FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 23, 2012

Contact: Terri Waggoner, City of Pflugerville 512-990-6115 

Project Connect North Corridor considers Commuter Rail through Pflugerville along the MoKan corridor to address regional mobility challenges

Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Capital Metro) will hold a Project Connect North Corridor Open House to discuss North Corridor mass transit options which include a route through Pflugerville via the MoKan Corridor on Tuesday, June 19 from 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. at the Pflugerville Justice Center, 1611 E. Pfennig.

The Pflugerville City Council will consider a Resolution at the June 12 Council Meeting addressing the use of the MoKan for commuter rail.

Residents are invited to the open house to learn more about Project Connect: North Corridor, which identifies transportation alternatives and improvements in the area connecting Georgetown, Round Rock, Pflugerville, and Austin.

"This open house is an opportunity for residents to offer input and identify transportation issues in the North Corridor which will lead toward the development of a locally preferred alternative to where transit lines could run from Georgetown, through Round Rock and Pflugerville to Austin in the future," Assistant City Manager Trey Fletcher said. "With an identified route proposed through Pflugerville along the MoKan corridor, now is the time for residents to provide feedback and for everyone to look at future population growth expectations and determine how rail and mass transit routes will best be utilized."

Project Connect North is an extension of Project Connect, a collaborative effort of CAMPO, the City of Austin, Capital Metro and the Lone Star Rail District. The purpose is to build consensus on regional high-capacity transit and answer the following questions:

SYSTEM: How will high-capacity transit components in the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) 2035 Regional Transportation Plan work as a system?

ORGANIZATION: How will our region organize to develop and operate the system?

FUNDING: How will we pay for the system over the long term?

These efforts are ongoing via the Transit Working Group.

The Project Connect Team identified 8 corridors for rail potential ranging from Northwest (Cedar Park/ Leander), North Central (Georgetown/Round Rock/ Pflugerville), East (Elgin), Southwest (San Marcos) with the North corridor as the highest priority corridor due to the population density and transportation demands. The North Central Corridor, which includes Pflugerville, has 43,655 work trips daily to Austin, and population growth is the highest with a 139% population increase and 147% employment increase.

Statistics compiled by Capital Metro show that the Austin Region had the second largest increase in wasted time in traffic in the United States. The CAMPO 2035 plan transit projects could carry 11,300 people per hour during rush hour, and on a typical 12-mile drive to and from work, save a transit user $6500 to $9500 annually. High-capacity transit has led to increased investment with estimates that for each $10 million invested in transportation results in an estimated $30 million in business sales and jobs. Dallas real estate values increased by 25% adjacent to rail stops and Portland Streetcar generated over $1.4 billion in development along 4.7 miles of transit.

Project Connect is a regional high-capacity transit implementation effort and partnership including the City of Austin, Cap Metro, the Lone Star Rail District and CAMPO aimed at implementing the high-capacity transit component of the CAMPO 2035 Plan. The CAMPO plan was adopted by regional government representatives in 2010, after a nine-month public outreach process involving policy makers and community stakeholders. Visit www.pflugervilletx.gov/connectnorth for more information on Project Connect North.   

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