Thursday, October 1, 2026, 1 p.m. (Austin time), Austin City Hall
Committee: Mobility Committee
The Mobility Committee, chaired by Council Member Ellis with all four members present, heard three public speakers who opposed the current design of the East 51st Street project and asked for fewer lanes, roundabouts or a main-street approach, and it approved the September 3rd minutes while withdrawing the corrected-minutes item for a later meeting. Assistant City Manager Mike Rogers, Transportation and Public Works and Austin-Travis County EMS staff briefed members on electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, including the federal pilot program in which TxDOT was selected and Austin's application was not, and a possible EMS memorandum of understanding with LIFT Aircraft for paramedic response. Transportation Director Richard Mendoza and Assistant Director Anna Martin said the 2012 bond-funded East 51st Street project will keep four lanes with a protected intersection at Berkman rather than a roundabout, citing right-of-way, Atlas 14 drainage and traffic-volume constraints, with permitting in early 2027 and construction starting in late 2027 and lasting about two years. Planning staff gave an update on equitable transit-oriented development, including parking studies due in December and new mixed-use zones expected for council consideration in early 2027, followed by the mobility director's report announcing the CTX Go app, three ribbon cuttings and Living Streets applications. A third-quarter financial memo and future agenda items were noted without discussion.
0:00 Good
0:05 afternoon, everybody.
0:11 This is the October 1st mobility committee meeting, and we're gonna call it to order at 1:03 pm.
0:16 We are hosting the meeting here in City Hall City Council chambers.
0:20 We have all four members of the committee present on the dais.
0:25 And we will start with public communication.
0:28 We have three minutes each.
0:30 I believe there are only three speakers.
0:32 Yes, chairwoman, there's three speakers.
0:35 Katie kam, adam greenfield, and andrew clements.
0:40 Welcome.
0:58 Hi, I'm katie kan speaking in opposition of the current proposed design of east 51st street by mueller
1:04 because it does not comply with the Austin mobility plan best practices for the safe systems vision zero
1:10 design approach or the vision for creating a pedestrian oriented corridor that brings mueller and windsor park together.
1:16 The city's plan for east 51st street is extremely disappointing, and the design needs to change to create
1:21 a better, safer, multimodal street.
1:24 For background, I have a master's and phd in civil engineering specializing in transportation and about 30 years
1:30 of experience in planning and engineering, including overseeing roadway, roundabout and traffic analysis projects.
1:36 First, I want to highlight the failures in the process.
1:38 Despite the mueller neighborhood association and mueller piac requesting an opportunity to review the design last year before
1:45 it made it to 90%, the transportation and public work staff refused to go to the mueller piac
1:50 or neighbor association to provide an update.
1:53 City staff pushed through the 90% design despite requests by the public to have a say.
1:58 City staff presented 90% to the public in June of this year as informational only.
2:03 This is not okay.
2:06 Here's what is wrong with the city's proposed redesign.
2:08 It continues business as usual for the corridor.
2:10 Two car lanes in each direction signalized intersections.
2:14 Crashes and speeding occur along this road and is not a pleasant place to walk along.
2:18 The current proposed roadway design is outdated and not compliance with austin's strategic mobility plan, which seeks to
2:24 increase mode split of non-car modes to 50% and integrate mobility modes like low speed electric vehicles, which
2:31 is encouraged on page 136 of the Austin strategic mobility plan.
2:36 The only change is to provide wider facilities for walking and biking to prohibit left turns along some
2:41 parts of the corridor.
2:42 Additionally, the design would remove established shade trees that provide continuous shade and much need relief from the
2:47 hot sun. This is a project that will cost millions and be in place for decades.
2:53 We have to get this project right and not rush into a poor design.
2:57 Here's what needs to change about the east 51st street redesign.
3:01 All intersections should be one lane roundabouts, no excuses.
3:06 Roundabouts significantly reduce crashes, injuries and fatalities, significantly reduce roadway operations, maintenance, and emergency response costs, provide traffic
3:14 calming, and provide a safer environment.
3:17 They're ideal for this corridor because of the vision for this corridor.
3:21 The previous traffic modeling looked at two lane roundabouts, that is not the appropriate size.
3:26 When it comes to traffic modeling, the point is to determine how to get to the vision, not
3:31 to succumb to decades old thinking that we must keep accommodating an unstopped growth and conventional car travel.
3:37 Additionally, more people, including myself and other residents of mueller and adjacent neighborhoods are using low speed electric
3:43 vehicles, golf carts, and e-trucks to get around.
3:45 The revised east 51st street cross section should have one conventional lane in each direction, separate off-street paths
3:52 for bikes and low-speed vehicles and wide sidewalks while also maintaining the existing shade trees.
3:57 When looking at the cost of redesign, those are quickly recovered by designing a roadway that's safer and
4:01 more efficient. Thank you.
4:09 The gentlemen are debating who's gonna go next.
4:11 I'll go. Uh, adam greenfield, safe street, nice to see you all council members.
4:15 Um, also speaking about 51st street between cameron and birkman.
4:19 Um, uh, we strongly, uh, thank, uh, staff for all the work that's been done on this project.
4:26 This is a really critical area of town and if done right, could really help stitch these communities
4:32 together, um, in a way that the current, uh, roadway configuration does not.
4:39 Uh, the question really we think is what are we solving for?
4:42 And in the 2012 east 51st street vision plan, the community was very clear that they would like
4:48 a main street here.
4:49 Um, what we, what we're seeing in the current designs is more of a highway configuration with, uh,
4:57 you know, four lanes, um, certainly an improvement over what we have today.
5:02 Um, but we do think that we, uh, need more time to get this right.
5:07 Uh, even with the four lane configuration with, um, a median and, uh, improved bike lanes and other
5:15 improvements, we still think that this isn't gonna be a place that really the community would embrace as
5:20 much as they could.
5:21 Um, and we are seeing a lot of support for a main street vision.
5:26 In fact, safe streets Austin has recently collected support from about 20 local businesses and organizations for, uh,
5:34 kind of a slower, narrower, calmer, more main street, uh, approach.
5:39 This has been done before, of course.
5:41 Barton springs road, um, you know, similar traffic levels.
5:45 We can, you know, perhaps say, this is but barton springs road was, was moving the needle forward
5:52 significantly. Cameron desar was moving the needle forward significantly.
5:57 Uh, we think that this wouldn't be moving the needle more, any more forward than those projects.
6:02 And, and we would really be having a wonderful outcome at the end that would, the community would
6:07 really embrace. So, um, even if it takes longer to, to get a good design for 51st street,
6:13 the community could be with this, but this could be with the community for 80 years, a century,
6:20 uh, a century of, of, uh, improved safety, uh, economic development.
6:25 Uh, we think it's worth it.
6:27 This is, we gotta think long-term here.
6:29 So thank you very much and looking forward to the discussion today.
6:32 Thank you. Thank you.
6:33 I appreciate your comments.
6:36 And to mr. Clements.
6:37 Hello, andrew clements. Um, I'm actually commissioner, um, Council Member kadri's wrong, wrong room, uh, appointee to the
6:48 mueller commission. Um, and I am probably the main voice that was asking for updates for the east
6:54 51st project for probably a year or two and not being responded to until a presentation in February
7:02 that didn't present the design and the 90% design finally being presented at a June 14th public hearing.
7:10 Um, but east 51st street between i-35 and berkman, this project area is a strode, um, both a
7:17 street and a road not doing either particularly well, but mainly a road emphasizing traffic through, throughput and
7:24 maneuverability. The 90% design that has been presented shows this remaining a strode with some nice new flourishes
7:33 and nods to other mobility needs.
7:36 The vision of the project to calm traffic and bring together the windsor park and mueller neighborhoods, of
7:42 which I'm the chair of the neighborhood association, isn't achieved in the 90% design presented, and never will
7:49 with four lanes of traffic in an arterial setting.
7:53 I drive the stretch of east, east 51st often.
7:56 I see people going 50, 60 miles an hour racing each other to the next light because there's
8:01 two lanes to weave in and out of.
8:04 I see people using the center turn lane to pass traffic that they're unhappy with the speed of.
8:10 Now, granted, um, dividing the, with an island will help solve that problem.
8:16 Um, but I don't believe two lanes of traffic in either direction is gonna change, um, the driving
8:24 habits. The city goals of fifty fifty travel mode split and progress against climate change won't be furthered
8:33 by the automobile first planning basis for this project.
8:37 Reducing lanes and installing roundabouts will achieve the original vision.
8:43 Road diets have been successful all around Austin with our new emphasis and understanding of them.
8:50 Barton springs was mentioned, but all around the perimeter of mueller.
8:55 East 51st street itself, east of berkman and west of i-35 have been reduced.
9:01 Mainer road has been reduced.
9:03 Springdale road has been reduced, lanes taken out.
9:08 I question why that wouldn't work here.
9:11 A three-year delay to get it right, an altered road design that staff is gonna present to you
9:18 with the backup that's part of this agenda item is the right thing to do.
9:24 Um, a year or two can be chalked up to not communicating the design project changes as requested,
9:30 and a road diet strategy could actually reduce construction costs conceivably and those costs could be moved to
9:37 redesign. Thank you. All right.
9:42 Thank you very much for your comments and thanks for being here today.
9:44 Thank you.
9:50 We've got a note that our item number one is being withdrawn just so it can be reposted.
9:54 So we're gonna skip that one.
9:59 One and two.
10:05 One is the approved, the last meeting's minutes.
10:08 Item two is the, uh, corrected minutes.
10:12 Two doesn't have minutes uploaded.
10:16 One does. But if they're wrong and you wanna pull them, chair, that's your, uh, prerogative.
10:22 So September 3rd meeting minutes are ready to go, but item two was a different meeting?
10:28 Yes, that's correct. Okay.
10:29 Sounds good. Well, let's get a motion on the table for item number one to approve those.
10:33 Vice chair cadre makes the motion seconded by Council Member lane.
10:37 All in favor? Say aye.
10:39 Okay. Unanimous on the dias and item number two will be withdrawn and we'll see that at another
10:44 meeting. Perfect. Item number three, briefing regarding electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, which use electric motors and
10:53 rotors to take off and land vertically hover and fly horizontally and their potential uses.
10:59 I will point people to the post, the full posting language because that's not even half of it.
11:04 Um, but I'm so eager to get to talk about this topic.
11:06 And so we've got, um, a handful of great experts here to come and brief us on this
11:10 today. Thank you so much.
11:13 Good afternoon, Madam chair, vice chair, council members.
11:17 I am, uh, Mike rogers, assistant city manager, and I have here with us today louis leff, who's
11:22 assistant, uh, director for transportation and public works.
11:27 And we have christopher lester, who is the division chief at atcems.
11:34 It's a mouthful there.
11:36 Yes, sir. Okay. Well, what I wanted to do is provide you with an update as I presented,
11:42 uh, a high level, uh, overview of electric vertical takeoff and landing or ev tolls a few months
11:49 back. There's been a lot of progress that has happened in this, in this field over the last
11:55 few months. And so that's where I wanted to go is really start to talk about what has
12:01 happened since the last time I was here speaking on this topic.
12:05 There's been a lot of progress in texas.
12:07 Uh, we're gonna talk about that.
12:09 Infrastructure developments, the current barriers, challenges, um, uh, air first pilot project that we're looking at, and then
12:18 we wanna summarize and, and give some of the next steps that we see.
12:23 The last time I was here, basically we had renderings of what these ev tolls May look like.
12:31 And I just wanna say ev tolls are synonymous with advanced air mobility.
12:37 They're also sometimes called air taxis.
12:42 And so what you see before you is one of them that is actually in, in production.
12:49 And if you can see, it has says team usa on there.
12:54 And that was, and I mentioned this last time, uh, in our last meeting.
12:59 Uh, this is a part of one of the vehicles that will be used for the olympics in
13:06 2028, as the olympics has, uh, struck a deal with ev tolls to deliver athletes and others to
13:16 their venues. As you, I- if you've been out in, uh, the la area, you know the traffic
13:21 is horrendous, and so they're looking at alternative means to get people in and out of, of those
13:29 venues. There are traditionally four major players in this, in this industry.
13:36 There's others, but the major ones are joby, archer, beta and wisk.
13:41 And just to let you know that this is, this is happening.
13:47 This is happening quickly.
13:48 And why I wanted to, to, to have this picture up here is because agreements have already been,
13:53 been made for 2028.