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Austin has experienced a prolonged period of both population growth and expansion of its metro area, but many of the speed limits on city streets were set long before this period of rapid growth.
Austin Transportation has conducted engineering studies on arterials, or major streets that carry high volumes of traffic, to better align speed limits with the city as it exists today.
In 2020, Austin City Council approved a host of speed limit changes inside Austin's urban core. On June 16, 2022, Austin City Council approved dozens more speed limit changes on arterials outside the urban core, or outside the area bound by US 183, SH 71/US 290 and MoPac.
The changes include:
- 5 mph speed limit reductions on 38 street segments
- 10 mph speed limit reductions on nine street segments
- 15 mph speed limit reduction on one street segment (McKinney Falls Parkway)
- Formally setting speed limits on four street segments that previously had no posted speed limits
Speed is the number one contributing factor to fatal crashes in Austin, and combined with other strategies, reducing speed limits is one way the city is working to reduce the number of deaths and serious injuries on city streets to zero.
You can find a map of the speed limit changes approved by Austin City Council here. For more information on the ways Austin Transportation is working to curb egregious speeding, visit the Speed Management page.
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Project Connect: New details on The Drag and subway station design
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Staff from the Austin Transit Partnership, CapMetro and the City of Austin held two recent community engagement meetings to present new details of the multibillion-dollar project to revamp Austin's public transportation network.
At this June 14 meeting, staff presented new design options along the Drag, the section of Guadalupe Street that runs to the west of the University of Texas campus.
According to the new design options, the section of the Drag between 22nd and 29th streets would be converted to a pedestrian mall for transit vehicles, pedestrians and bicyclists only with no vehicle traffic. According to projections presented at the June 14 meeting, the transit mall would move more than 21,000 people per hour through the area, a three-fold increase over the current configuration.
The new transit mall concept has two variations: one that would feature light rail vehicles and buses sharing a guideway and another that would feature shared bus and bicycle lanes. There is a similar shared bus and bike lane on West Fifth Street.
ATD is designing changes to Nueces Street between 24th Street and Guadalupe Street as part of the 2016 Mobility Bond. This section will be converted to two-way operations with a new traffic signal at Guadalupe Street and Nueces Street. This change will enhance safety and mobility in West Campus for local trips. The project will begin construction this summer with work at the intersection of Guadalupe and Nueces streets. The two-way conversion is planned for early 2023.
Project Connect staff presented detailed concepts June 22 for six proposed subway stations that would be located underground, including proposals for station entrances at street level and cross-sections showing pedestrian concourses and station platforms underground.
The underground stations would be located around the center of the city on the Orange Line, a 20-mile light rail corridor proposed to run between Tech Ridge Park & Ride at Howard Lane south to Slaughter Lane, and on the Blue Line, the proposed 8.2-mile light rail corridor proposed to run from Republic Square to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.
A proposed underground transit hub in downtown Austin would connect some of those downtown stations, allowing pedestrians to access different entrances at the street level and walk underground to their desired station.
For recordings of these meetings and previous community engagement sessions hosted by Project Connect staff, visit Project Connect's public engagement library.
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City crews working to repair hundreds of miles of roadway this summer
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Residents can expect to see Austin Public Works (PWD) crews performing street maintenance in neighborhoods through early fall.
This annual effort is usually done between May and October as weather permits. PWD crews work to improve on hundreds of lane miles with a treatment called a sealcoat, which includes three basic steps: spray, spread and sweep.
Sealcoat is a quick process involving spraying a layer of oil and spreading an asphalt material on top. Crews then sweep remaining rock and may return to do additional sweeping if needed.
To help make this a smooth process, Austin Public Works is offering the following tips:
- Vehicles must be removed from streets scheduled for maintenance for two days. Crews will notify residents with doorhangers that ask vehicles to be temporarily removed from the street. Vehicles not moved prior to scheduled maintenance will be towed to a nearby street.
- Expect loose gravel once the work is complete. Some loose rock that remains on the road will settle into the new asphalt material with time.
- Avoid hard braking and sharp turning until the surface hardens to prevent flying gravel.
To see streets scheduled for maintenance and for more info, visit AustinTexas.gov/StreetMaintenance.
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There will be no Austin Mobility Newsletter on Monday, July 4 in observance of Independence Day. The newsletter will return Monday, July 11.
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Calendar Corner: June 28 – July 11, 2022
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The Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority Board of Directors is comprised of seven local community volunteers who are responsible for setting policies, identifying priority projects and ensuring the agency is operated in an efficient and effective manner.
As demand for electric vehicles increases, government agencies are placing a stronger focus on who is able to access them. In addition to federal tax rebates to lower purchase price impacts, utilities and transit agencies are stepping up with their own efforts to make electric vehicle ownership attainable for more people. Representatives from Austin Energy and CapMetro will join Austin Transportation's Smart Mobility Office for a webinar focused on equity in electric vehicle ownership.
The Urban Transportation Commission makes recommendations to City Council on transportation-related matters, including energy-efficient transportation, transit service, active transportation options, taxicab franchises and provisions to best serve those with mobility impairments.
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