routes (6.5 and 10 route miles each), with 10 minute peak/off-peak headways, using 27 vehicles (plus 2 spare), with service 16 hours a day/5 days a week and reduced service on weekends and holidays.
• Travel Time: Approximately 32-33 minutes from end-to-end for both routes.
• Routes: Downtown Commuter Rail Station to Seaholm Redevelopment/Downtown to Complex to UT (east/west CBD)/UT to MLK station to Mueller/Lady Bird Lake Crossing to Riverside to ABIA with a Palmer/Long Center Spur. 

If the Austin City Council adopts this recommendation, it will be designated as a "Locally Preferred Alternative" project for further study under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. The NEPA process, which includes environmental impact assessments, will provide more detailed engineering analyses of the proposed project. To begin the NEPA process, the City must identify a lead federal agency, publish a notice of intent, and begin additional project development including capital and operations funding plans, operations and governance strategies, and system phasing.  The City of Austin's Transportation Department staff has indicated they would like to begin the NEPA process in the fall of 2010 in order to have all the studies complete before a probable November 2012 bond election.

On July 26, 2010, the City of Austin received the final draft of Conceptual Engineering documents from URS Corporation. Volume 1 contains the cover letter, technical memos, cost estimates, reports, and engineering details. Volume 2 is divided into 3 parts and contains the system maps and operational concept, drawings for the system segments within the detailed study area, a site layout for the maintenance facility at One Texas Center, station details, and utility conflict maps showing the proximity of the alignment to existing utility data. (See the Resources section below for links to these documents.)

Following the completion of the Central Austin Transit Study in July 2010, the City recommended Urban Rail as its preferred alternative. The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the City of Austin began the process to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) prescribed by federal law and regulations for Austin's proposed 16.5-mile Urban Rail system in Central Austin with the publication of a Notice of Intent published in the Federal Register on Tuesday, March 8, 2011. The City's preferred Urban Rail alternative is being evaluated along with a 'no-build' alternative and a 'better bus' alternative. These alternatives are described in the Austin Urban Rail System - Scoping Booklet released in March 2011.

The initial phase of the EIS process, known as the "scoping" phase, presented information and gathered input on the proposed Urban Rail system and considered alternate approaches to meeting Austin's urban and regional transportation needs. The environmental process will examine the entire proposed 16.5-mile transit system would serve Downtown Austin, the State Capitol Complex, and the University of Texas campus, with extensions southeast to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (along East Riverside Drive), and northeast to the Mueller redevelopment, but identifying the starter system is part of the work plan.

The "scoping" process focuses on the purpose and need identified by the City for the Urban Rail project. The City says that Urban Rail is intended to improve mobility, connectivity, and sustainability in the region's core by:

• Increasing transportation system capacity and choice while preserving the integrity and vitality of existing neighborhood plans and commercial districts;
• Improving access to major activity centers and other regional transit; and
• Promoting economic development and reinvestment in emerging neighborhoods and districts and supporting the city's goals for the environment and public health and safety.

Five public meetings were held in April 2011 and written comments were required for submission on or before Friday, April 29, 2011. Several members of RECA's Executive Committee and Board of Directors, most of whom serve on RECA's newly-formed Transportation Policy Panel, submitted comments as individuals. Click here for the comments submitted by RECA President Jeff Howard.

On Tuesday, June 14, 2011, the Austin City Council received a briefing on the progress of the Urban Rail proposal in a special-called meeting.

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) administers the competition for Urban Rail projects through its New Starts Program. An important component to win federal funds is a signal of community commitment in the form of a bond election. Also, public hearings will be held during a public comment period following publication of the draft EIS, expected in April 2012 with another public comment period following publication of the final EIS.

While a City of Austin November 2012 election would take place prior to any guarantee of federal money, the bonds could always be contingent on New Starts money. FTA's focus for awarding Urban Rail projects is that the project be a catalyst for long-term community transformation around dense land-use, rather than a short-term mobility fix. Therefore, the consultant wants the City's application to focus more on the long-term vision than ridership projections for immediate operations.

Mayor Lee Leffingwell stated that he would want to see at least 50 percent of the money for Austin's Urban Rail project to come from the New Starts program. The major sources of funding identified are federal funds, General Obligation bonds/debt, and tax increment financing. However, Austin City Manager Marc Ott indicated he is not in favor of using tax increment financing as a source of operating revenue.

A conceptual engineering and a pre-NEPA environmental report is posted on the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan web site.

March 2012 Update

Since the June 14, 2011 Austin City Council briefing, the City's expected financial analysis, including an analysis of other city-wide capital needs and the overall impact of urban rail on tax burden and the City's credit rating, has been stalled.

However, work has resumed through the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization's (CAMPO) committee called the Transit Working Group (TWG), which was created by Senator Kirk Watson and initially chaired by then-Mayor Will Wynn in 2007. The committee's original charge was to analyze and evaluate the potential for rail in Central Texas. The last TWG meeting was held on December 14, 2009.

In fall of 2011, Travis County Judge Sam Biscoe, the current chairman of the CAMPO board, authorized Mayor Leffingwell to reconvene the TWG with new appointees. Mayor Leffingwell appointed the following individuals to serve on the newly-revived TWG.

• Scott Flack, Real Estate Council of Austin's President
• Martha Smiley, Austin Area Research Organization
• Will Conley, Hays County Commissioner
• Sid Covington, Lone Star Rail District
• Aundre Dukes, Texas Facilities Commission
• Sarah Eckhardt, Travis County Commissioner
• Jesus Garza, Seton Family of Hospitals
• Bobby Jenkins, Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce
• John Langmore, Capital Metro
• Johnny Limon, Housing Works Austin
• Barry McBee, University of Texas
• Alan McGraw, Mayor of Round Rock
• Ronnie McDonald, Bastrop County Judge
• Darrell Pierce, Capital City Chamber of Commerce
• Bill Spelman, City of Austin
• Tom Stacy, Downtown Austin Alliance

The TWG's charge is to evaluate and provide input on a new initiative called Project Connect. This initiative will examine how to implement high-capacity transit (urban rail, commuter rail, and bus rapid transit) in the region.

The initial Project Connect partnership includes the City of Austin, Capital Metro, the Lone Star Rail District, and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization. There is an Administrative Memorandum of Understanding among these entities regarding staff time for this effort. Additionally, the City of Austin has provided funding to Capital Metro, who has tasked their general planning consultant, URS Corporation, to provide technical and public outreach consulting services for Project Connect.

Public meetings were held in December. Additionally, the Project Connect team will reach out to the public in the Spring of 2012 to build consensus on answers to the following questions:

• How will urban rail, commuter rail, bus rapid transit, and tolled managed lanes in the CAMPO 2035 Regional Transportation Plan work as a system?
• How will our region organize to develop and operate the system?
• How will our region pay for the system?

RECA members are encouraged to attend and participate in the Project Connect stakeholder process. For more information about Project Connect, please visit its web site.

On Wednesday, February 29, 2012, Austin City Manager forwarded a memo from Austin Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar detailing the criteria to be used in choosing the first investment in Austin's proposed Urban Rail system. The City's financing experts, Jeffrey A. Parker & Associates, will prepare Urban Rail and regional high-capacity transit funding scenarios for capital, operations, and maintenance costs. An Urban Rail funding plan is expected in March 2012 with funding concepts for a regional high-capacity transit system expected in April 2012.

The City of Austin's Proposed Urban Rail System (March 2011)

Click map for enlarged version

Click map for enlarged version

Resources

NEW Regional Transit System Map (January 2011)

Urban Rail Briefing (June 14, 2011)

Austin Urban Rail System - Scoping Booklet (March 2011)

Central Austin Transit Study (July 26, 2010) Links to each section are provided below.

NOTE: This document will be updated and expanded into a Federal Transit Administration "Alternatives Analysis" (AA) concurrently with the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS).

Volume 1: Technical Memos, Cost Estimates and Engineering Details

Full Document

Cover Letter

Basis of Design

Summary of Project Costs

Risk Assessment

Lady Bird Lake Crossing Cost Evaluation

Maintenance Facility Initial SIte Selection

Utility Identification Summary

Volume 2: Conceptual System Plan and Engineering Plans

Full Document: Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Conceptual System Plan

Detailed Study Area Segments: Part 1 • Part 2

Typical Cross Sections, Station Concepts, Cost Index

Utility Conflicts

Central Austin Transit Study- Presentation to Council (June 24, 2010)

Part 1 • Part 2 • Part 3

Urban Rail Briefing to Austin City Council (December 10, 2009)

RECA's Commuter Rail, Inner City Rail (Capital Metro's Street Car Proposal), Downtown Austin Park and Ride Proposal, and Downtown Austin Plan web pages

Draft Transportation Framework Plan (November 25, 2008)

Austin Urban Rail Corridors: Central Austin Circulator- Long Center Spur and East Riverside ABIA: Modern Streetcar/LRT Proposal (November 6, 2008)

Streetcar Proposal Presentation (July 24, 2008)

Urban Rail TWG Submittal Briefing to the Austin City Council (November 6, 2008)

Downtown Austin Plan Transportation Maps (October 2008)  

Urban Rail Council Briefing (July 24, 2008)

DRAFT Potential Urban Rail Project Map by ROMA Austin, April 2008

NEWS: New commuter rail plan to be unveiled Tuesday - KVUE
It’s baaack: A proposal for light rail - Austin Business Journal
ROMA to recommend 14 miles of light rail in Central Austin - Austin American-Statesman
Light Rail Route Outlined - Austin Business Journal
New light-rail plan rolls into Austin - Austin American-Statesman

Final Report: Austin Streetcar Financing Study by WHM/HDR in association with PB Americas, Inc., May 2007

Final Report Central Austin Circulator Alternatives Evaluation by Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas, Inc., November 20, 2006

Downtown Circulator Service Economic Impact Assessment by Capitol Market Research, Inc., August 16, 2006