Here's an op-ed from Robert Spillar, COA Trans. Dept. Director where he discusses multi-modal transportation options:
http://www.austin-mobility.com/news/austin-business-journal-op-ed-no-single-solution-to-trafficJune 22, 2012
Austin Business Journal Op-Ed: ‘no single solution to traffic’
The Austin Business Journal printed a guest editoral by Austin Transportation Director Robert Spillar on June 22, 2012.
Urban rail will be one of many ways to fight traffic
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by Rob Spillar, Contributing Writer
Friday, June 22, 2012
In a recent editorial, the Austin Business Journal poses the question if Urban Rail can “be a key component in Austin’s solution to traffic woes.”
As the director of the Austin Transportation Department, I’m quick to point out that there is no single “solution to traffic woes.” National transportation experts agree.
In Austin, that is especially true because our transportation challenges are complex. Short of tearing up neighborhoods and threatening community icons, there is no simple solution to our congested travel system.
Our congested roads are an unfortunate byproduct of being an economically successful and dynamic urban area. What our city does not have, as compared to many of our peer cities competing for private sector investment, is a wide array of travel options for people to commute and move spontaneously.
Our metro area added about 150 people a day between 2010 and 2011, the ABJ recently reported. And, as noted in his 2011 State of the City address, the mayor has said “Austin’s traffic problems are the direct result of our dramatic, ongoing population growth, and our dramatic, ongoing failure to invest in the systems and infrastructure we need to stay ahead of it.”
What the city is doing, in concert with our regional partners, is pursuing a holistic approach to mobility — walking, biking, high-capacity transit and driving — to give our citizens reliable and affordable ways to get to where they live and work throughout the region.
Urban rail is an important part of a much larger, highly networked road and transit system developing throughout the Austin region. It does this by providing multiple connections to the currently operating MetroRail line serving Austin to Leander, the emerging MetroRapid bus serving South and Northwest Austin planned for 2014, and the planned regional rail line connecting Georgetown to San Antonio.
Infrastructure investments, such as urban rail, shape land use and development patterns and can ensure that Austin maintains its charm and quality of life for residents of all ages and backgrounds, even as its population continues to skyrocket. In short, it will help keep Austin like Austin.
We’ve also heard from other cities that rail investment generates jobs and economic growth by providing an anchor for private sector investment. That means every Austinite benefits from the increased property and sales tax revenue generated from large transportation projects because it directly supplements the city’s general revenue fund. That fund pays for services such as Austin’s police, firefighters and parks.
Robert Spillar, P.E.
Director of Transportation
Austin Transportation Department
