Council gives $1 million to light rail

AUSTIN (KXAN) - Austin City Council has approved the use of $4 million in federal funds -- adding $1 million of local money -- to continue with the process of developing a light rail system in Austin.

The motion to approve allows the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization , which includes five counties, to use the $5 million to study the implementation.

CAMPO is the organization that received the federal grant, but Capital Metro will be in charge of administering the process and the funds.

"We're to the point we need to kick off the formal analysis and re-engage the public and have discussions about the proposed routes, the proposed technologies, benefits and consequences, " Said Rob Spiller, Director of Transportation for the City of Austin.

If everything goes as planned, the Urban Rail is set to be completed in 2021.

The funds will be used for:

• Public re-engagement in what is needed and wanted from a light rail system
• environmental impact studies -- what kind of strain will it cause
• advance conceptual design studies -- what is it going to look like
• preliminary engineering studies -- how are we going to build it and make it go

The counties that make up CAMPO are:

• Bastrop
• Caldwell
• Hays
• Travis
• Williamson