Austinites Vote "Yes" to Public Transit Plans

In the recent November election, Austinites voted “YES” to both Proposition A & B, two public transportation improvement plans proposed in the upcoming years for our city. But just what exactly does a “YES” vote mean to these plans and what changes should we start to expect seeing in Austin over the next couple of years?

PROP A

Prop A will bring 19 new miles of light rail and 26 new stations to Austin over the next 10 years. To pay for this, Austinites can expect to see an almost 4% increase in their January property tax bill. Where will this money go? Prop A will dedicate 8.75 cents of the operations and maintenance portion of the tax rate for Project Connect, Capital Metro’s $7.1 billion public transit plan. To supplement the project and get it off the ground, the city of Austin will expect to receive about 45% of its needed money in federal funding. However, the rest of the plan funding plus the ongoing maintenance of Project Connect will be supplied through tax dollars.

According to KVue News, here is a breakdown of the initial phases of Prop A that we can expect to start see in development in Austin:

  • Blue Line: A light rail line running from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS), connecting through the Downtown Station and running north to Lamar Boulevard at U.S. 183

  • Orange Line: A light rail line running from North Lamar Boulevard at U.S. 183 south to Stassney Lane, connecting through Republic Square

  • Downtown Transit Tunnel: The underground tunnel would run more than 20 city blocks (1.6 miles) from Cesar Chavez Street to 11th Street, from Guadalupe Street to Trinity Street, and from Fourth Street to the cul de sac near Lady Bird Lake at Trinity Street.

  • Green Line: Like the current Red Line, the Green Line would serve as a commuter rail running from downtown to the Colony Park neighborhood in East Austin

  • Gold Line: A new rapid bus route going from the Austin Community College Highland area, through the Downtown Station to the Republic Square Station.

  • Three new MetroRapid routes, which are buses with frequent service and a limited number of stops

  • Neighborhood circulators: 15 new zones or vehicles would be added to help neighborhoods gain better access to the main transit lines

  • Community displacement: A $300 million investment that would help communities affected by transit line creation and construction

  • Other features including park and rides, customer technology systems and maintenance facility improvements

PROP B

Prop B is a different sort of transportation plan in that its focused on climate change and pedestrian/commuter safety.

The plan does include a pair of bridges — a $16 million three-spoke pedestrian bridge spanning Lady Bird Lake on the upper side of the Longhorn Dam at Pleasant Valley Road, along with proposed improvements to the Barton Springs Road bridge over Barton Creek that will allow pedestrian and bicyclists safer access to Zilker Park and Barton Springs Pool.

Prop B will increase property taxes an additional 2%, or to put in dollars for a homeowner with a residence near the city’s year-to-date median home sales price of about $415,000, that would amount to an increase of approx $83 a year.

According to the City of Austin’s plans, here’s the breakdown of improvements that the $460 million Prop B will be used for:

Sidewalks: $80 million would go to build roughly 78 miles of new sidewalks and to rehabilitate existing sidewalks.

Urban trails: $80 million would go to build out urban trails such as Shoal Creek, the Red Line, Walnut Creek and the Bergstrom Spur, as well as design work for other trails.

Bikeways: $40 million would go to build out about 70% of bikeways identified in the Austin Bicycle Plan’s All Ages and Abilities Bicycle Network.

Safety/Vision Zero: $65 million would go for reconstruction of 25 intersections, pedestrian crossings and speed mitigation projects as part of Vision Zero, the city’s program that aims to eliminate traffic deaths.

Safe routes to school: $20 million would go to address about 8% of high and very high priority safe routes projects.

Transit enhancement: $19 million would go to projects addressing the safety of bus service and transit access as well as communication.

Substandard streets: $53 million would go to Ross Road and Johnny Morris Road for improvements — including widening roads and adding new drainage — that were recommended in engineering reports that were done as part of the 2016 Mobility Bond.

Capital improvements: $102 million would go to the construction of the Longhorn Dam pedestrian bridge, Congress Avenue urban design, South Pleasant Valley corridor improvements and various pedestrian infrastructure projects.

So, regardless how you might feel about the “YES” vote and the property tax increases, we should all prepare for upcoming rapid changes to our cities’ transportation infrastructure.

Who knows, maybe we will even eventually feel some congestion relief on Austin roads? Nah, don’t get your hopes too high just yet. :)


Austin Ranks High on Inaugural "Cities of the Future" List

In many lists, studies and polls, Austin continues to prove that it is a city on track for continued global business success. According to the inaugural Tier 2 Cities of the Future Report , Austin ranked #11 on the overall list of cities that is capturing the attention of investors worldwide.

"Second-tier" cities across the globe are defined as cities with a population under 8 million. These cities were evaluated on 116 data points across five categories:

  1. Economic Potential

  2. Cost Effectiveness

  3. Business Friendliness

  4. Connectivity

  5. Human Capital and Lifestyle

In addition to taking 11th place overall, Austin ranked eighth in the world for economic growth potential. So, in addition to Austin being named the Best City, the Healthiest City in America and the Top Market in the U.S. and Canada, it turns out Austin is also a solid investment as well.

Rounding out the top 20 international Tier 2 cities were:

  1. San Francisco, CA

  2. Montreal, Canada

  3. Houston, Texas

  4. Dusseldorf, Germany

  5. Hamburg, Germany

  6. Boston, Massachusetts

  7. Wroclow, Poland

  8. Edinburgh, Scotland

  9. Seattle, Washington

  10. Espoo, Finland

  11. Austin, Texas

  12. Manchester, England

  13. Reading, England

  14. Basel, Switzerland

  15. Belfast, Ireland

  16. Rotterdam, Netherlands

  17. Nanjing, China

  18. Miami, Florida

  19. Dallas, Texas

  20. Atlanta, Georgia

Austin Named #1 of the Top 5 Markets to Watch in 2020

One year ago, Austin was ranked sixth place in overall real estate prospects and fourth place in local expectation of investor demand. All that has improved even more in 2020. According to pwc.com Guide to Emerging Trends in US/Canada real estate, Austin is now the TOP market in both overall real estate prospects and local expectation of investor demand.

The top ranked cities in overall real estate prospects for 2020:

  1. Austin, TX

  2. Raleigh/Durham, NC

  3. Nashville, TN

  4. Charlotte, NC

  5. Boston, MA

The report continues to identify Austin as a top-tier 18-hour city. Some of Austin’s defining characteristics, such as its motto, “Keep Austin Weird,” its incredibly talented pool of workplace skills, its outdoor lifestyle and its ongoing commitment to expansion, both in business and in real estate, were some of the reasons for Austin’s top ranking. In addition, Austin has the highest projected population growth rate for the next 5 years among any of the 80 markets that were analyzed for this report.

Although Austin comes out on top for this year, the report did not ignore some ongoing problems that will need to be addressed if Austin is to stay at the top real estate market. Traffic congestion and housing affordability where two of the ongoing issues mentioned that will need to be intentionally addressed by city officials. But for now, Austinites can take pride that we are the very top market in 2020 for the United States and Canada, which is a feat in any season, much less during a pandemic!

Tesla's Largest Plant Coming To Austin

No matter what you think of Elon Musk or his famous brand, Tesla, a decision this past month on selecting Austin for the site of Tesla’s biggest production plant is a win for all Austinites, especially in these pandemic times. Tesla’s new plant is slated to bring on 5,000 new employees in the Austin area who will specialize in assembling two models for Tesla: its new pickup truck slated to be introduced next year, and a Tesla SUV that is already in production. Tesla plans to pay an average salary of $47,147, with entry-level positions starting at $35,000.

Incentive to Come to Austin

Musk was looking for a centralized location in the country for his new plant, and while other locations like Tulsa, Oklahoma, put up a good fight, the city of Austin won out due to its overall incentive package.

Tesla will build on a 2,100-acre site in Travis County near Austin and will receive more than $60 million in tax breaks from the county and a local school district over the next decade. Work on the plant, which will be over 4 million square feet, is already underway, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said.

Where Will Tesla Locate?

Tesla is building the factory on a plot of land east of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, next to about two miles of Texas’ Colorado river. The land is largely unused right now, although a sand and gravel mining company does operate in the center of the development.

Future site of Tesla plant in Southeast Austin

Future site of Tesla plant in Southeast Austin

The Irony

While we are happy to have this economic boost come to Austin, the irony of Tesla choosing ATX as its largest location is that currently, Tesla isn’t allowed to legally sell its vehicles in Texas. Why? Because Texas state law requires that cars can only be sold through franchised dealers, not company stores like Tesla. We will see if that law flexes over time, but for now, Texans will only be allowed to make Teslas, not buy them!

More Efficient, Easier on the Environment

While many Tesla executives were pushing for Austin as the next choice, the ultimate reason Tesla chose Austin was to cut down on its delivery timeline to customers in the Northeast. East Coast customers will no longer have to wait for a car to be transported from Tesla’s Fremont factory in Northern California, and the company will save on fuel and transport costs as well.

What do you think about Tesla coming to Austin? Let us know in the comments below!