Details, Details

Review the details on Project Connect’s ballot Proposition A

Project Connect's tax rate chart.

Graphic courtesy of CapMetro

As we near the November election, let’s take a deep dive into Project Connect’s Initial Investment, which will appear on November’s ballot as Proposition A.

Project Connect: The Features
Project Connect’s Initial Investment includes a new rail system that would connect Austin’s north, south, and east neighborhoods with new stops and stations. Transit options would include more ways to get to destinations like the airport, The Domain, UT, Austin FC Stadium, East Austin’s Colony Park, and the South Congress District.

With more than 27 miles and 31 stations of new rail service, the plan also includes a tunnel under downtown that would serve as a connection point for the new rail system and is designed to improve the service’s reliability and safety by separating rail service from street-level traffic.

Project Connect also includes expanded bus service with an all-electric bus fleet serving four new MetroRapid routes, three new MetroExpress routes, 15 new Circulator zones, nine new Park & Rides, and CapMetro’s recently launched MetroBike fleet, which will be available at transit centers in the system.

The facts and figures
The Project Connect Initial Investment is $7.1 billion — with up to half of the costs to be supported by federal grants and commitments.

The City of Austin has created a tax calculator to help residents fully understand how much Project Connect will cost them through an approximate tax breakdown. This tool allows people to get a trusted estimate based on their exact home value.

The impact on an Austin homeowner’s overall property tax bill is approximately 4 percent. For example, a home value of $325,000 would result in an annual increase of $284 (less than 78 cents a day).

The included graphic shows the Proposition A tax rate impact, based on approved rates for Austin Independent School District (AISD), City of Austin, and Travis County, among others, to help understand the potential impacts of the investment.

The Initial Investment also includes $300 million to finance transit-supportive anti-displacement strategies related to Project Connect, which include neighborhood supportive affordable housing investments along transit corridors.

Visit ProjectConnect.com to learn more.

An artist's conceptual rendering of the regional transportation center.

Project Connect regional transportation center

Rendering courtesy of Cap Metro

An artist's conceptual rendering of the regional transportation center.

transportation promoted

Take A Bike

City of Austin gears up to make permanent changes to Congress Avenue

Photo courtesy of AustinTexas.gov

Congress Avenue's undergoing a transformation.

Driving down Congress Avenue has looked a lot different this summer. Not only are the throngs of traffic gone and buildings empty of workers, but a series of temporary bike lanes have been installed along the corridor.

In May, more than a 1,000 residents signed a petition asking to install the bike lanes along "the Main Street of Texas." The following month, the Austin City Council passed the measure and announced the creation of temporary bike lanes along Congress, between Riverside Drive and 11th Street.

With Austin battling COVID-19, the bike lanes were a way "to improve safety and to address COVID-19 risk-based guidelines to ensure enough physical distance for all people using [Congress] Avenue and the Ann Richards Bridge," the city said at the time.

Earlier this week, the City of Austin announced the bike lanes will become permanent. The traffic cones and plastic markers installed to designate the lanes will be replaced with flexible delineator posts and parking stops to create a physical barrier between cyclists and vehicles. Driveways and on-street parking will remain accessible to cars, notes a news release.

Congress Avenue's new bike lanes promote access to alternative modes of transportation while easing traffic on downtown sidewalks. With cyclists and scooter riders using dedicate lanes, pedestrians and nearby businesses are better able to take advantage of the sidewalk and maintain social distancing guidelines, the city notes in its announcement.

Along with the bike lanes, the city also announced the creation of dedicated left and right turn signals at high-traffic intersections, a move that will hopefully stop the soul-crushing feeling of cruising down Congress only to get stopped behind someone attempting to make a left-hand turn across three lanes of traffic. In addition, improved pedestrian crossings and signage will also be installed.

These improvements are part of the Congress Avenue Urban Design Initiative, a project funded in 2012 and launched in 2017 with the goal of improving the downtown corridor.

Construction on the permanent bike lanes is already underway, and the city has projected a four-to-six week timeline for completion.

downtown transportation