SAN ANTONIO | City and Metro Transportation Thread

[miaht82]

Welcome,
Good shots.
Maybe next time you come down, it'll be a bit more finished.

[KevinFromTexas]

Wow, thanks for posting those.

Welcome to the forum!

[JACKinBeantown]

Nice first post! Thanks, and welcome.

[miaht82]

From mySA.com

Plans for S.A.-to-Austin-area passenger trains take shape
By Josh Baugh - Express-News
Web Posted: 04/27/2010 12:00 CDT

The Lone Star Rail District's vision of a passenger train chugging along Interstate 35 on tracks between San Antonio and Austin is slowly picking up steam, officials told the Metropolitan Planning Organization at a meeting Monday.
“Our initial plans are to run about 12 trains a day and provide service seven days a week,” said Sid Covington, chairman of the district's board of directors. “We're trying to provide a predictable, reliable travel choice.”

The LSTAR is slated to run 120 miles, from Georgetown to San Antonio's City South, connecting 16 stations along the route, officials said. Their expectation is for the train to move riders from downtown Austin to downtown San Antonio in 90 minutes.

But commuters who are hoping to avoid nightmarish gridlock on I-35 will still have to wait years before they have the rail alternative. Environmental and engineering studies are under way and will likely take three years, with a final design and construction time beyond that.

“We're trying to avoid ever giving a start-service date,” Covington said, adding that a ballpark time frame is five to seven years.

MPO Chairman Tommy Adkisson balked at that time frame and said he much favored a two- or three-year schedule.

Tullos Wells, the board's vice chairman, said the commuter rail line would “make a compelling difference in the lives of people up and down this corridor” and that even a near-decade is a short amount of time for establishing passenger service along what's currently a Union Pacific railway.

“Five to seven years is imminently reasonable,” he said. “And in the life of this community, that's a short amount of time.”

Key to the project is the relocation of UP freight trains to a bypass that would likely run east of I-35. The bypass would cost about $1.7 billion and is a prerequisite to passenger service on the current UP line.

District officials have estimated they would need to obtain about $800 million to build a fully functional passenger rail system.

[sirkingwilliam]

VIA is changing their funding hunt for street car and will seek a more lucrative funding source which will allow them to build both the north/south and east/west lines simultaneously and have both lines functioning by 2016.

LINK ONE

LINK TWO

[alexjon]

Right by my Grandma's house! Yeehaw!

Wasn't there a plan to run it down Carson or Grayson to N. New Braunfels and then south to meet the E-W line?

[miaht82]

Double the rail for the money? I like it.

And yeah, it was part of the "vision" to have the orange line run down NB.

[adtobias]

they sould put light rail and not street cars.

[miaht82]

For those that want to give input on the proposed Commerce St. 2-way, this survey was sent out earlier today by the Downtown Alliance.
Personally, I think it should, if anything, be diverted from Market through the SAWS property, or just go up Bowie to be 2 way in front of the Dennys.

Please take this quick survey: COMMERCE STREET TWO-WAY TRAFFIC FEASIBILTY STUDY SURVEY

When Mayor Castro and District 2 Councilwoman Ivy Taylor hosted the Eastside Reinvestment Summit at the beginning of this year, one of the ideas discussed to better link the near eastside and the St. Paul Square area to the downtown core was to make a portion of Commerce Street west of IH-37 (between IH-37 and Alamo Street - see attachment) two-way. Commerce Street is currently one-way westbound west of IH-37, and two-way under and east of IH-37.

The City of San Antonio Public Works Department held a meeting on April 5th with some of the stakeholders along the Commerce Street corridor. Based on input from that meeting, and additional research that the Public Works Department is conducting, they will prepare a report and suggest whether this proposal would be feasible. This report and any recommendations would be presented again to stakeholders and other interested parties before being considered by the City Council if a change is recommended. Any changes in the current configuration and operation of Commerce Street from a traffic operation perspective would require City Council approval.

We would like for you to provide us with feedback regarding this proposal, and so would appreciate your taking a couple of minutes to complete a survey by going to the below link. Thank you in advance for your time and interest.

Take the Survey >>>

[UrbanTrance]

Originally Posted by alexjon

Right by my Grandma's house! Yeehaw!

Wasn't there a plan to run it down Carson or Grayson to N. New Braunfels and then south to meet the E-W line?

Your Grandma's house is going to become a historic landmark.

[Onward]

As promised, here’s a few photos I took on my way out of SAT. Not the best but you get the point. Cant wait till it's open

Got the gates for you Jack, hopefully it makes your day ha.

Welcome to the site usctxn, always nice to have another SA guy. Even if you are far from home like myself.

[miaht82]

Wow. Looking good.

[Lando]

Wow, very nice. I think I like the old terminal more though. JK This is much much better. Can't wait to see the inside.

[JACKinBeantown]

Thanks Texan101. Nice reporting. It's really coming along. You can't even see the gates at all from the webcam.

I have so many childhood memories of my grandmother arriving at the old terminal, I'll be sad to see it go.

[alexjon]

It's already pretty old for the neighborhood, it went up in the second wave of large homes in that area.

The oldest, though, is this unassuming dogtrot-style pair of homes, one a standard cabin and the other a lean-to. It's wedged in the back of a group of homes.

[usctxn]

Thanks for welcome everyone - the airport looks amazing.

I fly into SFO quite a bit, and I can see some resemblance with the new terminal's styling - a lot smaller in size of course .

I fly into SAT mid-May, I'll be sure to take some photos when I arrive.

[satxgreen]

http://www.smartwaysa.com/ModernStre...etcarMaps.aspx

[sirkingwilliam]

So they want to go all the way down to Military Dr. Awesome!

[JACKinBeantown]

Google maps satellite image update: looks like they've already begun the newest terminal on the far left.

[miaht82]

VIA has put out their draft Enviromental Analysis for VIA Primo (sorry sakyle04, had to write it.) It is available to view at various locations and online. You can comment at their meetings in a couple of weeks or also use the online comment form.

Link here - VIA Fredericksburg Road Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Project Draft Environmental Assessment