TRANSPORTATION
Updates on key projects
2 0 2 2 A N N U A L C O M M U N I T Y G U I D E
OTHER PROJECTS TO FOLLOW IN 2022
TOP STORIES TO WATCH IN 2022
Funds start to flow locally from federal infrastructure law
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BY BENTON GRAHAM
I-35 project moves ahead The Texas Department of
INFRASTRUCTURE FUNDING HEADED TO TEXAS The federal infrastructure law passed in November 2021 will start to bring funds to Texas in 2022 and continue through 2026.
Money from the roughly $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in November will likely start to become available to local governments in 2022, according to Austin-area transit organizations. The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, a Central Texas government body, and Capital Metro are already preparing for those funds. According to CAMPO documents, Texas is in line to receive $27.9 billion in funding for highway programs and $3.4 billion for transit programs from 2022-26. On top of those funds, CAMPO Executive Director Ashby Johnson said during a Jan. 10 meeting that the law has more discretionary grant opportunities available to local governments than “we’ve ever seen before.” Johnson discussed the priorities for those grant dollars, which include resiliency, carbon reduction, charging infrastructure, safety, congestion relief, reconnecting com- munities and project development assistance. He added that the grants would likely have an equity compo- nent involved in the application. “The only thing I would tell you that they’re going to be looking for, probably more so than they have in the past, is some analysis on equity,” Johnson told the CAMPO Transpor- tation Policy Board. “They’ve been pressing that pretty hard.” The discretionary grant programs could begin funding in the rst half of 2022. Johnson said he expects to know more about the grants in the following months. As for Capital Metro, the poten- tial cash in ux comes at a critical moment, with voters approving Project Connect, a $7.1 billion invest- ment in light rail, buses and more, in November 2020. Erika Mazza, Capital Metro’s vice president of government a airs, said the public transit agency anticipates it will receive full funding in 2022 for the Expo and Pleasant Valley
Project Connect gathers steam In 2022, Project Connect is set to make progress on the MetroRail Red Line and designs for light rail and MetroRapid.
Transportation plans to announce its preferred alternative in late 2022 or early 2023 for the $4.9 billion highway overhaul. The project includes the downtown segment of I-35, extending from Hwy. 290 to SH 71. Timeline: construction anticipated 2025 Cost: $4.9 billion Funding sources: TxDOT and Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organi- zation
Formula Highway Program funding $27.9 BILLION
BY BENTON GRAHAM
Project Connect, a massive public transit overhaul approved by voters in November 2020, enters an important year two in 2022. The $7.1 billion program will make progress on a MetroRail Orange Line, initially running from Stassney Lane to the North Lamar Transit Center, and a Blue Line, running from the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport to the North Lamar Transit Center. It also will add four new MetroRapid bus lines. According to Peter Mullan, the Austin Transit Partnership’s chief of architecture and urban design, the new light-rail lines are on track to deliver by the end of the decade. “This is a big year for all these projects, but Orange and Blue lines in particular,” Mullan said. “We’ll be releasing the 30% design and the draft environmental impact statement.” The Expo and Pleasant Valley MetroRapid lines, which are on track to nish in 2023, also will make signi cant progress, includ- ing nalizing the designs in 2022, Mullan added. Capital Metro held a ground- breaking ceremony for the Broad- moor Station in January. It will hold one for McKalla Station in the spring. Both stations will be new stops on the MetroRail Red Line. Mullan said that Austin’s contin- ued growth during the pandemic has only heightened the need for investment in public transit. “Austin’s growth is not slowing
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Formula Transit Program funding $3.4 BILLION
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Airport Expansion and Development Program As a part of the Airport Expansion and Development Program, the Austin- Bergstrom International Airport will begin construction on a new baggage- handling system and improvements to Gate 13 in summer 2022. Work on three new gates in the airport’s west wing is also expected to begin in 2022. Timeline: fall 2022-early 2024 Cost: $325 million Funding source: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Possible upgrades planned for Violet Crown Trail A new entryway to the 13-mile Violet Crown Trail could be coming in 2022 near Barton Springs at Zilker Metropolitan Park. The joint trailhead project—developed and funded by Austin’s parks department, the Hill Country Conservancy and the Austin Parks Foundation—would establish a new entry feature and walkways around the Violet Crown and Barton Creek Greenbelt trails. A pavilion, observation deck and several hundred feet of new pathways around the meadow just southwest of William Barton and Columbus drives are also included in the proposal as well as a new rain garden to be added o Andrew Zilker Road to the north. The project site plan cleared the Austin Planning Commission on Dec. 14. The Hill Country Conservancy hopes to see construction start this summer.
Discretionary grant funding ADDITIONAL FUNDS TBD
SOURCE: CAPITAL AREA METROPOLITAN PLANNING ORGANIZATION COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
MetroRapid bus lines—both a part of Project Connect. Funding for the light-rail projects will take longer because they fall under a di erent grant program. “Some of these grants can be approved within six months, the grants notice being released nation- wide, and that is a commitment under the Biden administration is to work really hard to get the money out the door and into the local entities, so that they can pay for bus stop improvements, build [bus rapid transit] lines, replace or expand their rolling stock, their bus eet,” Mazza said. “All of those things are part of the priorities under the administration.” Capital Metro received $41.3 million as a part of its annual formula funding from the federal government in scal year 2020-21. Mazza said information on those funds will hopefully be available in mid-Febru- ary, but the increases in FY 2021-22 are expected to be about 20%.
down; if anything it could be speeding up,” Mullan said.
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CENTRAL AUSTIN EDITION • JANUARY 2022
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