[Jdawgboy]

This is a really good discussion to have and thanks for initiating the conversation kornbread. I myself think that it is important for both cities to work together in terms of rail infrastructure.

In terms of air, I said on the ABIA update thread that in our region's situation, it makes more sense to have two major airports serving their respective anchor cities rather than creating one large airport in between. It doesn't matter how many people move in between the two it will always be 80 miles from the Alamo to the state capitol building. An airport in between would hurt SAT and AUS and GoldenBoot mentioned after my post that it would likely shut them down. A region such as ours needs two major airports not one. Austin's airport is not going to be outdated in 20-30 years, it's essentially new when it comes down to airports and it has a lot of room to grow and in 20 years, ABIA will likely be pushing 30 million yearly passengers so it would make even less sense then.

Now I'll get to rail. I think rail is vital for the success of our region but I'm not so sure about the LSTAR plan anymore. If this was 20 years ago, the LSTAR would have made more sense if it was up and running within 5 to 8 years. It's just going to be to slow. I also don't like many of the current proposed stops within Austin other than DT. I think we need to shift gears and take a serious look at high speed.

I actually thought of a possible solution to both air and rail. Why not build a high speed line connecting SAT and AUS... A direct service with no stops in between. That would open up air travel options without the need to drive. You could essentially travel from one to the other in 45 minuets or less. Better yet have a rail transit hub at the airports so you simply get off the bullet train and get on light rail to DT Austin or vice versa. Have the rail branch out into each metro. That would create a centralized combined air/rail hub. It's just a thought and it's based on the Areotropolis idea but I think it could work. The LSTAR rail doesn't seem like it's very cost and time efficient and you can only place stops along the existing line which limits desirable locations.

This is an important conversation to have and both Austin and SA forumers should keep the dialog open. I think the verses battles from several years back polarized both sides and we shut eachother out and mostly stuck to our own forums. It's time to change that. We can debate and still have a respectful and engaging conversations.