Content about transportation
Students should make sure to exercise their hefty political potential by voting in city elections, as early voting begins today. All of the incumbents — Mayor Lee Leffingwell and city council members Mike Martinez, Bill Spelman and Sheryl Cole — should be re-elected.
As mayor, Leffingwell has successfully guided Austin through three years of tremendous growth during a devastating global recession. In the past year, Austin’s unemployment rate has stayed below 6 percent, lower than both the state and national average.
Students who rely on the 1, 3 and 101 bus routes to get to and from campus will be able to take advantage of improved bus services in about two years’ time, according to an announcement made by Capital Metro earlier this month. During a press conference downtown, officials from Capital Metro and the Federal Department of Transportation announced funding for Metro’s long-awaited rapid bus system, which is intended to provide faster service along the city’s two most popular bus routes.
With the increasing popularity of pedicab transportation downtown and in surrounding areas, Austin City Council members approved new regulations Thursday to hopefully increase safety of pedicab operation and use.
In order to avoid the sometimes inevitable collision between bikers and pedestrians, a group is working to make UT-Austin a more pedestrian and cyclist friendly campus.
A steadily recovering Central Texas labor market may mean improved job opportunities for this year’s graduating class.
According to a report issued last week by the Texas Workforce Commission, more than 20,000 jobs have been created in the Austin area since this time last year.
Unemployment rates have also continued to fall from 6.8 percent last February to 6.1 percent, well below the national unemployment rate of 8.3 percent.
Drivers in Austin can now more easily satisfy their need for speed with a 5 mph increase to the speed limit on toll roads outside the city.
The Texas Department of Transportation implemented a speed limit increase on toll roads state Highway 45 and state Highway 130 from 75 mph to 80 mph. State Highway 130 travels north to south from Georgetown to Mustang Ridge, and state Highway 45 connects U.S. Highway 183 to Interstate Highway 35 while traveling east to west.
People who have been on campus long enough have a story about a time they were almost hit by a careless driver while crossing the street or a time they saw the same thing happen to someone else. Students and faculty who cycle to campus are sure to have even more stories of harrowing, near-impact situations with traffic on streets around town. Though thousands of pedestrians and cyclists get safely to and from their destinations every day, auto-pedestrian and auto-cyclist accidents and fatalities are a disturbing and increasing trend in Austin.
WASHINGTON — The Senate killed Republican-backed attempts to overturn several of President Barack Obama’s environmental and energy policies Thursday as lawmakers worked against a March 31 deadline to keep aid flowing to more than 100,000 transportation construction projects around the country.
Earlier this month, celebrated UT soccer player Kylie Doniak was crossing a street near campus when she fell victim to a brutal hit-and-run. According to a recent Austin American-Statesman article, Doniak suffered severe injuries, leaving her in critical condition at Brackenridge Hospital. Family and friends poured out to address this tragedy as Doniak, an active 22-year-old, lay still on paralytics.
Nicholas Colunga, the 22 year old driver, was arrested.
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is sending Congress a new budget that seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade through cuts in government spending and higher taxes on the wealthy. At the same time, he wants to boost spending in key areas such as transportation and education.
The spending blueprint is certain to spark an election-year battle with Republicans, who are vowing to oppose Obama’s tax hikes. They contend the president is not doing enough to attack a dangerous deficit problem.
It is a Thursday night, a great night to go downtown with friends. You get dressed up, and you are ready to go. There is just one thing stopping you: a lack of transportation.
You and your friends wait for what feels like hours for the E-bus. One finally comes, but it is at full capacity. Somehow you eventually make it downtown, but you face the same predicament trying to get home. This time, however, it is 3 a.m.
Austin taxi services will begin charging a $1 fee per passenger during peak evening hours in less than a week, city of Austin public information spokesperson Leah Fillion said.
The Austin City Council voted in favor of the fee proposal on Feb. 1 as the city of Austin continues to help regulate the local taxicab industry, ensure its safety and make sure drivers are certified, Fillion said.
Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell launched his re-election campaign Wednesday at Becker Elementary, his childhood school in South Austin. First elected in May 2009, Leffingwell elaborated on his role as a steady hand guiding Austin amid an anemic national economy. Although the mayor deserves praise for his sensible environmental policies, his initiatives on transportation have fallen short of expectations. Nevertheless, a confluence of factors in Austin’s political history leads Leffingwell to be the heavy favorite in next May’s election.
Austin City Council will most likely approve the next phase of construction on the Lance Armstrong Bikeway, connecting East and West Austin for cyclists with dedicated riding paths for the first time.
A statewide evacuation coordination system developed by a UT professor using the latest technology was recently recognized by the International Association of Emergency Managers for its use during the Bastrop wildfires.
Gordon Wells, research associate at the UT Center for Space Research, designed the system in 2006 in the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita in order to improve the coordination and tracking of hurricane evacuees.
Despite offering parking passes at significantly lower rates than rival universities, supporting the nation’s largest university bus system and increasing the number of bicycle racks on campus, there are still many concerns about the transit and parking system by UT students.
A West Campus neighborhood association could try and install up to 400 new parking meters in the area after City Council approved an ordinance Thursday.
Austin is frequently dubbed the epitome of an environmentally friendly city. In fact, our city ranks 10th, the highest among the four Texas cities on Popular Science’s list of America’s 50 greenest cities, which included raw data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the National Geographic Society’s Green Guide and criteria such as electricity, transportation and living and recycling.
Austin is showing a growing affinity for using parking meters to increase revenue. Recently, parking meter hours were extended downtown to include weeknights and Saturdays. City meter hours at the University were extended until 6 p.m., and these meters are now enforced on Saturdays.
KILLINGTON, Vt. — Swollen rivers began falling Wednesday in much of the Northeast, allowing relief crews to reach the last of the tiny Vermont towns that had been entirely cut off from help by Hurricane Irene’s fast-moving floodwaters.
To meet the city’s growing transportation needs, the City Council is likely to vote Thursday on a contract with a consulting firm that will consider long- and short-term plans for the future of Interstate Highway 35.
Potential ideas for the I-35 Corridor Development Program include controlling the traffic coming and leaving the freeway’s ramps and the addition of a lane or lanes to the current shoulder of I-35, which might be made a high occupancy vehicle lane or a “managed” toll lane.
Austin residents may see a change in the way they commute as the City Council is revisiting the potential of the urban rail in hopes of meeting the needs of an increasingly congested city.
In a special work session Tuesday, council members and citizens heard a presentation by the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan on a possible urban rail system.
The proposed plan would involve at least four train routes around the downtown area, with one possibly running through the University north to the Mueller development and south to downtown.
This year’s city council race for Place 3 between incumbent Randi Shade and challenger Kathie Tovo has been one of the most tightly contested local elections in years. The months-long campaigns have featured vicious attacks on the other candidates and may very well serve as a sort of referendum on the future of this city.
Researchers are tracking Austin cyclists to better understand how they travel through the city.
The application CycleTracks records routes cyclists take using the GPS function of their smartphones, according to the study’s website. Users also have the option to indicate the purpose of each bicycle trip.
Texas A&M University’s Texas Transportation Institute is conducting a study along with UT’s Center for Transportation Research using the application in Austin.
Each year, five events boost Austin’s economy by about $357 million combined but cause the city to scramble to accommodate visitors and citizens who struggle to get from point A to point B.
Today, the annual Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau Luncheon will celebrate events such as South By Southwest, Austin City Limits, the Texas Relays, Rodeo Austin and UT football games, which bring hundreds of thousands of people to town and millions of dollars into the economy.
