TRANSPORTATION
Abridged stories from online
Capital Metro pushes back new MetroRapid routes to 2025
RAPID ROUTE SLOWDOWN Capital Metro is delaying the
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opening of two new routes to 2025, as electric bus batteries will not last as long as expected and are back ordered.
Mueller neighborhood
Travis County Exposition Center
BY KATY MCAFEE
and consulting with national experts, CapMetro realized to accommodate depot-only charging, it would need to double the original 40 buses planned for the route, Watkins said. She said each electric bus costs roughly $1 million. To cut costs, CapMetro decided to install overhead charging stations at the end of each route that will top buses o throughout the day. How- ever, that plan requires CapMetro to acquire more land at Pleasant Valley and the Travis County Expo Center. The pivot will also require CapMetro to build its Park & Rides—parking lots where travelers can park their cars and hop on a CapMetro bus—sooner than anticipated. Even without the construction hurdles, the MetroRapid would still have been delayed until the end of 2023 due to supply chain issues with electric buses, Watkins said.
Expo MetroRapid Pleasant Valley MetroRapid
Capital Metro delayed the opening of its MetroRapid lines—high-fre- quency transit lines originally slated to open this summer—until 2025, the transportation organization con- rmed in late February. CapMetro’s two transit lines, Pleasant Valley and Expo Center, are among the rst services to be realized in Project Connect—a multibillion-dollar plan to rethink and expand Austin’s transportation infrastructure passed by voters in November 2020. CapMetro CEO Dottie Watkins said the delay is due to a variety of factors, including challenges using all-electric buses, shipping delays and infrastructure changes. Watkins said the original assump- tion was buses would be swapped out with fully charged buses at a depot. However, after scheduling routes
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Republic Square
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• CapMetro must buy land for charging stations and Park&Rides at the end of lines • CapMetro will recon gure roadways along the transit line • Electric buses are back ordered REASONS FOR DELAYS
Goodnight Ranch
MAP NOT TO SCALE N
SOURCE: CAPITAL METRO COMMUNITY IMPACT
The city of Austin announced in February that it received federal funds to try to reduce tra c deaths. FUNDING SAFETY CHANGES
Austin to address tra c deaths with $22.8 million federal grant
BY SUMAIYA MALIK
20 hours. In 2022, there were 117 fatalities in Austin, and as of Feb. 13, there had been 11 deaths in 2023, according to the data. The city has identi ed over 60 areas that could be reworked using the funding, but no sites have been o cially chosen yet, Austin Transportation Safety O cer Lewis Le said. Areas under consideration include parts of Cam- eron Road and Parmer Lane. Examples of possible improvements include crosswalk markings, lighting and or signal upgrades, Le said.
The $5 billion Safe Streets and Roads for All program is part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The city has seen a 31% reduction in fatal or serious injury crashes due to safety improvements since 2016.
On Feb. 1, the city of Austin announced that it had received $22.8 million in federal grant money to combat tra c fatalities. Austin received the funds through the Safe Streets and Roads for All program that speci cally targets high-crash sites in cities and counties. Data from Vision Zero—a city initiative to eliminate tra c fatalities—shows on average an Austin resident is killed in a crash every ve days, and someone is seriously injured in a crash every
117 people died in car crashes in Austin in 2022.
SOURCES: AUSTIN TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT, VISION ZERO COMMUNITY IMPACT
BUGGED DOWN THIS SPRING DON''TGET WATER STANDING DUMP
Celebrate the season with more tips from Austin Code at: austintexas.gov/code austintexas.gov/code
BowlForKidsAustin.org
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SOUTH CENTRAL AUSTIN EDITION • MARCH 2023
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