Central Austin

Local nonprofit groups, such as the Metropolitan Breakfast Club and Leadership Austin, have scheduled speakers for recent and future meetings to discuss the issues that reside in Austin’s future growth.

“Since the beginning of this year’s series that started in October, monthly attendance at the events has more than doubled [over last year’s attendance],” Leadership Austin CEO Heather McKissick said. “What that means is that more and more people in Austin are coming to the table interested in the conversation about issues that make this community run, and that’s our mission.”

Identifying issues

As Austin continues to top the ranks of cities listed as either desirable or as having thriving economies, it has also earned a place on a not-so-positive list, said Charlie Betts, executive director of the Downtown Austin Alliance. During a Jan. 18 session of the Metropolitan Breakfast Club, Betts told attendees Austin is ranked third on the list of cities nationwide that have the worst travel times, a fact the city will need to work hard—and invest significantly in—to change.

“We’re so pleased about being so high on all of these lists, but I worry we might jinx ourselves, that we’ve got nowhere to go but down,” Betts said. “We are going to have to make transportation investments big time to keep from … going the wrong way.”

Despite Austin’s desirability, its commuters spend an average of 44 hours each year stuck in traffic, Betts said. They city’s most congested time of day is 6 p.m., as more than 500,000 vehicles try to exit Austin through one of its few arterial routes.

“It will be expensive, but it’s an investment we are going to have to make or we’re going to choke on congestion,” Betts said.

Identifying the problem’s source

Leadership Austin focused its seven-month-long speaker series—which began in October—on implications of Austin’s growth. The group spent its first two events talking about the effect transportation will have on the city’s future, including one breakfast meeting as well as a town hall event that was televised on KXAN-TV.

As a panelist during the group’s first event, Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, also identified transportation as a significant growth setback. He now says the state’s lack of financial support is the culprit and has wreaked havoc on Austin’s infrastructure.