Austin Urban Rail blog
Alliance for Public Transportation
Light Rail Now Austin's Rail Transit Developments
Downtown Austin Plan - Urban Rail
Austin Proceeds with Light Rail Project Even as Commuter Line Stalls
by Yonah Freemark | September 1st, 2009
Image above: Austin Light Rail link, from The Statesman
» New problems in the development of rail services between downtown and the northern suburbs delay commuter rail opening by another few months.
When Austin voters agreed to finance a new 32-mile downtown-to-Leander commuter rail line in 2004, Capital Metro claimed the project would open in spring 2008. Vehicle delivery problems, track issues, and non-compliance between commuter and freight trains on the rails delayed the opening until spring 2009, but the FRA intervened, saying the project was not yet ready to open. Yesterday, the city got even more bad news, with the FRA claiming that the “vital logic” of the train signals was out of whack, causing further delay. Austin, to say the least, is having a hard time welcoming rail into the city.
Even so, the city itself is embarking on its own rail project — a tramway between northwest Austin, downtown, and the airport. Capital Metro, mired in its own deficiencies, is not leading the project, as it has enough major difficulties to deal with now. Preliminary engineering on the new line, costing around $6 million, would be complete by spring 2010 if all goes as planned and voters would be asked to approve the project that fall.
The light rail project would be mostly street running, but its $600 million estimated cost seems low, because the city will have to build at least three new bridges along with the line. The corridor would hit all the important stops in the U.S.’ 15th-largest city, with a focus on the University of Texas and the Capitol complex. Recent development along the riverfront would be served by a spur to Seaholm.
Needless to say, the light rail line seems more relevant than the Capital Metro commuter line, which will only run 9.5 six round trips a day and provide service to distant and sprawled-out parts of the region.
But the failures of Capital Metro’s project could put a significant dent in any hope that voters will agree to sponsor yet another rail program in a currently rail-less region. While the city may have all the best intentions in pursuing its own project, it seems unlikely that the electorate will see the matter that way. It would be unsurprising if the project were shot down in its tracks next fall.
American cities, so deprived of good pubic transportation today, do not have much of a margin of error when spending hundreds of millions of dollars investing in new capital programs. Transit agencies that have difficulty constructing their first line are likely to see intense criticism, because most people won’t understand the corridor’s benefits until it is up and running. Even worse, Austin’s project — poorly planned as a starter line — will serve so few commuters that when it opens, even the presence of trains may do little to excite the city’s population about future service.
A proposal for another project, even if it makes plenty of sense, will be dismissed as another boondoggle before it has the chance to gain support for more funding.
If Capital Metro’s line opens to acclaim and high ridership before November 2010, however, voters could be racing to the polls in favor of new service. Considering that the commuter line has a maximum capacity of 1,200 people in each direction per day in a city of 750,000, though, that seems unlikely.
City taking lead on downtown rail
Bids near for engineering study of downtown line; bonds-for-rail vote might follow in 2010.
Monday, August 31, 2009
The future of downtown rail — for right or wrong, better or worse, for whatever it turns out to be — is now firmly in the City of Austin's hands.
Capital Metro, carrier of the passenger rail flag around here for more than 20 years, will still open its MetroRail commuter line (sometime soon). And conceivably the agency could be hired to operate a rail line built by the city. But Capital Metro, nearly out of money and tarnished by its halting MetroRail performance so far, won't be the prime mover.
The city, meanwhile, in three weeks will seek bids for preliminary engineering on a proposed streetcar-light rail line running from the Mueller development in Northeast Austin, through the University of Texas and downtown, then southeast along Riverside Boulevard to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The goal is to have a "15 to 20 percent plan" and a solid cost estimate by spring, according to Gordon Derr, the city's assistant transportation director.
Which would then lead to asking voters next year to approve bonds for a first phase of the line (along with bonds for road and bike-pedestrian projects around the city) from just east of Interstate 35 (on Manor Road) to the Seaholm tract downtown.
Which means the city is getting serious about the project.
This handoff of rail responsibility has been in the works for a while. Former City Council Member Brewster McCracken was the first person I heard talk about it. The idea didn't gain traction at first. But McCracken, joined by then-Mayor Will Wynn, started pushing hard for it in late 2007.
The problem then, as now, was figuring out how to dig up more than $600 million to lay in-street tracks, build crossings over the river, I-35 and U.S. 183, buy electric-powered train cars, and rig a network of overhead wires.
McCracken and others talked of drawing money from a variety of sources, including the city, Travis County, UT, the federal government and private sources. Then came the deep recession, with the attendant squeeze on local government budgets, and downtown rail talk lowered to a whisper.
The squeeze is still on, which raises questions about where the city in a tight budget year is getting $5.6 million for the rail studies (which include environmental clearance and a federally required "alternatives analysis" of the Lady Bird Lake crossing) and a separate analysis of the city's overall transportation needs, which went out for bids 10 days ago. Ironically, the money is coming from Capital Metro, after a fashion.
Money promised to the city years ago by Capital Metro, which was to pay for a couple of street projects, will pay for the studies instead. The road projects will still get done using money returned to the city from the Texas Department of Transportation after costs for tollway land purchases were under estimates.
The plan now is for the city to pay for the central section (with the bond money) while applying for federal funds to build the outlying pieces. If all goes as planned, you'll get your say on all this in November 2010.
For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.
City Council approves $1 million Urban Rail study
By Beth Wade 10 December 2009
The Austin City Council approved hiring Austin Urban Rail Partners to complete a $1 million preliminary engineering study for the city's Urban Rail project at its Dec. 10 meeting. The study will help identify the rail's route through downtown.
Also at the meeting, Transportation Department Director Robert Spillar gave an update on the proposed Urban Rail project, along with a list of the city's remaining questions city leaders want answered and an expected time line for getting those answers. This information will be available to the public at an open house Dec. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at City Hall.
The rail, a 15.3 mile streetcar and light-rail hybrid to stretch from the Mueller development to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, is scheduled to be part of a November 2010 city bond election.
Construction on the line could be up to two years away, but Spillar said the city needs to be planning now.
"We really have a circulation problem here in central Austin, and when I say central Austin, I mean downtown, university district and the Capitol complex," Spillar said.
The rail is expected to help improve access to the downtown area.
Spillar is expected to return to council in February with additional information, including where the first segment could be. Preliminary costs of the first segment could be available by the February update, Spillar said. Additional cost details could be available in May 2010.
Other answers could come later in the spring and summer.
The council meets Feb. 12 and 26 at 10 a.m. in council chambers, 301 W. Second St.
To see the video of the city council presentation, visit click here.
Note on video of the cit council presentation:
Item 47 & 7 
47. Urban Rail Update 7. Authorize negotiation and execution of a professional services agreement with AUSTIN URBAN RAIL PARTNERS, Austin, TX, for engineering services for the Austin Urban Rail Preliminary Engineering Study, in an amount not to exceed $1,000,000. Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2009-2010 Capital Budget of the Public Works Department. Best qualification statement of three (3) statements received. This contract will be awarded in compliance with Chapter 2-9B of the City Code (Minority Owned and Women Owned Business Enterprise Procurement Program) by meeting the goals with 16.50% MBE and 19.50% WBE subconsultant participation. Briefings on the process were presented to the Urban Transportation Commission, the Council Comprehensive Plan and the Transportation Committee on the scope prior to the release of the solicitation.
0 comments:
Post a Comment