AUSTIN, Texas — Riders may one day take light rail straight to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Mayor Kirk Watson announced Tuesday, Nov. 10, in his weekly newsletter that planning for an airport extension is getting under way, and the Austin Transit Partnership, the agency building the city rail system, will run the study.
The extension would add about three miles of mostly elevated track. It would start at the planned station near East Riverside Drive and Texas 71 and end at one new airport station. Today the light rail plan does not reach the terminal, though the airport link has been listed as a priority extension.
The study should run nine to 12 months and begins with a cost estimate and a funding plan. Watson wants the partnership to stay within the budget voters have already authorized, which he described as no new taxpayer dollars. Staff will work out when the extension could be afforded from Proposition A contract revenue and look at other money, including federal support. Watson said the study can begin now because the first phase has finished its federal environmental review, received a Record of Decision, signed major design and construction contracts and followed a financial stewardship protocol.
A separate federal environmental review is also coming. Because the Federal Transit Administration agreed to a streamlined process, the partnership can prepare an Environmental Assessment for the extension. Planners will also coordinate with airport staff on placing a future station in the new arrivals and departures hall, and with the Texas Department of Transportation on work planned along State Highway 71.
Austin Light Rail is a 9.8-mile, $7 billion project serving North, Central and East Austin, so the airport spur would be its first add-on. It is the largest piece of Project Connect, the transit program voters approved in 2020. The plan voters first endorsed called for up to 28 miles of track and included a route to the airport, but officials later shrank the system and dropped that segment, citing rising costs.
The announcement comes while the airport is in the middle of Journey With AUS, a $5 billion, multi-year program. Its centerpiece is a second concourse with 26 gates, along with a new arrivals and departures hall, both targeted for the early 2030s. Last month the airport recorded its busiest single day for departures. Watson said the rail study and the airport construction should be planned side by side instead of connected afterward.
Hurdles remain for the main project. The partnership is counting on a $4 billion federal grant that has still not been awarded, and court challenges are still pending. The partnership expects to break ground on the first phase in 2027 but has not given a specific timeline. It says it will keep its board updated, and the route, cost and funding plan are all subject to change as the study moves ahead.
Filed under: Austin TX Traffic News