Austin-area transportation project milestones reached in 2024

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Dirt is moving as billions of dollars worth of transportation projects advance in and around the Austin area. As 2024 comes to a close, here's a look back at some of those project milestones designed to improve mobility and relieve congestion.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport upgrades

Updates as part of the Journey With AUS program this year included Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Checkpoint 3 closure, Federal Inspection Services improvements and concurrent work on the airport's new west infill area and outbound baggage handling system.

The Federal Inspection Services improvements center around construction on the international arrivals portion of baggage claim, per AUS. The project will feature new baggage carousels, additional space for travelers as well as processing booths to help expedite the arrivals process for international visitors.

Construction began in August and is estimated to wrap in spring 2025.

With the TSA Checkpoint 3 closure, that began back in February. All guests can use TSA Checkpoints 1 and 2 East, while Checkpoint 2 West is reserved for TSA PreCheck and Clear passengers.

On the West Infill project, that initiative will add more square footage to the Barbara Jordan Terminal to allow for TSA Checkpoint 3 to expand from six to eight security screening lanes, per AUS details. It'll also allocate more terminal space to support the new outbound baggage handling system.

While not a construction update, AUS did receive a substantial federal grant allocation for work related to the Journey With AUS program. More than $33 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will go toward the construction of Concourse B at AUS, as well as a new underground tunnel linking Concourse B with the Barbara Jordan Terminal.

Those interested can track the Journey With AUS program's progress online.

CapMetro roll outs

CapMetro and area transit leaders celebrated in February the completion and opening of McKalla Station at Q2 Stadium. The project -- a component of the Project Connect mass transit program -- added a Red Line rail stop directly outside the stadium, linking it to other Red Line destinations across CapMetro's rail service area.

In July, CapMetro announced it had revamped its former MetroBike system to the new CapMetro Bikeshare program. The new system roll out features 100% electric-assisted bikes and stations.

Also this past summer, the Austin transit authority began gathering community feedback on Transit Plan 2035, a blueprint for mass mobility over the next decade. CapMetro officials are expected to gather additional feedback in the spring before finalizing recommendations on the official plan. That transit plan adoption is expected to happen either next summer or fall 2025.

City of Austin projects

Barton Springs Road Bridge replacement receives federal funding

The Journey With AUS program wasn't the only Austin infrastructure project to attract federal funding. The city of Austin's Barton Springs Road Bridge project received $32 million from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law for replacement work on the nearly 100-year-old bridge. That funding came from $40 billion earmarked across a five-year timespan to help address "a backlog of bridge projects," the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration said.

Our Future 35 'Cap and Stitch' program advancements

Elsewhere, the Our Future 35 program debuted its draft vision plan in November, outlining possibilities for capping the soon-to-be sunken and expanded Interstate 35. Austin City Council was originally expected to vote on funding investments into the capping program at a Dec. 12 meeting, but the deadline was extended to March 2025.

Capping opportunities have been pursued elsewhere in the country as well as here in the Lone Star State -- most notably for Texans, Klyde Warren Park in Dallas. There is more than 26 acres of available space the city can cap, but financial estimates from officials found executing the entire vision plan would cost well over $1 billion.

Vision Zero hits program milestone

Nearly a decade after the creation of Austin's Vision Zero program in 2015, the transportation safety initiative celebrated in August a major milestone: completing its first round of bond-funded safety projects.

Those projects extended from a $15 million allocation as part of the city of Austin's 2016 mobility bond. Those bond dollars helped support the addition of crosswalks separating pedestrian and vehicular traffic, shared-use paths for non-vehicle traffic and upgrades to signal timing and street lighting.

Those safety upgrades are a personal favorite for Richard Mendoza, director of the Austin Transportation and Public Works Department.

"Ensuring that our public can access our mobility infrastructure safely and we can make investments that reduce and ultimately eliminate deaths and major injuries in our roadways is a top priority for us," he said. "What we've realized at these [treated] intersections, when we put in these improvements, we've seen reductions on the order of 30% to 40% in major crashes and serious injuries at those intersections."

Over the next three years, Vision Zero will be tackling a dozen more intersection safety projects courtesy of the city’s 2018 and 2020 mobility bonds. 

Mini train returns to Zilker Park

After five years and several restoration delays along the way, the Zilker Eagle mini train returned to Zilker Park on June 12. The mini train first opened in 1961 and operated under the names Zilker Eagle and Zilker Zephyr. It closed in May 2019 amid erosion issues under and around the tracks near Lady Bird Lake.

The Austin Parks Foundation took over operations in 2020 and began restoration efforts before reopening the attraction to the public in 2024.

Longhorn Dam Multimodal Improvements Project

The city of Austin kicked off construction work on its Longhorn Dam Multimodal Improvements Project, creating a "wishbone" bridge to help pedestrians and cyclists loop Lady Bird Lake along the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail.

Mendoza said that project is expected to see "substantial completion" next year.

Interstate 35 expansion

The Texas Department of Transportation kicked off its Interstate 35 Capital Express Central project in late October, a $4.5 billion, near-decade-long project expanding and overhauling eight miles near downtown Austin. The project has been divvied up into six phases, starting with work on reconstructing the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Bridge.

That portion of work on the MLK Bridge is estimated to cost $34.4 million and is expected to finish work in early 2026. Remaining segments will be constructed in a phased approach, with an expected construction completion around 2032 or 2033.

Project Connect

Project Connect celebrated a major milestone back in late May, as it officially entered the project development phase through a Federal Transit Administration program. That acceptance helped pave the way for possible federal funding opportunities in the future to deliver light rail in Austin.

The project development phase is one in a series of steps to secure a final grant agreement with the FTA. Concurrently, the Austin Transit Partnership -- the organization overseeing the development and construction of light rail -- is advancing work on its draft environmental impact statement (EIS), as required under the National Environmental Policy Act. ATP is expected to unveil that draft EIS to the public in advance of community engagement opportunities kicking off in January.

In the interim, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson is continuing to work with project leadership and the federal government on possibly incorporating an airport connection into the first phase of light rail. Project Connect's Phase 1 light rail implementation plan is a 9.8-mile corridor running from 38th Street to Oltorf Street and Yellow Jacket Lane, stopping just shy of AUS.

During a KXAN mayoral debate in October, Watson said this connection point in phase one continues to be a priority.

“I’ve worked very closely with the federal government to talk about the fact that we have two major transportation projects that ought to mesh together, and that is the airport and Project Connect and the rail line,” he said. “And I’ve even convened the federal government and our professionals here in Austin to talk about financing mechanisms to be able to connect us to the airport.”

All this work is gearing up for a projected 2027 construction start date on the light rail corridor. Based on current timelines, ATP is anticipating light rail trains being up and running in Austin come 2033.