AUSTIN | Transportation Updates

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by freerover

The wording makes it sound like the city is recommending spreading the money out on all 9 corridors when they are actually legally required to.

I don't believe anything in the bond actually required this. If nothing else, WC and slaughter was very explicitly an AND/OR (they could have done nothing for one).

Seems like what's there(in the proposal) isn't a perfectly even spread, but it seems like they legally could have done a couple intersections of each road and then 200M in another.

[urbancore]

i haven't seen this brought up here......but then again i have "early onset" of something...i think it's called age. from the Austin Monitor (I subscribe, if it matters)



Contra-flow lane eyed as solution to up-up, down-down lurching of traffic at MLK
While plans to dedicate two lanes on the Drag to transit have been shelved for the moment, city planners hope to tweak another bus bottleneck on the Guadalupe Street corridor using 2016 mobility bond money.

Tucked away in the proposed Corridor Construction Program – the laundry list of $450 million in projects aimed for nine main roadways across the city – is a plan to reconfigure how northbound buses cross the threshold of downtown to campus at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Currently, all traffic traveling north on Lavaca Street hits a dead end at MLK and has to turn left on that street before turning right on Guadalupe to continue north. That dogleg intersection backs up during evening rush hour as hordes of commuters pour out of the Capitol Complex and the University of Texas to get to Interstate 35. To help prioritize transit, the city in the spring of 2016 stretched Lavaca’s dedicated bus lane to the light and gave buses a queue-jump signal allowing them to get a head start on cars.

However, the tight space, nearby construction, heavy traffic and a relatively complex configuration frequently led to confused drivers blocking the transit lane or buses blocking the entire intersection. After nearly two years in operation, both the city and the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority are looking for another solution.

“(I)t wasn’t meeting the intent so the bypass alternative was developed and now should be moving to implementation,” Todd Hemingson, Capital Metro’s vice president of strategic development and planning, said on Twitter.

The bypass alternative would have northbound buses on Lavaca turn west onto 18th Street before turning north again to cross MLK via Guadalupe. Because that one-block stretch of Guadalupe is one-way southbound, a contra-flow lane would be created for buses.

That lane would stretch to MLK on the east side of a concrete island. That small chute currently serves as a lane for cars turning south from MLK onto Guadalupe. Preliminary plans envision those cars to turn left onto the street’s main lanes a few feet farther down.

Because the project would consist of repainting lanes, utilizing mostly existing signals, and only minor construction, city engineers predict the new alignment’s cost would be nominal.

“Once we have to start taking a look at moving curbs, that might be a little costlier,” Transportation Engineering Division Manager Eric Bollich said. “But it could be a good benefit for the cost.”

He suggested that MLK’s queue-jump light could be moved one signal south to 17th Street in order to give buses in the transit priority lane time to merge across Lavaca Street in order to turn on 18th.

For now, though, the plans are still highly preliminary, and issues such as the buses’ ability to safely turn from 18th onto the contra-flow lane without veering into southbound traffic remain undetermined.

“Part of the design process is the cost-benefit analysis we would do. If it’s going to cause major pain for a ton of people, that’s something that we would take into account,” ATD spokesperson Cheyenne Krause said. “But certainly we know that this corridor is moving a significant number of people on transit, and this could be a challenge that we face, but it’s for the benefit of the greater good.”

The urbanist group AURA, which began specifically as a light rail advocacy group before broadening its oeuvre, has responded to the proposed Corridor Construction Program with a petition drive to urge City Council to include the creation of dedicated bus lanes up the Drag from MLK to 29th Street. In a statement, the group tut-tutted the less-ambitious contra-flow plan.

“It’s a good idea to get cars out of the way of the buses there, but without a transit priority lane, buses are likely to continue to bottleneck going northbound at Guadalupe during rush hour,” AURA Board President Susan Somers said. “Continuous transit priority lanes are not expensive and would improve trips for half the people traveling on that corridor without significant negative impacts on autos.”

Staff from the Corridor Program Office will shop the proposed program to various boards and commissions in the coming weeks. City Council is scheduled to get its first briefing on the list of projects on March 20 before voting on it on March 22.

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.

[freerover]

This is what I mentioned 2 posts ago. I'll repost the screenshots since it's a new page. Just ignore the part north of the MLK/Guad intersection. That would remain as 4 car lanes.

[urbancore]

cool thank you.

Any talk on this thread about the work stop on Mopac? I haven't seen a muscle moved to finish the wall in weeks, if not months.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Dcbrickley

cool thank you.

Any talk on this thread about the work stop on Mopac? I haven't seen a muscle moved to finish the wall in weeks, if not months.

They closed lanes and ramps this past Sunday night, and Friday night, thursday night.... (I'm still getting the emails with construction updates/warnings).

They do the wall work at night, as almost all of it requires closures (now that they shifted the lanes back).

[freerover]

Sound wall work is scheduled to end in June. They had to replace a lot of them because of cracking.

On a different Mopac project, It seems like they are concentrating crews on the Slaughter intersection as oppose to distributing work evenly on Slaughter and La Cross. That means the Slaughter Diamond Overpass might be open significantly before the entire project is complete. This is going to become one of the most efficient highway crossings in Austin. It's what they wanted to build at 35 and Airport.

They basically will build a third to a half of the new intersection as a bridge, move traffic over and then dig out the current Slaughter crossing. Pretty much like what they did at Riverside at 71. They flat out closed the Loyala crossing at 183 to do the exact same thing.


Click Spoiler Tab for Intersection Diagram:

[freerover]

Here we go again....again.

Project Connect has a preliminary system map with 3 light rail lines, 4 bus rapid lines, a circulator line that could be electric bus or train and some changes to commuter rail.

Light Rail will basically be a straight line going from N Lamar / Tech Ridge to S. 1st / Slaughter via N. Lamar/Guadalupe/S. 1st. There would also be a light rail line that connections to this one which goes down Riverside to the Airport.

Bus Rapid would be:
West to East Austin via Lake Austin/W. 7th/E 7th
North Austin from the Convention Center to Highland Mall (2014 light rail northern route)
East Austin Via Dean Keaton/Manor to Muller and maybe Colony Park
SouthWest Austin via S. Lamar/290 to Oak Hill

-Red Line would get double track, increased evening/late night commuter and freight service
-Starter Green Line would be built from the convention center to Manor (not Elgin). No station at MLK was a surprise but it was nice to see a station at Pleasant Valley. 270 million to setup.
-LRT would include lots of elevated rail downtown to Crestview.
-Electric Bus or Train Circulator line going from UT to S. Congress with 3 East-West sections: Dean Keanton between Guad and San Jacinto, Maybe MLK between Guad and San Jacinto and 4th between Guad and the Convention Center.
-Possible LRT spur from N. Lamar to Domain Proper




The plan could cost up to 8 billion. This will be presented to a bunch of folks and could get changes. Later this year they will have to determine phasing which means deciding what to put on a bond request. I don't see how they couldn't be ready to put a bond on the ballot in November 2019 but I'm not sure how much is going to be available and I think they would rather put something like this on 2020 in a presidential vote. It's just so far away.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by freerover

Here we go again....again.

Project Connect has a preliminary system map with 3 light rail lines, 4 bus rapid lines, a circulator line that could be electric bus or train and some changes to commuter rail.

Light Rail will basically be a straight line going from N Lamar / Tech Ridge to S. 1st / Slaughter via N. Lamar/Guadalupe/S. 1st. There would also be a light rail line that connections to this one which goes down Riverside to the Airport.

Bus Rapid would be:
West to East Austin via Lake Austin/W. 7th/E 7th
North Austin from the Convention Center to Highland Mall (2014 light rail northern route)
East Austin Via Dean Keaton/Manor to Muller and maybe Colony Park
SouthWest Austin via S. Lamar/290 to Oak Hill

-Red Line would get double track, increased evening/late night commuter and freight service
-Starter Green Line would be built from the convention center to Manor (not Elgin). No station at MLK was a surprise but it was nice to see a station at Pleasant Valley. 270 million to setup.
-LRT would include lots of elevated rail downtown to Crestview.
-Electric Bus or Train Circulator line going from UT to S. Congress with 3 East-West sections: Dean Keanton between Guad and San Jacinto, Maybe MLK between Guad and San Jacinto and 4th between Guad and the Convention Center.
-Possible LRT spur from N. Lamar to Domain Proper




The plan could cost up to 8 billion. This will be presented to a bunch of folks and could get changes. Later this year they will have to determine phasing which means deciding what to put on a bond request. I don't see how they couldn't be ready to put a bond on the ballot in November 2019 but I'm not sure how much is going to be available and I think they would rather put something like this on 2020 in a presidential vote. It's just so far away.

S 1st or S Congress?

[nixcity]

Must be S. Congress. Overall it looks great, hopefully we can get the state to allow us the opportunity to float a large bond that would encompass all or most of this in one vote.

[chinchaaa]

When could a first phase of this eventually be built though? I thought we already voted against funding for a transit line for at least the next next decade?

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by nixcity

Must be S. Congress. Overall it looks great, hopefully we can get the state to allow us the opportunity to float a large bond that would encompass all or most of this in one vote.

At this point, I'm just hoping the state doesn't institute the 2/3 vote requirement Abbot was talking about. That basically would forever kill transit in Austin.

[freerover]

Originally Posted by nixcity

Must be S. Congress. Overall it looks great, hopefully we can get the state to allow us the opportunity to float a large bond that would encompass all or most of this in one vote.

I wrote S. Congress originally but changed it to S. 1st when I was reading about the circulator proposal which was also SOCO. I guess they'll share the corridor because I think you're right that the LRT does look like it goes down SOCO.

There is no way the city of Austin could pass this. I don't remember what they can borrow in bonds in 2020 but it's nowhere near 6 billion. T

This is what Adler says has to happen:

Regional partners must cooperate and put together in 2018 a comprehensive plan for investments. Then, Austin and other urban regions across the state must lobby the Texas Legislature in 2019 to allow more funding options, such as a higher sales tax ceiling. Finally, Adler said, voters could then vote on the comprehensive plan in a 2020 referendum.

The plan would definitely need the Texas ledge to get a little less tea party which it's not going to do without undoing some gerrymandered districts. It would be hard to imagine Abbot not vetoing this even if it passed. We should just force the Ledge to stay in hotels in Round Rock and commute every day of session next year.

Most likely you're looking at a "starter line" which I think would make passing it difficult. I think you might be better off doing everything BRT and building all the elevated ROW in a 1st vote. If the 2/3 law passes then nothing is ever being built in Texas again.

[urbancore]

Good maps here.

http://kut.org/post/austin-getting-another-shot-light-rail-line

[freerover]

Low Cost Red Line Proposals:
-Add 6 passing sidings for 4.5 million
-Lengthen 8 Station Platforms for 28 million to raise average weekly ridership by 1,000. I assume the implication is they double the amount of cars to certain trains


High Cost Red Line Proposals:
-4 New Trains (34 mil) and New Maintenance Facility (60 mil) to raise weekly ridership by 2,400
-Double Red Line Track for 219 million to allow more even/late commuter service and more overall freight service


Crazy and much needed New Plan for the S. 1st bridge for Bus Service:

-Transit only N/S lanes to improve bridge crossing by 2.5 minutes
-1 fewer general purpose lane in both directions
-Center Flex lane during peak periods
-Costs $900,000




New Express Bus connection to Mopac
-Pressler Street would be extended to hit Cesar right before it gets to Mopac in order to bypass buses around Cesar backup into downtown

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by freerover

Low Cost Red Line Proposals:
-Add 6 passing sidings for 4.5 million
-Lengthen 8 Station Platforms for 28 million to raise average weekly ridership by 1,000. I assume the implication is they double the amount of cars to certain trains


High Cost Red Line Proposals:
-4 New Trains (34 mil) and New Maintenance Facility (60 mil) to raise weekly ridership by 2,400
-Double Red Line Track for 219 million to allow more even/late commuter service and more overall freight service


Crazy and much needed New Plan for the S. 1st bridge for Bus Service:

-Transit only N/S lanes to improve bridge crossing by 2.5 minutes
-1 fewer general purpose lane in both directions
-Center Flex lane during peak periods
-Costs $900,000




New Express Bus connection to Mopac
-Pressler Street would be extended to hit Cesar right before it gets to Mopac in order to bypass buses around Cesar backup into downtown

These are separate "Enhancement" projects that are independent of the light rail plans?

If so, that's very important. As much as I would love to have that system, I think it's DOA.

[Jdawgboy]

Hate to be a damp rag here but I doubt many south of the river will support the rail plan unless the first phase includes a line south of the river. For too long the southside has been neglected by Cap Metro. No commuter rail south of the river, they are only just beginning work on the green line. Night owl service reduced south of 290/71 for an extension north, a route I might add that would be filled to standing down the isle when I used it after a night DT and would be filled as I got off as it made its way down to William Cannon. The line doesn't go any further than 290/71 before turning around now which is why I no longer use that as an option. Anywho I've complained about this before so I'll forego anymore complaints (even though there are more) but we will see how well this goes over for all of us who live south of the river.

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by Jdawgboy

Hate to be a damp rag here but I doubt many south of the river will support the rail plan unless the first phase includes a line south of the river. For too long the southside has been neglected by Cap Metro. No commuter rail south of the river, they are only just beginning work on the green line. Night owl service reduced south of 290/71 for an extension north, a route I might add that would be filled to standing down the isle when I used it after a night DT and would be filled as I got off as it made its way down to William Cannon. The line doesn't go any further than 290/71 before turning around now which is why I no longer use that as an option. Anywho I've complained about this before so I'll forego anymore complaints (even though there are more) but we will see how well this goes over for all of us who live south of the river.

Apparently the whole system plan has _2_ lines south of the river, even though the majority of Austin lives North.

So yeah, quit your complaining

[KevinFromTexas]

Actually, I don't have any faith that people will support a new rail with a line south of the river or not. This city loves shooting itself in the foot while complaining about the pain and blaming the cause of it on something else.

[Sigaven]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Actually, I don't have any faith that people will support a new rail with a line south of the river or not. This city loves shooting itself in the foot while complaining about the pain and blaming the cause of it on something else.

Agreed unfortunately. And then our collective wailing about traffic woes will continue forever.

[chinchaaa]

Originally Posted by KevinFromTexas

Actually, I don't have any faith that people will support a new rail with a line south of the river or not. This city loves shooting itself in the foot while complaining about the pain and blaming the cause of it on something else.

Already seeing this on Reddit. "Of course I'm not voting for this. I can't use public transit to do everything I need to do."