Austin Light Rail is coming … and other parts of Project Connect are well underway. That was the message delivered at Movability’s annual breakfast at St. Edward’s University on Feb. 4.

Movability is Central Texas’ transportation management association, working with individuals and organizations to encourage affordable mobility solutions that reduce congestion, improve safety and protect air quality to sustain the economic vitality of the Austin region.

The guest speakers at the Movability breakfast were Dottie Watkins, the president & CEO of CapMetro, and Jennifer Pyne, executive vice president of Austin Transit Partnership (ATP). Movability executive director Lonny Stern asked Watkins and Pyne about the current status of Project Connect, the program to enhance local transit, which includes Austin Light Rail. Here are some excerpts from the conversation. Some questions came from Stern, others from the audience. Some comments and questions have been edited for clarity.

Where does Project Connect stand right now?

Jennifer Pyne: The Austin Light Rail Project received a Record of Decision just a couple weeks ago, which is a huge milestone for us. [A Record of Decision marks the end of the environmental impact statement process for projects seeking federal funding, as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.] We're seeking federal funding to build the light rail project, and there's a few key requirements. This is one of them. It is the culmination of a two-year process that included lots of public engagement and really moving the preliminary design to the place where it is right now.

So what does it mean to receive the Record of Decision?

Pyne: It's really a green light to take the project to the next level, to do further design, to really advance the work. We are in a position to start to do utilities relocation. So, it's really moving to the next phase.

What are the steps to getting federal funding?

Pyne: We are pursuing grant funding under the New Starts program. That is a Federal Transit Administration (FTA) long-standing program that is made to support these sorts of major capital investments. It's a multi-year process where you have to step through a number of gates along the way. So, we are actively in coordination with the FTA, and we'll continue to be so for probably another 18 to 24 months towards finally having a grant agreement.

We would expect to start some construction activities in 2027. We're bringing on some of our key partners, the construction contractors and the final designers, coming on this year. We will be identifying a vehicle manufacturer later this year and getting ready to actually turn dirt.

So how does CapMetro fit into this?

Dottie Watkins: CapMetro has been working hand-in-glove with ATP this whole time to get us through the process. We have been supporting ATP and really making sure that as we look to what is being built, how is that going to fit within the existing city, and also, most importantly, how is it going to fit within our existing transit network? Are we designing it to be as efficient as possible when it's time to operate? As the future operator of the system, we're really focused on, “How do we not have to fix that problem later?”

The light rail system doesn't work if it doesn't integrate well with the rest of the transit network. I think the majority of our focus right now is looking at, “Okay, great, we now know what we're going to build.” We know its footprint; we know kind of how all of those pieces are going to look. How does everything around it work to support the light rail and vice versa? Our board approved our Transit Plan 2035 in the fall, and that was the first of our transit plans that really looked at that integration of the light rail and the bus system.

What are the major Requests for Proposals that are in the pipeline?

Pyne: This is a big year for ATP with solicitations. We are in three active ones right now. We are looking to bring on two teams for final design and construction. One for, essentially, the light rail track, systems and stations, and another team specifically for the operations and maintenance facilities. We also are actively in a solicitation with [rail]car builders to bring those on. We're looking to award those contracts within the first half of 2026.

Regarding end-of-line facilities at 38th Street:

Pyne: Our intention, of course, is that we keep going [north beyond 38th Street]. The whole premise here is that this 10 miles is the first piece of an expandable system. But it will be an end-of-line for some period of time. So there is space there, and there will be some parking, there's going to be accommodations for multimodal connections and transfers. There's going to be bike share as well as bus. And there's going to be some operator facilities. At this point, we're really doing space planning around that.

On extending Light Rail to the Airport:

Watkins: We have two priority extensions. One, to get us from 38th Street up to Crestview, and one to get us from Yellowjacket Lane out to the airport. It has become glaringly obvious that the community preference is the airport. 

I think that there's just so much of an emotional, psychological win that you get with people who might only ever ride your system that one time a year. Or who might never do it, but they tell Aunt Betsy when she comes to town that she should ride. We need their support too.

Pyne: It's a trip that people can see themselves taking, even if they don't see themselves commuting on transit. But I would also add that I think we're at an opportunity moment with the airport. There are probably different funding opportunities for it, and also, we can take advantage of all the expansion work at the airport right now. The best time to be doing this work is when we can coordinate it together.

Watkins: Transit Plan 2035 envisions us taking the Route 350, which is the Airport Boulevard route — not to be confused with the actual airport — we're going to take that confusion away by bringing the 350 Airport route to the airport and upgrading that to a high frequency route, because we recognize that there are different corridors [for] getting better access to the airport.

Regarding CapMetro Rapid Routes 800 and 837, which are also part of Project Connect:

Watkins: A year ago, we launched an initial service on Routes 800 and 837, which are our third and fourth Rapid lines. “Initial service” just meant we want to get the buses out there, but we don't quite have all the infrastructure built to run them at the 10-minute frequencies that they're scheduled for.

But we knew we could run some routes, we could start generating that ridership demand, and we didn't want to wait for perfection.

We have seen those routes already perform well for routes that are running a 20-minute frequency. We are in the final throes of installing all of the stations and infrastructure equipment — most importantly, completing the Park & Rides at the end of the line. Those Park & Rides are important because, in order to run the full frequencies on these routes, we need to be able to fully utilize, all day, our battery electric buses. And for battery electric buses to stay on the road more than about 8 hours, you have to be able to give it some power throughout the day. So we are putting charging infrastructure at the ends of the line.

Those Park & Rides will be done by mid-year, by the end of the summer. We expect to have the Park & Rides open and in full service with our full 10-minute frequencies on both the 800 and 837.

Will ATP and CapMetro work with local businesses, as construction begins, to ensure that the local economy survives?

Pyne: Absolutely. Over the last year or two, we've been very active in working with all the bidders to hold events to make connections between local businesses and small businesses.

One thing we're being very thoughtful about this year is how do we support those businesses before and during construction and the impacts that they will experience. We are engaged in a needs assessment right now to really think about the different programs that we want to have in place during construction. And we want it to be very much tailored to Austin. We've done a lot of homework in cities across the country and what they've done and what's been successful or not so much. So we’re starting a series of meetings and outreach to make sure we’re tailoring it to what the businesses and community needs.

[Note: Movability is part of the federal Climate Pollution Reduction Grant partnership that the City of Austin is leading. One of Movability’s duties in that partnership is to work with local employers to help them find ways to keep customers, clients and employees moving during construction. Movability offers customized consulting at no cost and can help subsidize some multi modal services.]

To learn more about Movability and how you or your company can get involved, visit movabilitytx.org.