Capital Metro Approves Plan For Regional Transit To Connect Central Texas Cities

Board members of Capital Metro approved a regional transit map outlining future bus and rail services in the Austin metropolitan area…

Board members of Capital Metro approved a regional transit map outlining future bus and rail services in the Austin metropolitan area. The plan proposes connecting Buda, Cedar Park, Georgetown, Hutto, Leander and Round Rock.

The vote on the proposed plan, Project Connect, authorizes an engineering and environmental study and calls for more input from the community before the project goes to city council in the spring.

The study will identify the best transit mode, such as bus-rapid transit, light rail and even autonomous vehicles. The plan will return to Capital Metro in the fall to be considered for a bond election in November 2020.

Project Connect, an extension of an earlier plan, was introduced in 2016. Capital Metro unveiled a draft map in October and hosted meetings with the public to gather input.

Feedback from the public meetings, which included over 400 comments, resulted in changes to the vision map. The starting point of the upcoming study will begin with the Orange Line, which goes from Tech Ridge in the north all the way south to Slaughter Lane, forming the “spine” of the project.

A few months later, Capital Metro will start the preliminary engineering on the Blue Line that runs on Riverside Drive up to Austin Community College’s Highland campus. Preliminary engineering would commence on the remainder of the corridors after that. This study is estimated to cost about $12 million and is being funded through the agency and the city.

This story originally published by Strategic Partnerships, Inc.