AUSTIN, Texas — Austin’s Proposition A, which would fund the massive Project Connect transit plan, is the big one. It’s not the only mobility proposition Austin voters will be deciding on, however.
Simply put, Proposition B would provide $460 million in taxpayer funds to transportation infrastructure. That includes sidewalks, bikeways, urban trails, transportation safety projects, safe routes to schools, and substandard streets.
RELATED: What You Need to Know About Austin’s Proposition A
The ballot language is as follows:
"The issuance of $460,000,000 in tax supported general obligation bonds and notes for planning, constructing, reconstructing, and improving sidewalks, urban trails, bikeways, bridges, roads, streets, intersections, and related utility and drainage infrastructure for the roads and streets; improving traffic signal synchronization and communications and control systems and acquiring and installing traffic signals and related technology to implement traffic safety and traffic fatality reduction strategies; and acquiring land and interests in land and property necessary to do so; and the levy of a tax sufficient to pay for the bonds and notes."
If approved, $80 million would go toward sidewalks. Of that, $50 million is earmarked for new sidewalks and $30 million for rehabilitation of existing sidewalks.
The City is eyeing $80 million for the construction of Tier 1 urban trails, designs for Tier 2 urban trails, and designing and constructing trail connections.
Austin would take $40 million and devote it to transportation-related bikeways.
About $65 million would go to Safety/Vision Zero, which is a roadway reconstruction plan that includes projects at 25 intersections, speed mitigation, pedestrian crossing projects, and rapid response projects on the High-Injury Network.
The proposition includes $20 million for safe routes to school. That includes identifying more than 4,0000 potential projects to improve safety for elementary and middle school students who walk or bicycle to and from school.
About $19 million would be set aside for the Local Transit Enhancement Program. This includes projects not covered by Project Connect such as reliability, speed, and safety of local bus service and transit access.
Roughly $1 million would be devoted to the Neighborhood Partnering Program. The program involves community-initiated capital improvements.
A good chunk of the money, $53 million, would be devoted to the improvement of substandard streets. That includes those roadways that do not meet City street standards for safety, mobility, and drainage.
The remainder of the money, $102 million, would go to Major Capital Improvements. That includes the Congress Avenue Urban Design Initiative and Longhorn Dam Bridge Multimodal Improvements, among numerous others.
Passing Proposition B would increase your property taxes, and how much you would pay depends on the worth of your home.
According to the City, if your home is worth $250,000, your annual additional tax burden would be $50. If your home is worth $325,000, you’d be looking at an extra $65 per year. If your home if worth $500,000, you’d be on the hook for an additional $100 per year.