Cap Metro to consider light rail in downtown Austin

Officials from the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro) and Austin, Texas, earlier this week unveiled details of potential rail expansion plans that could be part of a future citywide effort to create high-capacity transit in the area.

In April 2019, Cap Metro and Austin officials began analyzing options for a transportation expansion plan, dubbed Project Connect. Now, at a joint work session earlier this week, Cap Metro made public some of those alternatives, which include the construction of light rail in downtown Austin, KXAN-TV reports.

The light-rail routes would run between the North Lamar and South Congress transit centers, and between the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and the North Lamar Transit Center. Depending on whether the lines are constructed on elevated structures or at street-level, the light rail project could cost $6 billion and $8 billion to construct.

Officials also will explore the possibility of constructing a 1.6-mile rail tunnel along 4th Street between Trinity and Guadalupe streets, which would increase the light-rail project price tag to $8 billion to $10 billion.

Potential transit expansion also includes options for bus rapid transit, but Cap Metro officials told KXAN-TV that relying on only bus rapid transit would leave the system at capacity by 2040.

The authority expects to fund 40 percent of the projects through federal grants, with the remaining dollars to be funded through a transportation bond election or tax rate election. 

Cap Metro's board and the Austin City Council expect to finalize their recommendations by March, and select a final transit option by May.