Austin Transportation Issues

[m1ek]

The Hiawatha Line in Mpls stops at red lights in downtown, just like cars. It does have traffic light pre-emption on parts of the route, but not downtown, according to Wikipedia - (Signal Problems Entry). It's extremely difficult to get a guideway in many downtowns because they are already squeezed for traffic space, and non-transit people don't want to give up any traffic lanes. It's easier to do on a boulevard, but then again, there aren't a lot of boulevards in downtown settings.

You're right that with traffic signal pre-emption, the LRV can "get an early or late green" and not be as disruptive to cross-traffic and keep moving consistently, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still in the street and has deal with left-turners, people pulling into businesses, sunday drivers, and everything else that cars have to deal with other than traffic lights. But I think if it's reserved to a small percentage of the light rail alignment (like Mpls and Houston), then it's only negligibly affects the travel time. But the more time it spends in the street, the more time you have to bank in to the headways (or buy more trains) to account for the possible delays. That time effect probably eats up the acceleration/deceleration difference between DEMUs on rail and LRVs in the street pretty quickly.

Nope, the comparison being done here was with a DEMU running in a similar alignment - so the DEMU would be even worse off if it had to stop at red lights than the LRV.

Not that I don't disagree that the Austin line should have been run further into downtown, but disagree with the assumption that running it on more streets (alone) would amount to more riders (or effectively take more traffic off of the roads).

Well, that's a very difficult assertion to support. You mean that you don't think running directly past UT and the Capitol and right down Congress where essentially everybody working at all three employment centers would just WALK to work rather than having to take a shuttle bus wouldn't amount to more riders? If so, you're the one guy in the world who thinks that; even Capital Metro admits otherwise with their projections of 1000 riders per day on this line vs. 15000 or so per day in 2000.

[GRDadof3]

Nope, the comparison being done here was with a DEMU running in a similar alignment - so the DEMU would be even worse off if it had to stop at red lights than the LRV.

Well, that's a very difficult assertion to support. You mean that you don't think running directly past UT and the Capitol and right down Congress where essentially everybody working at all three employment centers would just WALK to work rather than having to take a shuttle bus wouldn't amount to more riders? If so, you're the one guy in the world who thinks that; even Capital Metro admits otherwise with their projections of 1000 riders per day on this line vs. 15000 or so per day in 2000.

I don't know enough about the 2000 proposal so I can't comment. So why didn't Capital Metro look at running further into downtown to eliminate the transfer, by looking at something like the River Line did? The trains were actually built by Bombardier and Stadler.

http://www.stadlerrail.com/file/pdf/SNJ_en.pdf

Here's an aerial shot of downtown Camden where the River Line goes through (it's the double gray line). The cornering is very close to an LRV at a 40 m radius (131').

[m1ek]

I don't know enough about the 2000 proposal so I can't comment. So why didn't Capital Metro look at running further into downtown to eliminate the transfer, by looking at something like the River Line did? The trains were actually built by Bombardier and Stadler.

They won't say for sure, but the city saidin the first issue of their two-issue run of "OnTrack" that it was due to cornering issues, since the train would have had to transition from 4th street to 3rd street before making it to Seaholm. And unlike Camden, our downtown isn't full of blocks with no economic value which we could cut a chunk off to make cornering more feasible.

And don't forget - even going all the way to Seaholm only addresses the downtown worker on Congress, and not particularly well at that, compared to running down Congress itself. It doesn't do one darn thing for the large population of potential additional transit users at UT and the Capitol, both of which were served directly by the 2000 proposal.

If you don't know anything about the 2000 plan, I recommend reading more of my crackplog - I cover the route in many places; the Crestview Station use cases is a good start - just think of the "direct route" as the 2000 light rail route, as I clearly indicated in the post. North of Lamar/Airport, the 2000 light rail proposal used the same right-of-way as commuter rail (although the 2000 proposal said they'd rip up existing track so the whole thing could be double-tracked, which could probably have been scaled back in a re-float).

I'm very familiar with the River Line by this point after Lyndon Henry's crowd tried to use it as an example of why it's not misrepresenting to call this line in Austin "urban light rail". I served on the UTC from 2000 through 2005; and stood on the street corner at 6th&Congress waving pro-light-rail signs at motorists on election night in 2000. I was one of the "anti" speakers at several events before the election in 2004, having to carry the entire load of the "pro-transit but we're about to build a bad rail line" crowd by myself as everybody else just bought the baloney about how central Austin would get served later if we held our noses and voted yes. Hell, I was on KXAN at one point, interviewed in my front yard.

So perhaps at this point you could credit me more than some anonymous jackass on this stuff, OK?

Edited April 6, 2007 by m1ek

[GRDadof3]

They won't say for sure, but the city saidin the first issue of their two-issue run of "OnTrack" that it was due to cornering issues, since the train would have had to transition from 4th street to 3rd street before making it to Seaholm. And unlike Camden, our downtown isn't full of blocks with no economic value which we could cut a chunk off to make cornering more feasible.

And don't forget - even going all the way to Seaholm only addresses the downtown worker on Congress, and not particularly well at that, compared to running down Congress itself. It doesn't do one darn thing for the large population of potential additional transit users at UT and the Capitol, both of which were served directly by the 2000 proposal.

If you don't know anything about the 2000 plan, I recommend reading more of my crackplog - I cover the route in many places; the Crestview Station use cases is a good start - just think of the "direct route" as the 2000 light rail route, as I clearly indicated in the post. North of Lamar/Airport, the 2000 light rail proposal used the same right-of-way as commuter rail (although the 2000 proposal said they'd rip up existing track so the whole thing could be double-tracked, which could probably have been scaled back in a re-float).

I'm very familiar with the River Line by this point after Lyndon Henry's crowd tried to use it as an example of why it's not misrepresenting to call this line in Austin "urban light rail". I served on the UTC from 2000 through 2005; and stood on the street corner at 6th&Congress waving pro-light-rail signs at motorists on election night in 2000. I was one of the "anti" speakers at several events before the election in 2004, having to carry the entire load of the "pro-transit but we're about to build a bad rail line" crowd by myself as everybody else just bought the baloney about how central Austin would get served later if we held our noses and voted yes. Hell, I was on KXAN at one point, interviewed in my front yard.

So perhaps at this point you could credit me more than some anonymous jackass on this stuff, OK?

Sure. I'm way up in Grand Rapids so I don't know how much good I'll do for you. But thanks for the info and we're gathering experiences, information and feedback from all over the country.

[m1ek]

Our DMU will have a turning radius of 300 feet, according to the Seaholm station study (which I finally found), compared to 100 feet for many light rail vehicles (and 100 or less for streetcars). This means that our shiny Cap Metro DMUs will never, ever, ever run in the street where they have to actually make a turn.

[m1ek]

Our DMU will have a turning radius of 300 feet, according to the Seaholm station study (which I finally found), compared to 100 feet for many light rail vehicles (and 100 or less for streetcars). This means that our shiny Cap Metro DMUs will never, ever, ever run in the street where they have to actually make a turn.

Don't know where they got 300' from. Everybody else seems to be settled on about 135'. Nonetheless, this is still way too wide to navigate the corners downtown, as the city has indicated. So it ain't gonna be able to run anywhere _useful_ in the street.

[txstate25]

Austin - San Antonio Intermunicipal Commuter Rail District

This rail line runs 112 miles from south San Antonio to Georgetown on existing Union Pacific rail line. The Texas DOT is working with Union Pacific to re-route their freight trains to a line located west of these cities.

The cost of the track upgrades, trains, and stations are expected to be approx. $600 million. The annual operating cost are expected to be $41 million. A final feaibility study is being conducted and then development of an application for federal funding in the "New Starts" program. If everything goes through without any holdups, the ASA commuter rail line could begin in 2009.

The ASA commuter rail is expected to run hourly with a total of 14 stations. The 79 mile portion from downtown Austin to downtown San Antonio will take about 1-1/2 hours to ride.

Population estimates

Metro Austin in 2025 - 2,082,679

Metro San Antonio in 2025 - 2,272,644

These two combined will be about equil to what the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex is today.

ASA Rail

my sources could be wrong, but this quote was in another forum:

"The DFW metroplex has 5.55 million people, Houston has 5.2 million, and SA has 1.85 million." (present time)

[eastsider]

Testing on the first MetroRail train begins today and will run for the next three nights on the section of line between the intersection of U.S. Highway 183/Burnet Road and MoPac Expwy./Howard Lane.

Ausin Business Journal: Commuter rail testing begins

[The ATX]

The commuter rail line is still on schedule to begin service late Fall of this year. There is also renewed interest in light rail. Here's a story about it from the Austin American-Statesm

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...tml?UrAuth=%60N]NUOaNVUbTTUWUXUaUZTYU_UWUbUcUZUaU_UcTYWYWZV&urcm=y

Light rail plan

New light-rail plan rolls into Austin

Among many obstacles: What's the cost, and who pays?

By Ben Wear

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

A consultant hired by the city is recommending a 14-mile light-rail system for Central Austin, not streetcars as proposed by Capital Metro. The system would run from the airport to downtown, through the University of Texas and east to the emerging Mueller development.

The route is essentially the same one City Council Member BrewsterMcCracken and Austin Mayor Will Wynn have been talking about for the past six months or so. The proposal, finished just seven weeks after the council voted to pay ROMA Design Group up to $250,000 to produce it, comes as a "transit task force" formed by Wynn and state Sen. Kirk Watson moves into the final stages ofcreating a process to analyzerail proposals.

No one yet knows how the proposal, which likely will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, would be paid for.

That task force would almost surely analyze this proposal, and the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board (chaired by Watson) would have the final say. But it is not clear whether such an examination could occur quickly enough for the light-rail proposal to be put before voters in November. Wynn has said he would like to have a rail vote this year, but there will be a number ofcomplicated questions about costs and benefits.

Watson, who was in South Texas on Tuesday, had not seen the proposal and had no comment. But Watson said that the process created by the task force "will allow any project to be fully vetted in a transparent, open, complete way."

McCracken, at least, said he think that the proposal can make it through that gantlet to a public vote in November, which he said would probably involve voters being asked to approve some sort of long-term debt.

"Yes, I think that's likely," McCracken said of getting the proposal onto the ballot in time.

Council Member Lee Leffingwell has his doubts. He said that only Wynn and McCracken, to his knowledge, had been briefed on the rail proposal.

"The key to this whole thing has been, how's this going to be paid for?" Leffingwell said. "If you just want to put the concept on the ballot in November, that would be one thing. But if you're talking about some sort of financial commitment by the city, I think it would be very hard to get there by that time."

Leffingwell and McCracken are often mentioned as likely candidates for mayor next year.

McCracken says he envisions the city taking the lead in building the line but that Capital Metro probably would run it.

"I don't see that anyone else knows how to do that," McCracken said.

But that would presumably mean that Capital Metro, which has said that running its current operations will require all of its revenue the next few years, would have to absorb what are likely to be substantial operating losses.

"How does that affect bus service now and in the future, which is the only means of transportation for many people in Austin?" Leffingwell asked.

The recommendation from ROMA did not include a specific cost estimate.

McCracken said the cost would be somewhere between $5 million a mile and $30 million a mile, depending mostly on how many underground utility lines would have to be relocated. That would put the total cost at between $70 million and $420 million.

Those figures, he said, would probably not include the cost of the cars.

The diesel-powered cars Capital Metro has purchased for its "red line" commuter service from Leander to downtown, set to open in a few months, cost about $6 million apiece, and the agency bought six of them to start with. Light-rail cars typically cost less than that.

John Lewis, a real estate developer who supported Capital Metro's commuter rail project after vigorously opposing a light-rail referendum in 2000 that failed, scoffed at McCracken's cost figures.

"We all know that there will be serious under-estimating of what this silly thing is going to cost," Lewis said in an e-mail. "What is guessed to be $400 million today will be $800 million when it nears completion. ... These routes being proposed have no user demand and will do virtually nothing to give taxpayers an alternative to their car."

Capital Metro officials have said they have no money left in the kitty to pay for more rail, so where would the money come from to build this?

McCracken envisions a funding scenario that includes using perhaps 15 percent to 20 percent of revenue from Capital Metro's 1 percent sales tax (although the agency has indicated it needs it all for current bus and rail expenses), contributions from the city and other local governments, from property taxes likely to be generated by new development along the line and, potentially, from airport bonds.

"We think it is possible to build this with no new taxes," McCracken said.

According to McCracken, the recommendation from ROMA will propose putting double tracks (allowing travel in both directions simultaneously) from Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and west on Riverside Drive. The route would turn north at South Congress Avenue (although there could be a spur to the parking-poor Long Center, McCracken said, or even to Zilker Park), cross the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge and then go through downtown either on Congress or San Jacinto Boulevard.

Then it would pass through UT, turning east at Dean Keeton Street and going along Manor Road to Mueller.

A major criticism of the light rail that voters rejected in 2000 was that it would take street lanes away from car traffic. Not so, in this case, McCracken said, although the tracks would be in "dedicated lanes" segregated from cars. The space for the tracks, McCracken said, would come from available right of way on Riverside east of Interstate 35. Downtown, the tracks would run on pavement currently occupied by parked cars, he said.

The tracks, McCracken said, might take two lanes from the bridge over Lady Bird Lake, he said, although alternatively it could use the space now taken up by sidewalks. In that case, a sidewalk alternative bridge, such as the one on the South First Street bridge, would continue pedestrian and bicycle access across the lake on Congress.

The dedicated-lane concept was news even to Charlie Betts, executive director of the Downtown Austin Alliance. The alliance has been firmly behind the streetcar plan, in which the trolleys would share lanes with cars. To avoid reducing lanes on Congress would require tearing up the curb and sidewalk extensions that currently delineate the parking spaces.

"That's a new wrinkle, and we haven't had time to think about it," Betts said.

Pat Clubb, vice president for employee and campus services at UT, likes the Mueller connection. The university has a new research building there, and she anticipates that some faculty and staff will live in the residential community swiftly rising at Mueller. And she said having a rail line on San Jacinto, in the shadow of Royal-Memorial Stadium and near the LBJ Library and Bass Concert Hall, will help.

As for losing parking spots along San Jacinto, Clubb said that "losing any parking on campus is an issue" but that the university generally has been looking to move most of that to garages anyway.

[email protected]; 445-3698

More on the proposed light-rail line

Would we lose car lanes on some major streets?

Not necessarily, Austin City Council Member Brewster McCracken says. On Riverside Drive, there is ample city right of way to put in the tracks outside of the existing street. On the Ann Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, existing lanes would be needed unless the sidewalk space were used and a new pedestrian bridge were built.

Who would run this railroad?

Capital Metro, McCracken says, although he says the city would take the lead in financing and building it.

Are there other possible extensions?

Yes. McCracken says a spur could extend west from Congress to the Long Center for the Performing Arts or even to Zilker Park. And a crosstown line from the Seaholm Power Plant development area west of City Hall to the end of the commuter line at Fourth and Trinity streets is a possibility, as is building commuter rail from a railroad junction in East Austin out to Manor and Elgin.

What's next?

The creator of the light-rail plan, ROMA Design Group, will take public comment and perhaps tweak the plan before taking it to the City Council on May 8. The plan is likely to go before Mayor Will Wynn's transit working group. The final decision would be made by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board, which includes Wynn and McCracken.

Edited May 3, 2008 by Texas Hill Country

[The ATX]

Here's more on the proposed downtown rail. It's actually more than just downtown since it includes a line to the airport.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...5/0725rail.html

DOWNTOWN RAIL

$600 million streetcar plan offered for Austin

City consultant's proposal still a work in progress, and many hurdles remain before concept could become a reality.

By Ben Wear

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, July 25, 2008

Central Austin should have a 15.3-mile streetcar system, consultants hired by the Austin City Council told members Thursday, a slight refinement of a proposal that the ROMA Design Group unveiled in April.

The proposal, similar in many respects to downtown rail plans that have been circulating for about three years, remains well short of a finished product. And the proposal lacks what is perhaps the most critical information: how the city or Capital Metro, or some entity to be named later, would pay for it.

The plan, when it does take final shape in a few months, is likely to be reviewed by a "transit working group" formed by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board, the principal transportation planning group in Central Texas. Finding a workable way to pay for a rail plan, officials have made clear, is critical to taking it from back burner to serious debate.

In the end, some sort of public vote on the streetcar plan will almost certainly occur. But that won't happen until next year at the earliest.

Though the route unveiled Thursday is essentially the same as the one in the April proposal

[eastsider]

Due to delays with a couple stations and the signaling system, a revised opening date for MetroRail service is March 30.

Austin Business Journal: MetroRail now set to launch March 30

[The ATX]

The start of the commuter rail line has been postponed indefinitely due to federal safety violations and technical difficulties.

http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news...21capmetro.html

CAPITAL METRO

Rail opening on indefinite hold

Further rule violations, system glitches cause delay. Agency accused of making 'scapegoat' of contractor

By Ben Wear

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Capital Metro said Friday that it is indefinitely delaying the opening of its Leander-to-downtown-Austin rail service in the wake of further allegations of federal safety violations and because of continued technical problems.

In addition, the transit agency called on Veolia Transportation, its rail operations contractor, to fire its local safety director. Capital Metro is bringing in rail officials from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, which has a dozen commuter rail lines in the greater Boston area, "to assist with startup operations and safety implementation."

Festivities to celebrate the opening that were scheduled for next weekend at all nine rail stations have been canceled. They were to include short demonstration rides for the public.

The opening, which has been pushed back several times, now has no target day.

"By May 15, Capital Metro will report back to the community with the status of the project and an action plan," an agency news release said.

A week ago, the Federal Railroad Administration began an investigation into a February incident in which two Veolia train engineers drove their MetroRail trains into a section of track without getting proper clearance. According to Capital Metro rail operations director Bill Le Jeune, they realized their error after a third of a mile, stopped, got proper clearance and then moved on. The violations could result in federal and state fines for Veolia.

Capital Metro then decided to delay the March 30 rail opening by as much as a month but said opening events set for March 27 and March 28 would proceed. But on Thursday, according to Le Jeune, the railroad administration accused Veolia of seven violations, alleging irregularities related to"efficiency testing" and poor documentation of hearing and vision tests on workers. On Friday, Capital Metro, which is still trying to fix a problem with signal crossing gates that in some cases don't come down quickly enough, applied the brakes to the project.

Those efficiency tests, Le Jeune said, involve testing workers on rules and procedures. Veolia, he said, had not done all required testing.

Veolia officials noted that the company is the majority owner of the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad Co., the passenger rail operator for the Boston transit agency that Capital Metro is bringing in to help.

"That's ironic because we run that system," said Ron Hartman, executive vice president for rail with Veolia. Veolia's five-year contract there was recently extended three years.

Hartman said Veolia disputes the allegation that its efficiency testing was inadequate and will make that case to federal regulators. He said that the hearing and vision tests had been done and that documents supporting that will be filed immediately.

Hartman also said that the replacement of the safety director was already under way and that Capital Metro was told that about two weeks ago.

[The ATX]

The last post (by me) in this stale thread is over five years old.  Here's what one of the commuter trains in the 32-mile Capitol Metro Red Line looks like.  The Red Line connects the northwest suburbs and downtown with the last stop by the convention center.  A proposal on the November ballot will create a light rail system in Central Austin.  Traffic congestion in Austin is a serious problem, but Austinites have a history of complaining about it while embracing a "Don't build it, and they won't come" plan on transportation problems.  

 

http://t.wallpaperweb.org/wallpaper/miscellaneous/1280x1024/METRO_RAIL.jpg

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/Austin_Metrorail.jpg

 

http://buildingatx.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/CapMetroRedLine-620x350.jpg

Edited May 1, 2014 by Texas Hill Country

[The ATX]

The city has rolled out the light rail plan that voters will be voting on in November.  It'll cost $1.4 Billion for 9.5 miles.  The chance of this passing is almost zero.  Austin voters want more bang for their buck on transportation issues than having a "cool" train set.  I'm disappointed in the cost and the route, and I have always been a big supporter of light rail - until now.  

Also, on the November ballot is a change to the Texas Constitution that will re-direct a significant amount of oil and gas revenue from the "Rainy Day Fund" to TxDot for transportation projects.  This will be the best bet for congestion relief.  

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2014/05/02/the-big-plan-unveiled-a-1-4-billion-urban-rail.html 

Edited May 3, 2014 by Texas Hill Country

[The ATX]

Here's a map of the ~10 mile light rail proposal that shows the locations of the 16 stations.  The convention center station is where the light rail would connect to the 32-mile long commuter rail Red Line.  There may also be a future connection to the commuter line at a station north of Downtown.  

 

 

 

Part of the light rail line would be a subway.  Here's a map that shows where the tunnel would be:

 

 

 

The proposal would also require a new bridge to be built over the river to Riverside Dr.

 

The story and more pictures can be found at Community Impact:  http://impactnews.com/austin-metro/northwest-austin/urban-rail-route-from-highland-to-riverside-would-cost-%241.38-billion/

 

[The ATX]

The rail proposal has been divided into three potential proposals, and the one ending up on the November ballot is yet to be determined.  The one posted above is the most expensive one which I doubt will pass.  But there are two other options for a shorter line that don't include the expensive subway portion.  I think the shorter options stand a chance of passing.  I think we need to get a light rail system starter set first; then expand it in increments.

 

Here's a worthless link to the pay wall that hides the article:  

 

http://www.mystatesman.com/news/news/local/three-scenarios-unveiled-for-urban-rail-in-austin/nfyRq/ 

Edited May 17, 2014 by Texas Hill Country

[The ATX]

Here's an article about the light rail proposals not blocked by a pay wall for those into the minutiae:

 

http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/news/2014/05/16/austins-urban-rail-owner-operator-and-operation.html

 

The Choo Choo photo is from the article. 

 

Edited May 17, 2014 by Texas Hill Country

[The ATX]

Austin's Capitol Metro recently started running BRT lines with dedicated lanes through downtown.  Here's what one of the buses looks like:  

 

http://austinrailnow.files.wordpress.com/2013/09/arn0_aus-bus-brt-qtbrview-2013-0003_cmta-blog.jpg

[The ATX]

The commuter rail Red Line is getting more rail cars to increase capacity and a new Downtown station.   

 

Photo and article at Building ATX:  http://buildingatx.com/2014/07/more-trains-on-the-way-for-the-red-line/

 

 

[The ATX]

Here are some renderings of the proposed light rail system.  The city is adding some highway projects to the the light rail proposal to make it more appealing to voters this November.

 

This is where the line would pass through the University of Texas campus right by DKR Memorial Stadium:

 

 

This is south of the river:  

 

 

By the convention center where the Red Line ends:

Source:  http://www.projectconnect.com/central-corridor-urban-rail

[The ATX]

A video about the light rail proposal from Project Connect:  

 

http://youtu.be/mk6ySb_mIAY

[The ATX]

There are reports that British Airways' daily direct flight from London to Austin is one of (if not their most) popular flights to North America, and that they may be expanding their Austin Service.  (Those Brits like their alcohol and music which is Austin's specialty.)  Austin has become one on North America's busiest non-hub airports, and has a pretty impressive expansion underway with a lot more planned over the next several years.  But Austin will probably never be a major hub though, as DFW and Houston are relatively close by. 

[The ATX]

Another BRT line went active in the past week or so.  Those slinky buses are huge.  

 

Photo and article at:  http://www.capmetro.org/metrorapid.aspx?id=3071

[The ATX]

Here's a fast ride on the proposed ~10 mile light rail route.  About one mile of the line would be a subway which would start just after their drive through the UT campus:  

 

http://youtu.be/lKRGNAOPQ60

Austin Post story with the video: http://www.austinpost.org/article/urban-rail-route-timelapse

Edited September 20, 2014 by The ATX

[The ATX]

Yay, we're number two!  According to TxDOT a section of I-610 in Houston has taken the top spot this year for the most congested roadway in Texas knocking I-35 through Central Austin down to the number two spot. 

 

http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/projects/100-congested-roadways.html

 

 

But the drop was not because it has gotten better.  It took me an hour to get through Austin on I-35 yesterday around 2:00 PM - well before the rush hour peak.  But some of the traffic was due to all of the visitors coming into to Austin this weekend for ACL Fest.

 

http://madbetty.com/eyes-road/