After decades of failed efforts to bring light-rail to Austin, the city is on the verge of choosing where rapid rail should be routed. The public comment period ends tonight at 11:59.
Despite the diminished routes, all five plans would establish a light-rail starter system with room to keep stretching the lines further in the coming decades. This first phase is expected to be complete in the early 2030s.
People examining the light-rail options have a lot to consider. Should the trains cross Lady Bird Lake at South First Street or should the route travel deeper through downtown and cross the lake at Trinity Street? Should light-rail go all the way to the airport at the expense of higher ridership? Should the tracks be elevated downtown to bypass traffic if it means a shorter initial route?Two of the ATP's five light-rail options include elevated rail downtown.
"ATP will always be open to a new wrinkle or a new twist on something that we put out there if it is for the betterment of Austin," Canally said."We're in listening mode."Tony Elkins, a transportation finance expert who resigned from ATP's board of directors last month, said the organization should have been more clear about which options are more likely to receive federal funding.
For example, the route with the highest ridership — North Lamar to Pleasant Valley — would have an estimated 39,300 average daily riders by 2040. That's almost twice as cost-effective as the UT to Yellow Jacket line, which would have a projected 20,000 average daily riders by the same year.
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