While it was not a good night for a lot of people I know, Austinites took a step towards multi-modal transportation with the passage of Proposition #1 by a vote of 56%. This was the first transportation bond to commit substantial funds to bicycle and pedestrian projects including completing the Lady Bird Lake Hike and Bike Trail loop, $14 million in sidewalk improvements, and millions for bike infrastructure.
The bond faced a late negative campaign from road warriors Jim Skaggs and Mike Levy who criticized the bond for spending money on alternatives to the automobile instead of more road capacity for cars. Thankfully, Austin voters took a more balanced approach seeing the future of our City is not exclusively about paving as much real estate as possible for cars.
The Austin American Statesman reports Mayor Lee Leffingwell indicating all the projects in the bond will be underway within 2 years with some beginning as soon as this spring. The City of Austin is also expected to come back with another bond proposal in 2012 which would include an urban rail proposal.
on Nov 3rd, 2010 at 9:35 am
Yayyy!!!
Great job to everyone involved!
on Nov 3rd, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Mark my words; we will wish we had kept this money around for urban rail – especially now that the Republicans will be controlling a lot of transportation spending again.
on Nov 3rd, 2010 at 1:16 pm
M1EK,
I was extremely disappointed that urban rail was not on the ballot and was very critical of City leadership about it. On reflection, I do understand the reason it was left off. At the time we were coming off debacle after debacle from CapMetro and the political climate for bonds was uncertain. The calculation was it was better to punt and revisit in 2012 when the electorate will favor rail more than a mid-term election. Now, maybe that was a bad call and rail would have been fine as this bond passed comfortably, but maybe the opposition would have run a massive TV campaign tying the City’s rail to CapMetro’s failure and sunk the whole thing. It’s a tough call, and while I am frustrated we have to wait another 2 years, I respect that decision. If we f@#k it up and it doesn’t get on the ballot again in 2012, I’m going to be super pissed.
on Nov 3rd, 2010 at 1:35 pm
RT @austinon2wheels: Thankfully even in a conservative yr, ATX voters reject the argument of road warriors http://bit.ly/a3ybQl Austin’s Prop 1 passes #election
on Nov 3rd, 2010 at 2:24 pm
RT @austinon2wheels: Thankfully even in a conservative yr, ATX voters reject the argument of road warriors http://bit.ly/a3ybQl Austin’s Prop 1 passes #election
on Nov 3rd, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Elliott,
I’m not even arguing the timing at this point – just that it’d have been a wiser idea to keep the money around for rail later (i.e. don’t hold this bond election at all). Even before the Republican tidal wave, I didn’t think we’d have enough local and especially federal rail dollars available to make urban rail happen – given that all the other urban rail advocates in town still think cheerleading the useless Red Line is their best course of action, it’ll continue to suck up all the available non-city funds for the foreseeable future.