Open Letter to Austin City Council re: 2016 Mobility Bond Program
21 June 2016
Dear Mayor Adler and Austin City Council:
Given the ubiquity of Austin’s traffic woes, it hardly seems worth citing the latest study on the value of time we lose each year to congestion ($1,159/year) or that traffic congestion is at the top of issues facing Austinites (51% in the Austin Monitor’s recent survey). That traffic is rapidly degrading our quality of life, affordability, the economy and our environment and needs to be addressed immediately is beyond debate. The only debate — and a legitimate one at that — is how best to improve mobility.
At this Thursday’s city council meeting you have the chance to take a critical step in effectively addressing these problems. We hope you will direct the City Manager to begin preparing ballot language for a November 2016 Mobility Bond Program. As you consider your vote on the size and timing for the election, we hope you will take careful note of the following considerations:
- Imagine Austin and the recently completed Tumlin Report reflect both a community and expert consensus that proposed improvements in smart corridors enhance mobility and achieve our vision of directing housing and employment growth along transit corridors, promoting affordability, and viable alternatives to commuting in single occupant vehicles;
- According to city planners, if we implement the proposed corridor plans, wait times at intersections improve dramatically — e.g. South Lamar : 61% decrease in the morning and 51% in the evening; Burnet Road : 11% decrease in the morning and 27% in the evening. If we don’t implement proposed improvements, already excessive wait times degrade dramatically — e.g. South Lamar: 216% increase in the morning and 113% in the evening; Burnet Road: 40% increase in both the mornings and evenings;
- We support investing $720 million in transportation infrastructure and smart corridor improvements as a proper use of public resources given the proposed plan’s positive impact on affordability, safety, quality of life, economic activity, and the environment;
- This plan is very well-balanced in terms of addressing congestion across the city as well as among various modes of transportation — auto, transit, pedestrian and bike;
- While it is a laudable goal to resist property tax increases, the increase in taxes of approximately 1% or $5 per month for the average Austin homeowner is small compared to the benefits. Furthermore, these increases will be phased in over time and are not an immediate impact;
- There are sizable and much-needed demands on our City’s limited financial resources including flooding, affordable housing, high capacity transit, parks, libraries and capital renewal to existing infrastructure. The proposal reserves $200 million of future bonding capacity to address these significant needs in a follow on election in 2018 without further tax increases;
- The time is now to get going to address our transportation infrastructure in a significant and comprehensive way. Improvements will only increase in cost with each passing year, and benefits are maximized the sooner we get started.
We hope you will act now and not defer or reduce the scope of these critical and long-overdue investments that have been developed as part of Imagine Austin, detailed corridor plans, and most recently in the Tumlin Report.
We greatly appreciate your efforts toward resolving Austin’s mobility issues to ensure Austin remains a vibrant and creative place to live and work.
Respectfully,
Tyson Tuttle
President and CEO, Silicon Labs
Joshua Baer
Executive Director, Capital Factory
Dan Graham
CEO, BuildASign.com
Rashed Islam
Vice President and Managing Principal, HDR Engineering Inc.
Brandon Janes
Transportation Advocates of Texas
Partner, Jackson Walker
Joseph Kopser
Co-Founder, RideScout
John Langmore
Former Vice Chair, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
Terry Mitchell
Board Member, Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority
President, Momark Development
