Downtown Transit Tunnel

Project Connect (listed as Proposition A on the general election ballot) is a transit expansion program by the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (CapMetro) in Austin, Texas, U.S. The program was approved by voters on November 3, 2020, in a local election concurrent with the 2020 presidential election.

The project is estimated to cost $7.1 billion and will be funded with public funds, both federally and locally through increasing the local property tax rate by 8.75 cents. This is a smaller-scale version of the proposal, originally estimated at $10 billion, but ultimately downsized to $7.1 billion due to Covid-induced cost concerns. Plans were again scaled down in 2023 as construction costs had risen since the proposition's passage.

Plan elements

As a part of the plan, CapMetro would add two light rail lines, three bus rapid transit lines, and one commuter rail line to the already existing Red Line, which will also undergo major improvements. The proposal also calls for general investments to all routes, a fully-electric bus and train fleet, and new park and ride areas throughout the service area. A Downtown Transit Tunnel was originally proposed, but was cut from plans in May 2023.

CapMetro Rail Blue Line

Phase I of the Blue Line would operate on a stretch of light rail with 13 stations, running through downtown to 38th Street from Yellow Jacket Lane. The line would provide service along East Riverside Drive, then join with the Orange Line to cross Lady Bird Lake to the Austin Convention Center and run west on 3rd Street to Republic Square (the city's central transportation hub). Phase I of the line continues north with the Orange Line along Guadalupe Street to terminate 38th Street. The Blue Line will provide key service to the Texas State Capitol complex and The University of Texas at Austin campus. Phase I Priority Extensions include a , primarily elevated southeastern extension to serve the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, and a northern extension shared with the Orange Line along Guadalupe Street and North Lamar Boulevard to Crestview station. The blue line will run at a frequency of every 10 minutes, but that frequency can be increased for special events if needed. On parts of the route where two light rail lines share the same tracks, trains will arrive every 5 minutes.

CapMetro Rail Orange Line

Phase I of the Orange Line, planned to be approximately with 9 stations, will link North and South Austin. The line would run from Oltorf Street to Lady Bird Lake along South Congress Avenue, before joining with the Blue Line and connecting to Downtown and the UT Campus, terminating jointly at 38th Street. The route would share a Phase I Priority Extension north to Crestview Station with the Blue Line, running a similar route to the current MetroRapid Route 801. The Orange Line will run at a frequency of every 10 minutes, but that frequency can be increased for special events if needed. On parts of the route where two light rail lines share the same tracks, trains will arrive every 5 minutes.

CapMetro Rail Green Line

The MetroRail Green Line is a proposed corridor traveling from downtown Austin to eastern Travis County and into Bastrop County, connecting Manor, Texas with downtown Austin by commuter rail. With new transit hubs and Park & Rides, the Green Line would operate along Capital Metro's existing freight line between Austin and Manor, with a possible future terminus at Elgin, connecting suburban residents to central Austin. The Green Line would interline with the Red Line between Downtown and Plaza Saltillo stations, where it will then split off, with the Red Line heading north and the Green Line heading east.

CapMetro Rail Red Line infill and improvement

CapMetro's Red Line is a commuter rail service linking downtown Austin to residential neighborhoods in East Austin, the Domain, Research Park, Cedar Park, and Leander. Currently under construction is the future Downtown station, which will connect commuters with the downtown area, giving commuters and visitors direct access to the Austin Convention Center. Multiple upgrades to the red line are proposed by Project Connect. Two new stations were planned, at McKalla (adjacent to the new Austin FC soccer stadium), and at the Broadmoor development. These new stations would replace the existing Kramer station. The installation of positive train control was completed in August 2020. Additionally, once the new Downtown station is complete, the red line will run every 15 minutes, doubling its current frequency and capacity. If Project Connect is built out to its full plan in the future, the red line will be electrified, and station platforms will be extended to accommodate 2-unit trains.

CapMetro Rapid Gold Line

The revised proposal would build the Gold Line first as a MetroRapid bus service. The system plan, however, envisions the Gold Line as light rail that would operate for approximately connecting 15 stations from Austin Community College's Highland campus along Airport Boulevard and Red River Street into downtown, across the river and through SoCo (South Congress), a popular neighborhood south of the Colorado River. Along its route, the Gold Line would service UT Austin's main campus to the east, easing access to sports events, given the line's close proximity to Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium and new Moody Center.

Downtown Transit Tunnel

The original plans for Project Connect proposed a transit tunnel underneath the Downtown area, which would have served the Orange, Blue, and Gold light rail lines. The initial tunnel would have run under Guadalupe street from Cesar Chavez street to at least 14th street, as well as under 4th street from Guadalupe to Trinity street with another tunnel being dug at a later point under Trinity street from Cesar Chavez street to 14th street to serve the gold line.

By 2021, planners were considering moving the Orange Line's southern portal to near Lively Middle School at Leland Street, citing engineering challenges with emerging close to Lady Bird Lake and the topography of South Congress. By 2022, due to cost overruns and ballooning labor and material costs due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Project Connect would be drastically downsized, with the Downtown Transit Tunnel being one of the first aspects to be cut with the lines being rerouted to all share a bridge.

CapMetro Rapid and CapMetro Express expansion

Currently, CapMetro operates two bus rapid transit routes (801 and 803) branded as CapMetro Rapid. Under Project Connect, seven new lines are proposed as enhanced or potential future service throughout Austin. In addition to connecting different transit services, these lines mostly feature a park and ride at their terminus for commuters. Project Connect also proposes four new MetroExpress commuter bus lines, as well as extended service to existing lines.

Electric fleet

As part of the Project Connect plan, CapMetro envisions a fully-electric bus and train fleet. The goal is to completely electrify the fleet of around 400 buses and trains by 2040, and the agency has already purchased 12 electric buses. In 2018, 3 bus manufacturers, Proterra, New Flyer, and BYD, lent electric test buses to Capital Metro for a pilot testing program. The agency ultimately chose Proterra for the purchase of their first 2 electric buses, later increasing that number to 6 buses. The first 2 Proterra buses arrived in late 2019, and the next 4 arrived in the summer of 2020. In 2019, Capital Metro approved a contract with New Flyer for the purchase of 6 Xcelsior electric buses. The order includes four 40-foot and two 60-foot buses, and these buses were delivered in the summer of 2020. The agency chose New Flyer for the second order of buses because they offered the 60-foot option, which Proterra does not offer. CapMetro also chose to buy from two different manufacturers to help compare the performance of each company's buses and inform decisions on larger contracts in the future.

CapMetro broke ground in 2019 on a new electric bus charging facility at their North Operations yard on Burnet Road. The facility will have the capacity to charge and maintain 200 electric buses, and will be highly automated.

The Orange, Blue, and Gold light rail lines will run on electricity, unlike the current Red Line, which uses diesel-electric trains. CapMetro is looking into various options for powering the light rail vehicles, such as a traditional catenary system, using battery-powered trains with quick-charging technology at stations (such as Kinkisharyo's e-Brid technology), and Alstom's APS Ground-Level Power Supply system. The existing red line will also be electrified.

Neighborhood circulators

Neighborhood circulator buses will connect transit areas to the surrounding community. According to the proposal, there will be 15 new neighborhood zones for this first/last mile connection service.

CapMetro Bike

For last mile connections, CapMetro proposes an electric bike fleet at transit hubs as well as rental/payment integration in the CapMetro mobile application.

Park and Rides

In addition to new services, CapMetro is also proposing nine new park and rides throughout the region.

Scaled down light rail

By April 2022, the estimated cost of the light rail portion of Project Connect had ballooned to $10.3 billion, up from the initial $5.8 billion estimate. Austin Transit Partnership presented five reduced plans in March 2023 in order to deliver the light rail lines with the provided funding. Most of the proposed alternatives did away with tunneling downtown, with a greater reliance on surface running tracks. Austin Transit Partnership selected a preferred route in May 2023 with surface running and one crossing of Lady Bird Lake. Austin City Council gave its approval to a $7.1 billion preliminary project, which would include 9.8 miles of new light rail line, on June 1, 2023.

Legal controversy

In November 2023, the City of Austin and the Austin Transit Partnership, among others, were sued under the legal theory that the scaled down plans required voter approval. The plaintiffs include former state senator Gonzalo Barrientos ( D- 14), Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez (D), and Austin Council Member Ora Houston (D), with the lead plaintiff being a burger restaurant built in 1926 named Dirty Martin's that was set to be demolished in the original project proposition. They argue that although the scope of the project was reduced in size and cost in 2022, that the reduced scope warrants an entire new proposition, and cannot proceed or be funded without a popular referendum. More specifically, the plaintiffs argue that the city cannot use money that was earmarked for maintenance and operation to be used for debt service on bonds the ATP planned on issuing.

Texas' attorney general, Ken Paxton ( R) issued an opinion in favor of the plaintiffs, arguing that the ATP's bond funding scheme violates article XI, section 5 of the Texas Constitution. The plaintiffs are requesting that the Travis County district court permanently enjoin the city defendants from “continuing to assess or collect the Project Connect tax because they no longer have voter approval for the tax as required by the Texas Tax Code.” As well as asking for a permanent injunction to prohibit the city and ATP “from spending the Project Connect tax on designing, acquiring right-of-way or constructing the Third Street rail route or the Trinity Street Bridge over Lady Bird Lake.”

The case is set to be heard in court on May 28-30 2024, however, Paxton has attempted to push the hearing until after the 2024 legislative elections seemingly in an effort to reintroduce House Bill 3899, or a similar variant. House Bill 3899 was introduced by Ellen Troxclair (R- 19), a former member of the Austin City Council, which would have frozen the project until a new referendum could be held. Despite easily passing the house three times, the bill would be defeated in the Texas Senate each time, triggering the three-reading rule, which prohibits a bill from being read in a single legislative session more than three times. Additionally, Paxton has full authority to approve or deny any entity that wants to issue debt in the state.

Approval

On September 24, 2024, it was announced that Project Connect would tentatively be going forward with a $193 million budget that would hopefully break ground in 2027. The project also includes two bus lanes that will begin operating in 2025. The exact budget was $172 million in funding from taxpayers, with the remaining $21 million in investments and other income. The Austin Transit Partnership has estimated it will spend $116 million towards "professional services and administrative costs" with the rest going towards new construction. Of that, $8 million is set aside for the two bus routes, while the remaining cost will go towards environmental impact reviews, as well as overall design.

References

{{Austin

Capital Metro
Proposed public transportation in Texas
Rail transportation in Austin, Texas
Transportation ballot measures in the United States
2020 ballot measures in the United States