Austin Light Rail: A New Proposal for 2016

The Central Austin CDC is committed to seeing that the transportation needs of the most densely populated, most transit-dependent, and jobs-dense area of our region are addressed. We believe a first high capacity transit investment must maximize ridership and work as the core component of an integrated, regionally significant transportation solution.

Over the decades, the Guadalupe-North Lamar corridor has been studied several times for light rail, and at great public (mostly federal) expense. With the exception of Project Connect, all studies have arrived at the singular conclusion that Guadalupe-North Lamar would be a cost-effective first investment.

A 5.3-mile Guadalupe-North Lamar light rail minimum operable segment (MOS) has been proposed. It would serve as a starter line for a phased, 24.9 mile citywide light rail system that would serve all 10 City Council districts. The MOS runs from Crestview Station to Republic Square. The updated ridership estimate for the MOS is 34,000 weekday boardings and is based on a model developed with the support of the FTA. The 2000 plan used the same Guadalupe-North Lamar footprint in our proposal, plus track to McNeil Drive. Rail service to McNeil is in place today in the form of Capital Metro's Red Line. The ridership numbers on a 14.6 mile Phase One from Rundberg to Dove Springs, which incorporates Guadalupe-North Lamar MOS, were found to be very large using the same model, 60,000 weekday. Phase Two extensions of South Lamar to Oak Hill and the Bergstrom Spur to AIBA have yet to be examined for ridership.

The shorter Guadalupe-North Lamar MOS starter line would offer Red Line passengers a connection at Crestview Station, and to the 184,000 jobs the new light rail segment would serve. It would offer that connection not only to McNeil, but to all 32 miles of Red Line, including several inbound stations into East Austin. Bifurcation of the Red Line at Crestivew would draw local trips from East Austin, now numbering very few.

Key Findings: 2016 Central Austin CDC Guadalupe-N Lamar Minimum Operable Segment

Route: Guadalupe at 4th Street, North on Guadalupe/Lavaca to North Lamar to Airport Blvd.

Length: 5.3 miles

10 Stations

Northern Terminus: Crestview Station at North Lamar and Airport Blvd

Southern Terminus: Republic Square at Guadalupe and 4th Streets

2010 Population: 44,631

Jobs, 2011, ½ mile: 184,227

Average Weekday Ridership: 34,000 +/- 9,000

For capital cost estimating, an order of magnitude study was conducted looking at FTA data of the actual costs of building light rail starter lines all over the country. The average was $68.31 million per mile and established at the year of expenditure 2016. $75 million per mile was used to create the $397.5 million estimate. Since this estimate was based on actual costs of real projects, no contingency was provided.

We propose the MOS be built with 100% local funds, but under the federal New Starts process with an FTA letter of no prejudice, to enable a fast construction and future leveraging on the next extensions. Leveraging of local funds will enable the $397.5M spent on the MOS to be applied toward future FTA New Starts matching grants to build extensions. The redirection of the Hotel Occupancy Tax could be be used to build extensions to the Austin Bergstrom International Airport along the East Riverside, South Pleasant Valley, and the Bergstrom Spur. This may someday help tourists and residents alike get to and from the airport, while serving the day-to-day needs of Southeast Austin.

In sum, the 5.3-mile Guadalupe-North Lamar minimum operable segment would serve as a cost effective starter line for a future light rail system. It would provide direct service to the jobs and communities around Crestview Station, DPS Headquarters, State Health Department complex, University of Texas, State Capitol Complex, Travis County Courthouse and Central Campus, and downtown’s Republic Square, the city’s busiest bus stop and transfer station. It would also connect to East Austin, North Austin and Northwest Austin by a transfer from the existing 32-mile long Red Line commuter rail line at Crestview Station.

Phased Citywide Light Rail System Plan with the Guadalupe-North Lamar Minimum Operable Segment

Reports and Studies



Light Rail Polling

Austin Light Rail Survey of Likely Voters for the November 2016 Election

2015 Zandan Voices of the Community Poll

Cost

FTA Average Unit Cost Per Element for a Group of Projects for the Guadalupe-Lamar Light Rail Minimum Operable Segment

Ridership

Average Weekday Ridership for the Guadalupe-Lamar Light Rail Minimum Operable Segment

Draft Ordinance with Ballot Language

Proposition Two for Light Rail

Press Releases

Response to Assertions Made on Light Rail Cost Estimate August 11, 2016

Call to Action: The Future of Austin Transportation May be Determined Thursday August 10, 2016

Sometimes the Highest Form of Leadership is the Ability to Listen - Council to Consider Mobility Bond Thursday August 8, 2016

New Polling Shows Light Rail on Guadalupe-N Lamar Would Win on the November Ballot August 2, 2016

Joint Sustainability Committee Asks for Light Rail on the November Ballot July 27, 2016

Going Bigger: Adding the Option of a $400 Million Light Rail Line in the November Bond Election July 12, 2016

Prepared Statement Supporting a Light Rail Minimum Operable Segment (MOS) on the November Ballot June 14, 2016

Light Rail Progress Since the November 2014 Election June 7, 2016

Light Rail Project Defined for November 2016 Ballot May 12, 2016

Urban Transportation Commission Asks Austin City Council to Consider Placing Light Rail, High Capacity Transit on the November 2016 Ballot February 10, 2016

Presentations

Overview and History

Over the last 5 years, The Central Austin CDC has organized a diverse coalition of communities, non-profit groups, and light rail advocates. Their backgrounds include social media, public policy, non-profit management, engineering, environmental policy, urban planning, neighborhood and business leadership, and established rail advocacy from other campaigns. A consensus of this grassroots process is a vision for a system anchored by a north-south, regionally significant, expandable backbone of light rail service in the Guadalupe-North Lamar Corridor.

Light Rail 2013-2014: What was Project Connect's role?

Project Connect is a broad, multi-agency regional planning initiative under the aegis of the Capitol Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) and pursuant to an interlocal agreement that was created in April 2013 between the City of Austin, Capital Metro, and Lone Star Rail District to study Central Corridor High Capacity Transit. Kyle Keahey of the firm HNTB was hired as the urban rail planning lead. This process was portrayed as fresh look; and the public was assured that all options and all alignments were on the table. Ten areas, or sub-corridors, of the city were defined and were under evaluation, including both Lamar and Mueller. On November 15, 2013, Mr. Keahey's group narrowed the choice of sub-corridors to Highland and East Riverside. The mode was also arbitrarily rebranded from "light rail" to "urban rail", terminology that is not typically used in the transit industry, or the FTA, to define a mode.

During the Project Connect process between 2013 and 2014, organizations serving over 100,000 Austinites formally endorsed a Guadalupe North Lamar Corridor light rail alignment. The people also made their preference known in several community meetings, workshop, poll or survey that was taken in that process. Guadalupe North-Lamar was the people's choice.

On December 12, 2013, the Austin City Council advanced the Highland and East Riverside sub-corridors into phase 2 of the Project Connect Central Corridor Study. The action preempted further alignment-specific studies of Lamar or the the other 8 sub-corridors. Many citizens believe that there was a strong political bias introduced in the process and that more suitable and compelling alternatives had been overlooked.

In phase 2 of the study on February 21, 2014, Project Connect planners eliminated a light rail connection to the Seaholm Center in their final alignment recommendation. This change would break a fundamental prerequisite of the planning process to create a connected system. It diverged from the regional planning approach, and all but ensured that the western alignment through the core, needed to serve the Guadalupe-N Lamar corridor, would never be realized. It contradicted several past studies, Capital Metro policy, and prior council action. The 4th Street Rail corridor remains on the books as the official connection to Seaholm, a designation in the AMATP component of the comprehensive plan, with a sound technical basis to support it.

Project Connect continued to remove future service capacity to Guadalupe, West Campus, and the western half of downtown with the introduction of its plan for future connectivity to its Highland-East Riverside Project Connect Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) on May 16, 2014.

The Austin City Council voted to limit public testimony and approved the LPA on June 26, 2014. A few weeks later, council bundled the rail with a prerequisite package of $400 million in bond debt for highway projects creating Austin Proposition 1 on August 7, 2014. The ballot wording required that all the highway projects needed be appropriated before the rail project funds could be drawn on.

On November 4, 2014, Austin Proposition 1 was defeated by a 57% to 43% vote.

The Lamar Amendments

The need for future rail on Guadalupe-North Lamar was expressed in Council Member Chris Riley's December 12, 2013 amendments to the sub-corridor selection. They directed City Manager Marc Ott to plan for high capacity transit within the Lamar and other sub-corridors and to make a recommendation by August 1, 2014. The intent of those council-approved amendments has not been carried forward to date.