SAN ANTONIO | City and Metro Transportation Thread

[Restless 1]

Originally Posted by Spoiler

I think the only realistic course is a gradual shift that starts around downtown and slowly radiates outward. Maybe urban development will start to appear around and within the Medical Center and UTSA before too long.

Unrealistically, I have plenty of ideas but they all cost massive amounts of money and political will.

May be we have several urban centers and connect them eventually with rail. It will take, as you said, a lot of money and some politicians with stones to get it done.

[Spoiler]

Check it out. The Express-News has published this thing. There's a lot to chew on.

https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/g...age/index.html

[maxus]

Someone please tell me which site converts my images to upload here.

[Fireoutofclay]

Texas startup eyes royalties, not eminent domain, in hyperloop plan

Kristen Mosbrucker Reporter, San Antonio Business Journal
Upstart Business Journal
July 14, 2016, 11:00am EDT
http://upstart.bizjournals.com/news/...in.html?page=3

A bullet train building startup called Transonic Transportation LLC that recently relocated to San Antonio from its roots in Louisiana has its eye on an alternative to the Lone Star Rail project — a commuter train line that would connect downtown San Antonio to the urban core of Austin along the I-35 corridor that's been abandoned by Union Pacific after a deal fell through.

http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/01/...hyperloop.html

[Fireoutofclay]

Trip to DFW from San Antonio could take 2 hours in possible new rail project
By Adam Hammons
KEYETV.COM
Monday, July 18th 2016
http://keyetv.com/news/local/trip-to...w-rail-project

A federally funded study is looking into a rail project that could taking passengers from San Antonio to Dallas-Fort Worth in two hours. The U.S. Department of Transportation is funding the Texas-Oklahoma passenger rail study, which is looking at a passenger rail connecting the Texas-Mexico border with Oklahoma City. The route could parallel I-35 and include portions of high speed rail of more than 200 miles per hour.

[Fireoutofclay]

Research underway for SA to Austin 'bullet train' with 15-minute commute
Alicia Neaves, KENS
kens5.com
1:17 AM. CDT July 26, 2016
http://www.kens5.com/travel/research...mute/280948122

SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio to Austin in 15 minutes? A local company says it can be done using a bullet train going up to 600 miles an hour, costing you less than $10 a ride.

A development firm called Transonic Transportation is already doing research in San Antonio to figure out how to make this a reality. They say they can build a train that practically flies.

[Fireoutofclay]

San Antonio is a step closer to a rail transit plan eight years in the making
W. Scott Bailey Reporter/Project Coordinator
San Antonio Business Journal
Jul 27, 2016, 2:19pm CDT Updated Jul 27, 2016, 4:29pm CDT
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanantoni...nsit-plan.html

The Federal Railroad Administration and Texas Department of Transportation have released 10 service and route options for high-speed passenger rail service that could connect San Antonio with Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Laredo and Oklahoma City, according to U.S. Rep. Congressman Henry Cuellar, D-Texas.

Those options were evaluated as part of the Tier 1 Draft Environmental Impact Statement, or DEIS. Cuellar said the release of routes represents a key step forward on a project he has pushed since 2008.

[texboy]

SAT Announces Record Travel Month in June

Link

San Antonio International reported a record month with 800,107 total passengers served in June 2016, a 3.1 percent increase as compared to June 2015. This represents the first time on record total passenger traffic has exceeded 800,000 in the month of June.

[Keep-SA-Lame]

Looks like VIA's wrapped up their updates to their new long range plan. The hypothetical LRT routes are pretty ambitious/not particularly realistic considering SA's history with rail proposals, but there's plenty of other good stuff in here. Definitely worth a look:

http://www.viavision2040.com/wp-cont...2040_LRP-1.pdf

[Fireoutofclay]

New San Antonio-Austin Passenger Rail Proposal Floated
www.woai.com
Posted August 24th, 2016 @ 6:36am

http://woai.iheart.com/media/play/27255844/

http://woai.iheart.com/articles/loca...osal-15039430/

A new proposal is being floated to run a passenger rail line from San Antonio to Austin, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

Bexar County Commissioners have gone on record in supporting efforts of the San Antonio and Austin Metropolitan Planning Agencies to look into the possibility of running a commuter rail line right up the middle of an expanded Interstate 35.

Read more: http://woai.iheart.com/articles/loca...#ixzz4IHReCDut

[texboy]

Mayor, county judge to appoint airport-services task force

“I think for the task force, what we’re trying to accomplish is to be forward thinking on this critical issue of the airport, which keeps coming up in relation to the city’s future, economic development, attracting companies, attracting more residents here,” Taylor said. “Since we’re also planning for this growth in our community, I think it’s a great time for us to really take a step back and look at what all our options are.”

Taylor said the task force would include business leaders and officials from the leisure and tourism industries, which constitute, according to city officials, about 70 percent of the air travel in and out of San Antonio International Airport. Taylor said the group would look at “all the options, where really nothing is off the table.”

That includes San Antonio building another airport with — or without — partnering with Austin.

[wwmiv]

Has there ever been any public discussion by city leaders about where to put a new airport?

[Onward]

I really don't see the need for a new airport. Current site is well located and a quick drive into downtown, Medical Center, and so on. A new Site out towards New Braunfels/35 is rather far. Northwest side not the terrain required. South side away from the majority of the population. They still have plenty of room to add another terminal if need be. With all the recent consolidation in the industry not too many new Airlines that could add service to SAT. JetBlue and Spirit are the only two. In regards to Austin their Airport is rather and new and still being upgraded. No need for the joint venture with us.Perhaps in another 25 years I could see a joint airport. But not anytime soon.

[sirkingwilliam]

Originally Posted by wwmiv

Has there ever been any public discussion by city leaders about where to put a new airport?

I'm hearing there's a strong push for the far south or far southeast side, more than likely outside 1604. As the article states, a big reason for that would be to capture the vast south Texas market.

[adtobias]

San Antonio has a lack of direct flights and competition is hurting the local economy. Austin has many more direct flights and airlines to choose from.

[texboy]

One of the problems I've heard, mainly from other forumers, is the lack of expansion space in terms of airfield. Currently the longest runway is 8500'. In order for most long haul wide bodies including the 787 Dreamliner and 777, a minimum 10,000' runway is required, I'm assuming to take off with a full load of passengers/fuel. Currently the largest commercial passenger plane taking off from SA is the Delta flight to Atlanta which uses B752 equipment. So if SA ever expects to attract a long haul European or Asian route, they are going to have to do something about the runway situation. In another article I read, it stated that the task force would eye the south side or southwest side to pull in more passengers from Corpus, Victoria, and the Valley. I think as long as there is easy access along one of the loops as is the case in Houston with the big airport, the airport would be successful.

[STLtoSA]

Originally Posted by texboy

One of the problems I've heard, mainly from other forumers, is the lack of expansion space in terms of airfield. Currently the longest runway is 8500'. In order for most long haul wide bodies including the 787 Dreamliner and 777, a minimum 10,000' runway is required, I'm assuming to take off with a full load of passengers/fuel. Currently the largest commercial passenger plane taking off from SA is the Delta flight to Atlanta which uses B752 equipment. So if SA ever expects to attract a long haul European or Asian route, they are going to have to do something about the runway situation. In another article I read, it stated that the task force would eye the south side or southwest side to pull in more passengers from Corpus, Victoria, and the Valley. I think as long as there is easy access along one of the loops as is the case in Houston with the big airport, the airport would be successful.

A couple of things:

• There is plenty of opportunity to extend both Runways to around 10,000' (and there is a plan for a parallel runway). If that were the main issue extending the runways would be a lot cheaper than building a new airport.
  
• Building an airport on the far south side would not attract people from Corpus, Victoria, and the Valley much more than the current airport. A move to the far south might trigger people on the North side to choose Austin more times than they would currently.

San Antonio should be exploring the state of future San Antonio air travel. If there is ever a need for a new airport in San Antonio that will be a pretty good indicator that things are going extremely well. However, we are not anywhere close that that yet. The current airport is far from capacity in its current state and there is still a lot of room for growth (~20 gates).

There has been a lot of money put into the airport in recent years and a lot more is planned. There is a plan to meet demands until at least 2050.

So even though there may be talk of a future airport location...we aren't talking about anything in the near future.

[GoldenBoot]

^This.

[jaga185]

Originally Posted by STLtoSA

A couple of things:

• There is plenty of opportunity to extend both Runways to around 10,000' (and there is a plan for a parallel runway). If that were the main issue extending the runways would be a lot cheaper than building a new airport.
  
• Building an airport on the far south side would not attract people from Corpus, Victoria, and the Valley much more than the current airport. A move to the far south might trigger people on the North side to choose Austin more times than they would currently.

San Antonio should be exploring the state of future San Antonio air travel. If there is ever a need for a new airport in San Antonio that will be a pretty good indicator that things are going extremely well. However, we are not anywhere close that that yet. The current airport is far from capacity in its current state and there is still a lot of room for growth (~20 gates).

There has been a lot of money put into the airport in recent years and a lot more is planned. There is a plan to meet demands until at least 2050.

So even though there may be talk of a future airport location...we aren't talking about anything in the near future.

cosign

[AwesomeSAView]

Originally Posted by adtobias

San Antonio has a lack of direct flights and competition is hurting the local economy. Austin has many more direct flights and airlines to choose from.

It is a big PAIN to drive to Austin in that horrible I35 traffic up there just to get a direct flight.
And then to leave my car in their parking garage for two weeks? No thank you! The money I'd save on the parking will go to my enjoyment on my trip!!
No, I'll just enjoy the lower fares of having to transfer planes. No biggie!
And hurting the local economy? Hardly, think so....
Economy booming.....
But, I do like the current site of our airport. It is centrally located.