So I started writing a comment on M1EK’s analysis of the light rail plan, but it got to long, so I’m posting it here.

Riverside makes a lot of sense for the first rail route because it’s low hanging fruit.

1. There’s plenty of space in the median to run rail lines. Probably the least disruption on this route of any major road in Austin. There just isn’t another road with as much traffic, and as much space to put rails.

2. This is one of the most dense areas of Austin. Plenty of riders. When you pair this with the Dove Springs (#27) route you’ve got a massive amount of potential riders.

3. Developers. They’ve taken out almost all the apartments on Lakeshore boulevard (seriously you should go look, they’re gone or boarded up). They’re building condos on both sides of I-35 and Riverside, and there are many more projects planned. The Developers are going to be gung-ho about getting this built and more than likely pump a lot of money into advocating for it (we should probably call them up and make sure they do).

4. Neighborhood Associations (or lack there of). South-East Austin has a few NA’s but none are particularly powerful. There are none that are particularly passionate about keeping Riverside Drive the way it is, so there will likely be little obstructionism.

5. Room to grow. I think a lot of people still use their reference of how Riverside looked when they were in college to decide where development ends now. There are actually several new neighborhoods and complexes on Riverside east of Grove Blvd. now. And there’s plenty of land, which will probably be snapped up and developed quickly if light rail goes through.

6. The Long Center. Rich people hate their traffic. The Long Center is a snarl right now. That spur is a massive incentive to powerful people to get this built. Heck they might try raising private funds for it and plastering plaques on everything on that line like they did with the Long Center. It’s too bad they can’t get this to mimic the route of the #30. There’s a pretty good case for having people park at Barton Springs mall and then take the rails into downtown. Of course, that’s a future debate.

So while there may be nicer routes. This one makes a lot of sense. The route out to Mueller actually makes a lot of sense too. I’ve taken the bus out there from South Austin, and even at 11pm at night the buses are pretty full. To sell it they should probably stop referring to Mueller and just talk about a Manor spur. That’s an easy sell. A lot of people are bitter about how expensive Mueller is and how it’s mostly yuppies from California buying the place out. But there a lot of residents along Manor who would definitely benefit from the plan.

I agree that we’ve got to sell this as just the first phase though. Let people know that we’d like to run it North/South next. And hope and pray that when the time comes we’ll be able to wrangle the NAs to let us build it.