Austin, TX: Project Connect Light Rail

Austin's light rail might not connect to airport

Transit officials are now considering scratching a plan to link a new light-rail line to the airport as part of an effort to rein in the ballooning costs of the city's transit expansion effort.

Why it matters: It's the latest sign that the voter-approved plan to more effectively connect Austin together may not be fully realized.

What's happening: Of five Project Connect light-rail options presented in transit briefing material earlier this month to city staff and obtained by Axios, only one appears to make it to the airport — with another two terminating near the intersection of Riverside and Texas 71.

The final two options appear to reach only to Riverside and Pleasant Valley, about 4.5 miles from the airport.
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A look at potential rail scenarios for Project Connect
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All of these options are significantly different from the configuration initially presented to the public in 2020. The map below is kind of messy, but the Orange and Blue Lines below were the original rail vision, stretching as far north as the N. Lamar Transit Center, as far south as Stassney, and as far east as the airport.
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