What We Heard From You!

During the first phase of community engagement activities, we heard from many people throughout central Texas.

People took

the time to attend one of our community open houses, a webinar, or one of our smaller group “road shows” and briefings to learn more about Project Connect and high-capacity transit plans  for our region.

During each of these activities, we conducted a brief survey to see what people learned as they visited our exhibits or viewed a presentation on Project Connect. We also solicited ideas on mobility challenges or opportunities from open house participants. In addition, people were asked to identify gaps in the high-capacity transit elements of the CAMPO 2035 Long-Range Transportation Plan.

Here is what we have heard so far:

First, about 93% of the nearly 300 people queried, indicated that they believe rush hour traffic congestion is a serious problem in central Texas and must be addressed.

Nearly 91% agreed that, because of Central Texas’ growth and constraints to expanding highways, alternative transportation options should be explored.

About 89% of those responding also agreed that high-capacity transit can be part of the solution for improving mobility in our region.

When asked about challenges and opportunities for addressing regional congestion, people had a variety of comments and suggestions that fall into the following general categories.

• It would be a good idea to connect land use and transportation, i.e., make it easier for people to travel between home and work or recreation.
• More information is needed on high-capacity transit, and more public education on the topic would benefit the regional community.
• It is good to have transportation options. In other words, people would like the opportunity to choose ways of moving around the city that include driving in a car as well as using public transportation.
• It would be good to have more high-capacity transit into and within the core of the region (i.e., central Austin) where so many people work and go for entertainment, as well as between the numerous towns and cities that make up our region.
• A consolidation of transportation authorities would benefit the region’s residents.
• A network of high-capacity transit and improved roadways (with express lanes) would be of great value to the region.
• To be effective, high-capacity transit needs to have associated infrastructure, i.e., good sidewalks that lead into it, bicycle, pedestrian, and mobility impaired access, and comfortable stops/shelters.
• High-capacity transit should be complemented by bicycle/pedestrian paths/trails and good connections that help people cover the “last mile” to their final destinations.

Gaps:

People identified gaps all over the regional high-capacity transit plan map.These gaps fall into the following general categories:

• More transportation between the suburban areas and the central core of the region
• Enhanced commuter rail coverage and hours
• High-capacity transit from the southwest areas of the region, from the north, and from the east.

During the course of our outreach, the public and the Transit Working Group identified perceived gaps in central Texas high-capacity transit plans. This map consolidates many of the comments we heard. Project Connect staff will evaluate each of these corridors' suitability for high-capacity transit.

Here is a closer look at the gaps in the regional high-capacity transit plan identified by the public and the Transit Working Group for the downtown Austin area.

As Project Connect continues to move forward, we will seek your feedback on how our region should organize to deliver high-capacity transit and how we might pay for such a system. Stay tuned.

Where have we been?

Project Connect has been all over the place! Check out our Record of Public Engagement to see where we have gone to get input on High-Capacity Transit for central Texas. Is your organization of neighborhood missing? Invite us to your next group meeting!  We will continue to travel the region to get your input on central Texas’ High-Capacity transit plan.