Changes in Austin’s rail project

Relying on federal funding

Marci Gilbert, Apr 25, 11.

Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell and city transportation officials now say substantial federal transit funding almost surely will be needed for the first segment of a proposed urban rail line, according to a story in the Austin American Statesman.

That would be a change from what city officials had said over the past couple of years: Austin would probably build a first piece of rail with roughly $200 million from voter-approved bonds and whatever else it could raise through other local means, and then use primarily federal funds years later for outlying sections of the proposed 16.5-mile , double-tracked system. But local money alone would pay for little more than a downtown circuit comparable to the Dillo bus lines that stopped running two years ago for lack of riders.

The decision of what to build in rail’s first phase, city leaders say, comes down not only to how much money the city can scrape together, but also to what sort of starter system would draw the most passengers (to both urban rail and Capital Metro’s Red Line commuter trains), spur development along the line and engender public acceptance. Experience in other cities with established light rail systems indicates that, at minimum, a successful initial line needs to run between a place with a lot of residents and a place where many of them want to go on a regular basis.

The problem for the city, which a few years ago took over planning and financing of the urban rail project from Capital Metro, is that even an initial system running simply from the University of Texas through downtown and then just south of Lady Bird Lake will cost in the vicinity of $400 million . Extend that first segment north 1.6 miles or southeast two miles and the price tag goes to between $500 million and $550 million , according to figures drawn from a July 2010 city engineering report. These figures include the 10 to 12 electric-powered cars the city envisions needing for the initial service.

Costs of that magnitude are well beyond what the city can comfortably ask voters to raise with general obligation bonds. Leffingwell said last week that the rail portion of next year’s bond election, which probably will also have proposed borrowing for parks, public safety, libraries and other city projects, would be $200 million to $250 million .

“Of course, it would be helpful if it went some place initially, but we may not have the money to do that,” Leffingwell said. “That someplace may be where the Red Line is going right now.”