Panel unveils MoPac ideas

Central Texas needs to consider closing Westover Road ramps on MoPac Boulevard, using a 55-mph speed limit and adding two lanes used only by vehicles with at least two occupants, seven transportation experts say. But first the region should take six more months to decide how best to help MoPac (Loop 1), further delaying the Texas Department of Transportation's plans for expanding the highway, the consultants said Friday. The experts' ideas will be used by a committee of elected officials, transportation planners and neighborhood leaders trying to improve on the state's plan without bulldozing as many homes as originally suggested.

The recommendations also include warnings that MoPac will be overly burdened if Texas 45 South is built between Interstate 35 and FM 1626, connecting MoPac and the interstate. Texas 45 North, planned for Williamson and Travis counties and far North Austin, should be built, but the southern portion should end at FM 1626 -- and then only after the Texas 130 bypass for I-35 is open for traffic, the group concluded. "It just turns Loop 1 into an automatic bypass to I-35, and that would be a problem," said Paul Bay, a rail and highway expert from Redmond, Wash., who led the group. "There should not be an easy connection between I-35 and Loop 1." The report resulted from a week of meetings and research on MoPac's problems and potential by the experts, who received $75,000 from the City of Austin for their work. The experts did not include estimates on cost but seemed at once to please and worry nearly every Central Texas transportation interest group. For example, Texas 45 South is supported by Hays and Travis counties but opposed by Austin and environmental groups, while the Westover ramp is nearly equally supported and opposed by nearby neighborhoods. "I think you have some good ideas," Greg Boatright, a Williamson County commissioner and committee member, told the experts. "But there are some hand grenades that have been thrown in there, too."

Other recommendations include:

* Immediate and permanent noise barriers, which Central Austin neighborhoods have fought for decades to get.

* Reducing Union Pacific Railroad land from 60 feet to 40 feet and using the space to add one high-occupancy-vehicle lane in each direction.

HOV lanes could be built alongside the current main lanes, or all of MoPac could be lowered from Enfield Road to RM 2222, they said.

* Begin building a commuter rail system along the Union Pacific tracks to downtown Austin, possibly also using Capital Metro's Giddings-to-Llano railroad. The region should try an inexpensive vehicle such as diesel-powered RegioSprinter trains that Capital Metro tested in 1997.

"Plop it on that track, and use it coming in in the morning and going out in the evening," transportation planning expert Tom Jones recommended. That, too, will be controversial, since Capital Metro's 1 percent sales tax would be a likely way to pay for commuter rail, and the agency must have an election first, Boatright said. Light rail, which uses electric trains and concentrates on downtown areas with frequent stops, was voted down last year. Commuter rail uses larger locomotives, makes fewer stops and concentrates on carrying passengers longer distances. The experts' ideas are somewhat related to the state's proposal, which asked to study adding two and four HOV lanes on MoPac and U.S. 183, either elevating some lanes or lowering them below the highway. The state called for improving several interchanges and ramps near the neighborhoods, which would've destroyed the most homes and drew strong opposition. The state did not call for closing the Westover ramp.

"Controversial? Yes," said Joel Leisch, an HOV and highway expert who proposed shuttering Westover. Those ramps carry the lightest traffic of any MoPac exits but are spaced too close to ramps at 35th Street and Windsor Road, creating jams as cars enter and exit the highway, he said. More traffic would use the 35th and Windsor exits, but those ramps also could be improved to help traffic, the experts said. "If it comes down to losing homes or closing Westover, I think that's an easy solution," said Sid Covington, a committee member and Old Enfield Homeowners Association leader. The committee will meet Wednesday to debate the new suggestions. No work could even begin on MoPac until 2008, no matter what is decided.

The seven experts also challenged the Central Texas leaders to fix their own attitudes about each other. "We agree that this is a really special place, but it has problems," Bay said. First and foremost, "it's the inability to make decisions. This region has not yet effectively learned the art of making the deal." After his comments, committee chairman and state Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos, D-Austin, spoke first and drew laughs from the group. "Mr. Paul Bay, would you consider running for public office in town?" You may contact Kelly Daniel at kdaniel@statesman.com or