TRANSPORTATION UPDATES Project Connect proposes taking cars o The Drag
ONGOING PROJECTS
CEDAR ST.
360
WESTLAKE DR.
BY CHLOE YOUNG
A new design option for Project Connect’s Orange Line would remove cars from The Drag, a strip of Guada- lupe Street from West 22nd to 29th street facing The University of Texas at Austin. In 2020, Austin voters approved Project Connect, a $7.1 billion mass-transit system with new bus and rail lines. The Orange Line light- rail line running between Stassney Lane and the North Lamar Transit Center will go directly through The Drag with a stop at UT West Mall. At a community meeting for The Drag on June 14, Project Connect o cials announced another design option without vehicular tra c. “The Drag is one of the iconic places in our city,” said Peter Mullan,
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ALL INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED AS OF JUNE 17. NEWS OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE OR OTHER LOCAL TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS? EMAIL US AT CTANEWS COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM. constructed along the corridor. Timeline: June 2022-mid-2025 Cost: $72.1 million Funding source: TxDOT and Austin’s 2016 mobility bond Stoplight removal on Loop 360 The Texas Department of Transpor- tation kicked o a project to remove tra c signals and add underpasses at the intersections on Loop 360 at Westlake Drive and Cedar Street on June 1. A nonsignalized U-turn will also be added at Westlake Dr. New frontage roads and shared-use paths will also be
A new proposal could remove cars from The Drag, a strip of Guadalupe Street.
W. 29TH ST.
CHLOE YOUNG COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
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GUADELUPE ST.
Austin Transit Partnership chief of architecture and urban design. “It epitomizes and embodies so many of the things that make Austin, Austin and give it its character.” The newly proposed Option C would remove vehicular tra c on The Drag with an additional lane for buses and bicycles or bicycles alone. The plan would push tra c on to surrounding streets, including Nueces Street and San Antonio Road. It would also add more trees along
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the road and widen the sidewalk on the west side near retailers. “I think our goal here is how do we use this process to bring as much new life back to The Drag as we can and really enhance the whole experience of this place,” Mullan said about com- munity input from past meetings.
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