Howdy istites. My name's Mike Dahmus, otherwise known all around various ratholes of the internet as M1EK, and I've been invited to write an honest-to-goodness post instead of a wimpy little comment. Normally, I crackplog ("crackplot blog") at my own place, M1EK's Bake-Sale of Bile, which is "Mostly Austin. Mostly Transportation. Mostly Bile.". I served on the city's Urban Transportation Commission from 2000 to 2005, before Daryl Slusher gave me the boot for being insufficiently slavish to Mike Krusee's plan to screw Austin's rail fans forever. I've been writing that crackplog since about 2003, starting in the run-up to the commuter rail disaster. ...

Will Wynn renewed calls for an Austin streetcar at today's Downtown Austin Association Annual Luncheon. Moving forward would require two votes in the 2008 election - one to allow the project and another for bonds to finance it. The new plan would include connections to the airport (along Riverside), downtown, UT, the Triangle and Mueller. We are generally fans of mass transit, rail especially, and naive optimism is our default position, so a streetcar sounds......

The first two of six new commuter rail trains arrived in Austin this week. The diesel-electric trains trains, the last of which should arrive by late spring, were purchased from Swiss manufacturer Stadler Bussnang AG ("We Track Clever Solutions" -- get it?) for $34 million. Cap Metro plans to start testing these cars next month along the rail line from Howard Lane and Mopac down to 47th Street and Airport Boulevard—each will be run......

In case you hadn't noticed, transit-oriented development (TOD) is picking up steam in Austin. For newbies to Urban Development, "TOD" refers to the process of installing a rail-based public transit system in a city and developing dense residential/retail/commercial projects around it. Yes, people of Austin: It's your old vaporous friend, rail. But this time, it looks like he's here to stay. A few years ago, installing a rail system was just one of many possible......

Everyone knows that Lago Vista is the next Lakeway. Less well known is that the City of Kyle has commissioned TIP Strategies, Inc. to help turn Kyle into the next Round Rock. TIP has released their recommendations - commuter rail is featured somewhat prominently in the Project Overview and the presentation, but in the actual plan (large file - it's boring, but it's long), rail barely gets mentioned. Even when it does, it is......

Austin's Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) initiative, which will attempt to better integrate public transportation with mixed-use communities, is being implemented all around town. As this will affect a large majority of those living in or around the urban core, the City of Austin is reaching out to the public by hosting another series of discussion and forum sessions. Tomorrow afternoon, city officials and national planning consultants will present their vision of TOD, as well as......

For those of us who have tasted the good life--spending some part of our residency in the '04--the idea of living anywhere else in the city can induce sweaty palms and a sincere doubt about the viability of social life beyond Polvo's and bud-induced trips to Homeslice. In recent years however, the popularity of this neighborhood has driven up prices to the point that buying is significantly more expensive than renting, creating a financial......

Capital Metro has released more info about the commuter rail line from downtown to Leander. Leander, of course, was originally called Bagdad. Just like the real Baghdad, the train to Leander appears to be fraught with danger. The "Rails with Trails" program has apparently been approved, so you will be able to hike/bike alongside fast moving trains. Don't go play on the tracks kids! Plus, the engines will be in the middle of the......

In the north part of Austin's so-called Urban Core lies the intersection of Metric Boulevard, US-183, and MoPac. Now known collectively as the North Burnet/Gateway Planning Area, the roughly 2,300-acre section of land has grown considerably in the past few decades, from its origins as an industrial district and home of the UT Balcones Research Center (now J.J. Pickle Research Campus), built on a WWII-era magnesium plant, to the construction of various collosal highways......

Capital Metro and their unionized employees, already in the midst of a heated fight over the planned commuter rail line, are now at odds with the union's "Kill Rail" campaign. Bumper stickers emblazoned with the protest logo have begun showing up on transit workers' cars - which, as far as we're concerned, is perfectly legal - but CapMetro fears that they may soon show up on buses and various other transit property. From the......

You probably missed the latest news report on Austin traffic because you were sitting in it. According to a national analysis of urban traffic, Austin is the most congested medium-sized city in the country for the 5th year in a row. The 2005 Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute calculated peak-hour Austinite drivers wasted 51 hours in their cars last year. The increase in travel time from 2002 is minimal, but the delay......