Quote:
Originally Posted by _Matt
These corridors provide for increased density, which is what is needed for successful rail. 90+% of Austinites have no use for streetcar style rail because of the last mile problem. This helps increase the density so streetcar rail might make sense someday.
Light rail expansions would be helpful but it's hard to get the core excited about that.
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True. Plus, I think some of the corridor plans even have complete separation of bus traffic. This could definitely make adding in rail in those corridors more feasible later on.
I could imagine, if the city does this right, that we could have "West Campus-like" density along these corridors. That could really push Austin forward in terms of travel mode-shift and it could reduce the strain on the other, larger roadways (I-35, Mopac).
My only problem with the bond plan is the $111M for FM 969. I would rather see that money used to add a dedicated bus lane along N and S Lamar, Burnet Rd, and for MLK between I-35 and 183 (this segment hasn't had a corridor study yet). I would also like to see the bike lanes on N and S Lamar and Burnet Rd separated from the rest of the traffic like what is proposed for Airport Blvd:
