Emails, Jason Stanford, communications director, Austin Mayor Steve Adler, Oct. 26-27, 2016
1:55 p.m.
Oct. 26, 2016
This road diet on North Lamar is a recommendation for Short-Term Improvements to improve safety and mobility in this stretch without great expense, as the traffic volumes are relatively
low. The recommendations for Long-Term Improvements do not call for a road diet,
rather the recommendation calls for a complete reconstruction of the roadway with all
4 travel lanes, separated bike lanes (cycle tracks), raised median etc. The rendering
immediately after this recommendation clearly shows the long term section with 4
travel lanes. Reference pages 6-32 & 33 of the North Lamar/Burnet Corridor Program:
· In fact, in the recommended Short-Term improvements for Pedestrian Facilities, the transition from the road diet to the recommended long-term improvement with 4 travel lanes is anticipated: New 7-foot sidewalks are recommended for both sides of the roadway at locations where there are currently no sidewalks. Where possible, these sidewalks are to be constructed consistent with where they would be located when the roadway is reconstructed in the long term. As such, where they are currently missing, sidewalks would be constructed outside the existing right-of-way.
· During the approval of the bond package, Council discussed having sufficient funding in the Corridor Improvement bucket to move past the Short-Term recommendations for corridor improvements and get to the Long-Term improvements in order to make a meaningful impact on congestion. In fact, the Smart Corridor program bucket was developed largely based on staff estimates of the amount of funding needed to get into the transformative, long-term improvements on the corridors.
Jason Stanford
Communications Director
Office of Mayor Steve Adler, City of Austin