Austin votes money for rail study

Question: how to pay for rail?

David Crossley, Jun 28, 10.

The Austin City Council, looking at a daunting $1.3 billion tab to build a proposed urban rail system, voted Thursday to spend $100,000 for a study on how to pay for it, according to a story in the Austin Statesman.

The council also approved a measure effectively delaying a bond election on rail to at least 2012 from 2011, a date Mayor Lee Leffingwell had endorsed earlier this year, the story says. That resolution, which like the rail study contract was approved unanimously and without discussion at Thursday’s meeting, directs the city staff to prepare for what would likely be a massive bond election to authorize borrowing money for parks, libraries, public safety and other city needs in additional to rail, according to the Statesman.

In other reports, the low ridership of the new commuter rail line has many wondering about the efficacy of more rail, according to another story by the Statesman’s Ben Wear.

(Photo credit: sahmeditor)