Texas Transportation Thread (Roads, Rails & Skies)

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/FRA-Texas-DOT-solicit-public-input-on-passenger-rail-options--48814
http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/projects/studies/statewide/texas-oklahoma-rail.html

Hopefully they can find a way to get this built (though funding for rail projects in Texas seems to be difficult and very restrictive in where the money can legally come from), and hopefully they can find a way to provide high speed service that serves more than just the outskirt of Austin (even if the trains have to slow down a little going through town).

14 said:

http://www.progressiverailroading.com/passenger_rail/news/FRA-Texas-DOT-solicit-public-input-on-passenger-rail-options--48814
http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/projects/studies/statewide/texas-oklahoma-rail.html

Hopefully they can find a way to get this built (though funding for rail projects in Texas seems to be difficult and very restrictive in where the money can legally come from), and hopefully they can find a way to provide high speed service that serves more than just the outskirt of Austin (even if the trains have to slow down a little going through town).

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This is something that I find very irritating and I'm not the only Austinite that feels this way. It seems like Austin is always bypassed. If they can have stops in the other cities DTs, then they can have a stop in DT Austin as well.

Fort Worth rail line to DFW Airport hits another milestone now that federal grant is official

Trains taking passengers from Fort Worth to DFW International Airport could be in motion by 2018, now that the federal government has pledged to pay for nearly half of the $1 billion rail line.

This month, the Federal Transit Administration signed an agreement with the Fort Worth Transportation Authority, or The T, to provide a $499 million grant for the TEX Rail project. The other half is being paid for with local and state money, officials said.

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Ballard said The T expects to open TEX Rail by the end of 2018. Ridership is estimated to start at 9,000 daily trips and reach 13,700 trips by 2035.
The T's ongoing challenge is identifying funds to expand its network, Ballard said. The transit agency has three member cities vs. DART's 13. The T collects about $70 million a year in sales tax revenue; DART raises half a billion.

One city that both DART and The T are wooing is Arlington. Both agencies will present to a transportation advisory committee in January.

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Report: Trump's infrastructure priorities include two big Texas projects

Two big-ticket Texas transit projects are on a list of the new president's top infrastructure priorities, the Kansas City Star and McClatchy reported on Tuesday: a high speed rail line that would connect Dallas and Houston in 90 minutes and the long-sought Cotton Belt commuter rail line, which would serve riders heading to and from Dallas' northeast suburbs .

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The Texas Tribune reported that while Texas Central Partners has vowed not to apply for grants, officials haven't ruled out applying for low-interest federal loans aimed at spurring private investment in big infrastructure projects -- an idea Trump pitched on the campaign trail.

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Dallas Area Rapid Transit, meanwhile, has sought federal funding for its Cotton Belt line.
Agency spokesman Morgan Lyons said the agency was aware that such an infrastructure list was making the rounds. But he said that DART had no involvement in its creation and that officials weren’t sure who crafted the document.
Nevertheless, he said DART was “excited” to be included.

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dollaztx said:

Yeah I know, but if Washington wants to give money or loans to the developer, I don't know anyone who would decline that. From the article it looks like they still want to be privately funded but the offer would sure be tempting to them.

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political implication when you take federal money as it puts eminent domain in play and ridership become subject to public scrutiny.

It's Official!

Highway 190 is officially Interstate Highway 14 from Cove to Belton

The first phase of the new I-14 route has begun! :cheers:

By David A. Bryant
Jan. 26th. 2017

Austin- The Texas Transportation Commission announced Thursday that U.S. Highway 190 from Copperas Cove to Belton has received its official designation as Interstate 14, according to a release by State Rep. Hugh D. Shine, R-Temple.

Shine said he applauded the commission and the communities who worked diligently to develop the change to Central Texas’ highway system.

“This is an important first step to a much larger highway network that will strategically link Fort Hood and military installations across the southern United States with ports on the gulf coast,” Shine said in a news release. “This highway network will ultimately enhance, expedite and facilitate the deployment of military assets whenever necessary for our national defense. Additionally, the surrounding communities will be able to expand their economic development by attracting new businesses in Central Texas.”

The Transportation Commission finalized the 25-mile segment designation during its regular meeting in Austin. The segment will run concurrent with U.S. Highway 190 from the junction of Business U.S. Highway 190 East in Copperas Cove to the I-35 Interstate and Highway 190 junction in Belton. The designation spans Coryell and Bell counties.

Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Ken Roberts said local residents should start seeing smaller signs for I-14 in the Killeen area by August or September of 2017.

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http://kdhnews.com/news/local/highw...cle_2d3c7c8c-e411-11e6-9a1a-6b59f7e5d836.html

There are several hyperloop technology companies out there. A few companies are interested in bringing the technology to Texas cities. If you don't understand what a hyperloop is.......drive up to your outside bank telling machine. Grab the capsule.....imagine your are minituarized and in inside that capsule. Now put capsule back in the vaccuum tube and watch it get sucked through the frictionless air. That's the kind of technology they are talking about. I heard a presentation a few weeks ago, and basically they are suggesting a Houston to Dallas trip would take 12 - 15 minutes.

Many major international urban corridors are onboard, pun intended, to be the first to have this technology.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/the-daily-post/fastest-train-world-coming-texas/

Will Texas Soon Be Home To The Fastest Train In The World?
A NEW START-UP WANTS TO USE HYPERLOOP TECHNOLOGY TO GET YOU FROM SAN ANTONIO TO AUSTIN IN JUST FIFTEEN MINUTES.

JULY 28, 2016by LEIF REIGSTAD4 COMMENTS

Transonic Transportation promises it can get you from San Antonio to Austin in fifteen minutes, traveling at an astonishing 600 miles per hour. For perspective, the fastest train speed ever recorded is 374 miles per hour, set by a Japanese magnetic levitation train on a testing track near Mount Fuji last year. Transonic says it can shatter that record by using hyperloop technology, which, as we wrote in February, is an invention from Elon Musk that’s been around for a few years but has yet to be developed into anything tangible.

Basically speaking, hyperloop is a frictionless tube that makes things go reallllly fast. Here’s a clip from The Jetsons that explains the essence of hyperloop for all you visual learners, but instead of a cartoon George Jetson, picture a real-life train. If you prefer words to YouTube clips from 1960s cartoons, then fine, Einstein, go ahead and check out Transonic’s website, which goes into detail about how it plans to use hyperloop. For more on the history of tubular travel leading up to the invention of the hyperloop, here’s a good video by the Great Explainer, Vox:

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburn...p-to-houston-and-other-more-attractive-spots/

Forget the Bullet Train. Let’s Build a Hyperloop to Houston (And Other, More Attractive, Spots)
The potential future of transportation is exciting.

BY JASON HEID PUBLISHED IN FRONTBURNER FEBRUARY 2, 2016 10:24 AM

Texas Monthly writes about a competition hosted at Texas A&M University over the weekend in which teams from around the country compared their designs for a pod that could travel at 760 mph in a tube based on air-hockey technology.

The event was inspired by Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s 2012 proposal for the new form of transportation. Building a network or tubes across the country to allow incredibly fast travel between cities is a ways off, but smart people are working on it and the federal government has signaled interest in funding it.

Now, go ahead and fantasize about how quickly you, your children, and grandchildren might flit about the state:

Austin to Dallas: 25 minutes

Dallas to Houston: 31 minutes

San Antonio to Austin: 10 minutes

El Paso to Houston: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Houston to New Orleans: 46 minutes

Dallas to Oklahoma City: 27 minutes

Austin to Houston: 21 minutes

Makes a 90-minute trip on a potential bullet train feel like an eternity.

http://fortune.com/2017/01/07/hyperloop-one-full-scale-tests/

Hyperloop One Announces Full-Scale Tests, Initial Route Semifinalists
David Z. Morris
Jan 07, 2017

Hyperloop One, the occasionally troubled startup aiming to build Elon Musk’s ultra-high-speed transportation concept, made two major announcements this week. On Tuesday, it said it would conduct a test of its full system within three months. And on Friday, it announced 35 semifinalists in its Global Challenge, in which teams of planners and engineers pitch Hyperloop routes.

Those semifinalists come from 17 countries, and were selected from 2,600 entries. The semifinalists will gather at three “showcases” to pitch their plans—one in New Delhi on February 28th, one in Washington, D.C. on April 6th, and one in London on April 27th. Proposed projects include a triangle route linking Austin, Dallas, and Houston, a route from Mumbai to Delhi, and dozens more.

Winning projects—around six, according to Inverse—will get to work further with Hyperloop One to connect with financing and government partners. Rob Lloyd, Hyperloop One’s outspoken CEO, told Inverse that the company wants to have three routes in production within five years.

Of course, that would require a Hyperloop that actually works, and the company is moving forward on that front as well. Building on a successful test of its sled-like magnetic propulsion system in May of 2016, the company now says that it will test a full Hyperloop, low-pressure tube and all, within three months. The initial round of tests will push a pod just 500 meters, but the company says that will extend to a few kilometers over 2017.

The company has often referred to this as its “Kitty Hawk moment,” and it will certainly silence a lot of skeptics if it succeeds. But the Global Challenge may in some sense be higher stakes. The Hyperloop, though it was initially pitched by Musk as a lower-cost alternative to traditional high-speed rail, is still the sort of capital intensive project that requires major commitments from heavy-hitting partners. And beyond funding and land, the Hyperloop has to knit into a lot of existing systems in complex ways to deliver on its promise of revolutionizing transportation.

Austin highways get major chunk of billions in funding approved by state

March 29. 2017

The Texas Transportation Commission approved billions of dollars worth of road projects March 28, including plans to alleviate congestion on some of Austin's busiest roads.

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http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/n...-highways-get-major-chunk-of-billions-in.html

urbanaturalist said:

https://www.dmagazine.com/frontburn...p-to-houston-and-other-more-attractive-spots/
Austin to Dallas: 25 minutes

Dallas to Houston: 31 minutes

San Antonio to Austin: 10 minutes

El Paso to Houston: 1 hour, 37 minutes

Houston to New Orleans: 46 minutes

Dallas to Oklahoma City: 27 minutes

Austin to Houston: 21 minutes

Makes a 90-minute trip on a potential bullet train feel like an eternity.

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I seriously wish something like this would come to fruition. It would open things up for so many people. It would allow someone to pretty much live at any point in the Texas triangle and work at another spot. Hopefully it would spur better public transport in San Antonio than we have now. We're severly lacking.

Texas Central Partners inks deal with city of Houston for bullet train

The city of Houston and Texas Central Partners have confirmed the general site for the Bayou City’s passenger station for the proposed high-speed train between Houston and Dallas.

The city and company signed an agreement Aug. 17 to plan the economic development of the bullet train together, according to a press release.

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The company estimates the project will create 10,000 jobs per year during the construction phase, which is expected to begin in late 2018 or early 2019 and finish in 2023.

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Houston backs bullet train, inks deal to help progress

Backers of a Texas high-speed rail line on Thursday announced for the second time this week what they called significant progress on the controversial line, inking an agreement with Houston officials, detailing the work to come.

At City Hall, Houston and Texas Central Partners announced the signing of an memorandum of understanding, which commits both sides to share environmental surveys, utility analysis and engineering related to the project and surrounding area and work together to develop new transit and other travel options to and from the likely terminus of the bullet train line.

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