You’re sitting in traffic, on 35 or MoPac. Maybe you’re commuting to work, or heading to the airport. It’s slow. It’s hot. Or maybe it’s pouring rain with the roads slow and dangerously slick. You crawl past a gas station and can’t believe the price. The days of gridlock have returned, and you wish that there was a better way.
Luckily Austin voters overwhelmingly passed Project Connect in 2020, so this way is coming with new buses and trains delivering better options for all of us. How?
Project Connect will bring rapid transit bus services to major transport corridors in the area, connecting Downtown with Colony Park and South Austin, and all of Pleasant Valley. The service will be implemented by next year.
Orange/Blue line trains will give higher speed, consistent access to dense areas along the Drag and Riverside, while providing more options to large venues like the Downtown convention center and an Austin airport that continues to set passenger records.
These will link with the Red Line and the new McKalla Station located at Q2 Stadium, which expects to see 20,000 fans every for Austin FC game.
Every bus of commuters can take up to 50 cars off the road, every train up to 150. So Project Connect benefits people who ride it and those still driving.
The benefits don’t end with more options and less traffic:
· Project Connect’s increased transit services will let people get around cheaper. Individuals who take public transportation rather than drive can save $10,000 per year, and this number will only grow as gas prices increase.
· More public transit use can cut traffic deaths in half. This is hugely important as national traffic deaths are at the highest levels in 16 years.
· We’ve had one of the hottest summers on record, and are living with the consequences of climate change. Light rail commuters average 5 times less carbon emissions than an SUV driver.
· Workers will have easier, cheaper, and less stressful ways to get to commute, and employers will have more incentive to participate in Cap Metro’s MetroWorks bulk purchasing plan for their employees.
· Project Connect will create jobs, which include construction, new operators needed for the system, and in the greater economy as businesses (especially in the tech industry) want to start and grow in places with robust public transit systems.
· These new lines will give greater event access, reducing traffic jams around Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium on fall Saturdays and Q2. It will also be a benefit to Downtown music venues as everyone in the community will be able to see concerts easier without parking worries.
· Mixed-use transit-oriented development will provide more affordable housing for our residents while allowing them to live close to train and bus stations, which can cut bills even further.
· New bus and train lines will combine with the city’s corridor improvement efforts to provide more last mile options for pedestrians, cyclists, scooter users, and our differently abled friends and neighbors.
We know Project Connect isn’t perfect. People will still need cars, and there will still be traffic jams and accidents after it’s built. And we understand some hard decisions need to be made as designs and cost estimates are finalized, with not everybody being happy with every decision.
But we cannot go backwards. Austin is a growing, modern city and Project Connect is a critical piece of the puzzle in making it easier for us all to get to jobs, hospitals, schools, and parks. We deserve a robust, modern transit system, including train and bus systems working together, that will bring us closer.
Let’s all stay engaged, educated, and supportive as we move this project forward.
Bill McCamley is the executive director of Transit Forward, a local nonprofit whose mission is to educate and engage Austinites about public transit.
This article appears in August 26 • 2022.