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Planning Commission recommends adoption of Austin Core Transportation Plan with safety, trees and green-infrastructure changes
Summary
The commission voted to recommend adoption of the Austin Core Transportation Plan (ACT) as part of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, approving a package of amendments prioritizing pedestrian/cyclist facilities, mandatory street trees, inclusion of green infrastructure costs and several Urban Transportation Commission recommendations.
The Planning Commission voted to recommend City Council adopt the Austin Core Transportation Plan as an attachment to the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan, approving a set of amendments aimed at prioritizing non-auto travel, placing stronger emphasis on trees and green infrastructure, and accepting Urban Transportation Commission guidance.
City planning staff presented the ACT plan and described the station-area, corridor and modal recommendations designed to reallocate right-of-way downtown to transit, protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and street trees while accounting for constrained curb-to-curb widths. Anna Villareal, principal planner leading the ETOD/station-area work, reviewed the proposed future land-use maps for the North Lamar and South Congress transit center areas and described coordination with CapMetro, Project Connect and other departments. Cole Kitten of Transportation & Public Works answered technical questions on network capacity and explained trade-offs, saying staff had prioritized maintaining vehicle capacity at constrained gateway intersections while reallocating space where feasible.
Public commenters urged the commission to go further. Adam Greenfield with Safe Streets Austin and Matteo Barnstone (CNU-CTX) urged conversion of remaining multi-lane one-way downtown streets to two-way traffic and stronger protected-bike provisions. Commissioners debated several amendments; an early motion to convert Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Eighth Streets to two-way operation failed 6-3 after discussion about operational constraints at downtown gateways. The commission accepted Urban Transportation Commission recommendations and the Design Commission's request that street trees be mandatory in corridor projects and that green-infrastructure costs be included in base project estimates rather than as optional extras.
Key amendments the commission approved include: adopting the UTC recommendations (which call for prioritizing pedestrian, bicycle and transit needs, continuing specific protected-bike facilities such as a Red River protected lane, and exploring additional one-way-to-two-way conversions where feasible); requiring street trees as part of corridor projects; and including green infrastructure cost estimates in base project budgets. Commissioners also asked staff to reference CapMetro's Transit Enhancement Infrastructure Report and to consider how ACT proposals align with other city priorities such as the Old Sixth Street revitalization.
The commission then voted to approve the ACT plan as amended and to forward it to City Council (motion by Chair to adopt ACT as an ASMP attachment; second by Commissioner Barrera Ramirez). The final vote was unanimous, 9-0.
What it means: The ACT plan sets a long-range blueprint for reallocating right-of-way in downtown to favor transit, walking and biking; it also identifies priority projects and ties some timing to major city investments such as I-35 rebuild and Project Connect work. Implementation details, design, and funding sequencing will be carried out in subsequent project-level planning and by affected departments.
Action taken: Recommend adoption of the Austin Core Transportation Plan as an attachment to the ASMP, as amended to incorporate UTC and Design Commission recommendations and additional references (mover: Chair; second: Commissioner Barrera Ramirez; outcome: approved 9-0).
