SAN ANTONIO – Plans for a passenger rail system between San Antonio and Austin have come up countless times for more than ten years.
The Lone Star Rail District announced Monday afternoon that they have yet another plan for a rail system that would link Austin and San Antonio.
Members of the board say 8 million dollars of your tax money will be spent on an environmental impact study. Another 182 million has been allocated for a rail relocation and improvement fund. The board members say this new funding source makes this project more possible than ever.
“You have such tremendous traffic congestion between here and Austin. It would relieve that,” claims Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. “It would allow rail to connect 300,000 college students along the corridor. It would allow us to connect airports, downtowns and give us the synergy we lack today.”
An environmental impact study is needed to be able to tap into a portion of the 8 billion dollars the Obama Administration has set aside for rail projects. The president has identified the I-35 corridor as a priority area for a possible passenger rail.
"We are excited with progress - that the Obama Administration has made rail a priority,” said Judge Wolff. “The administration has designated us one of ten major corridors in the U.S., so things look encouraging.”
The board will begin holding public meetings in early 2010 throughout the I-35 corridor to review the environmental impacts and look at possible spots for of a rail system stations.
