Public Notice: Cars Off Guadalupe?

At two public Community Design Workshop meetings on Wednesday as we went to press with this issue, Project Connect staff presented two options for how to navigate the narrowest and most congested stretch of roadway in their entire transit system plan. And the key – obvious to some, horrifying to others – is to get cars off of "The Drag" section of Guadalupe next to the UT campus.

As noted, there are two options on the table at this point. But both include two dedicated rail lines down the middle of the street; previous briefings have outlined the rerouting (condemnations and demolitions) that will be required at each end of the Drag, in order to smooth out the turns at MLK at 29th Street, and the alternate vehicular routes that are available through the West Campus area.

Option A would actually leave one vehicular lane in each direction, for buses and cars to share. But anyone who drives on Guadalupe now already knows that the right-hand shared lanes are slow death, so it's hard to imagine they'll be usable for cars in the new plan. The staff's meeting summary notes that in this option "general traffic lanes may create slowdowns for all traffic in the area"; they also note that it allows for "narrower sidewalks and fewer trees" and "no separated bike lanes," so one might get the feeling that this is the less preferred option.

Option B is a full-on transit mall – no vehicular lanes at all (although buses may be able to share the rail right of way). This allows for separated bike lanes and "wider sidewalks, more trees, more places to gather." And again, cars (and buses?) would be routed a few blocks west, to Nueces, San Antonio, or Rio Grande.

As for the timeline, "completion could take 8-10 years depending on the process" – which is unfortunately the same time frame in which TxDOT intends to have I-35 torn up. And seeing as the city appears to have just given Red River Street to UT for some reason or another, it looks like it's going to be a real slog trying to get anywhere north to south for the next decade. But come 2035 or so, we're gonna be sitting pretty – as you can see in the artist renderings in the presentation, or probably at projectconnect.com by the time you read this.

And next Tuesday, Dec. 14, brings another PC Design Work­shop focused on the Blue Line tunnel Downtown, planned to run crosstown under Fourth Street, all the way from Trinity Street to Guadalupe. Register at capmetro.org/get-involved.

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Pet Food Pantry at Austin Humane Society's future location: Free pet food for struggling pet parents, and get a look at AHS's future home at 7625 N. I-35 (currently Red Rocks Church; parking lot entry off U.S. 183 eastbound access road). It's a drive-through, this Saturday, Dec. 11, 9am-noon, first come, first served. See austinhumanesociety.org for more info.

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And a reminder: Dec. 17 is the deadline for organizations to apply to be a materials supplier for this year's [RE]verse Pitch competition. What the heck is that? See last week's column, or reversepitch.org.