[KevinFromTexas]

This includes a map.

http://impactnews.com/articles/austi...ortation-plan/

Austin, transit groups unveil long-range regional transportation plan

by Amy Denney
February 5, 2013

The City of Austin and other regional transportation groups announced Feb. 1 a plan for high-capacity transit that will connect seven cities in the next 15 years through urban and commuter rail, bus–rapid transit and express toll lanes.

“The plan is attainable. Now we have to make it happen,” Mayor Lee Leffingwell said at a news conference at City Hall. “We all share in the responsibility to implement it, and not just the elected and appointed officials here today, but our business and community leaders also. We must make this a priority.”

The plan, dubbed Project Connect, includes the MetroRapid bus–rapid transit system that will run along Austin's two busiest corridors: North Lamar Boulevard to South Congress Avenue and on Burnet Road to South Lamar. The system will launch in early 2014 and offer riders more frequent and faster service.

Project Connect also includes the regional rail system proposed by Lone Star Rail running from San Antonio through Austin along the Union Pacific rail line near MoPac and on to Georgetown. The vision calls for the expansion of the Red Line as well as construction of the MoPac express toll lanes scheduled to start this spring or summer.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/pr...-attitude.html

Feb 8, 2013, 5:00am CST
Austin commuters must change attitude, ways; we can’t be so ‘Texan’

Robert Grattan
Staff Writer-
Austin Business Journal

Each morning, about 436,500 Austinites wake up and head to work. The majority are heading downtown, and about 70 percent are driving alone.

“When you look at Central Texas, Austin in particular, 150 people are moving here each day,” said Linda Watson, CEO of Austin’s Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority. “That’s putting 70 new cars on the street every day. Even if we had the money and the space to build more freeway, it’d be filled upon opening.”

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YES!!

http://impactnews.com/articles/aeria...-mass-transit/

Aerial solution to mass transit?

by JP Eichmiller
February 7, 2013

Council hosting public forum to examine feasibility of gondolas

The leaders of Round Rock are looking in a new direction—literally—for options in developing a mass-transit system to cope with the city’s expected continued growth.

Rather than regurgitating traditional transit options such as trains or buses, the city’s public officials are taking an active interest in a revolutionary “aerial-based mass-transit system” that would lift users from the ground in ski lift–style gondolas and drop them off at destinations throughout town.

The system is referred to as The Wire and is the brainchild of a team of planners from Frog Design, an international innovation firm with offices in 14 locations worldwide, including Austin.

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I might go to this. I'll have to see. I need to work on my brakes before I go.

http://impactnews.com/articles/bike-...nning-process/

South Austin bike ride ties in with yearlong neighborhood planning process

by Kelli Weldon
February 7, 2013

The City of Austin is inviting participants in the South Austin Combined Neighborhood Plan to learn about neighborhood connectivity, bicycle route choice and potential for improvement in their area with a local bike ride and free cycling class Feb. 9.

Local business Bikealot, the City of Austin and the Austin Cycling Association are hosting an hour-long cycling and route choice class led by League of American Bicyclists instructors. After the class, attendees will begin their journey through South Manchaca and Westgate, two neighborhoods that are included in the SACNP planning area, according to Bikealot owner Brad Wimberly.

“People really want to be able to walk and bike in their neighborhood,” he said, noting the bike ride will give residents a chance to consider neighborhood connectivity from a cyclist's perspective. “The way you experience your neighborhood is going to be different depending on whether you're walking, driving or biking.”

The cycling class begins at 9 a.m. Feb. 9 at Bikealot, 4418 Pack Saddle Pass, and the bike ride is expected to last until about 11 a.m.