In a few years, the proposed Lone Star Rail District line — the LSTAR — could connect Georgetown, Austin, San Marcos, New Braunfels and San Antonio.
The passenger rail service would move thousands of students, professionals and academics, tourists, and friends and family up and down the Interstate 35 corridor every year. It would further integrate and energize our regional economy, which means more jobs, and help untangle some of I-35’s all too frequent traffic jams, which means shorter drive times and less pollution.
But there’s also this possibility: If San Antonio fails to act, we could be left out of the loop. The LSTAR could roll through Georgetown, Austin and San Marcos before stopping at New Braunfels and heading back north — its footprint smaller and its economic impact less than originally envisioned.
Currently, one scenario is as likely as the other.
While most cities along the rail district’s proposed route have agreed to help pay for the LSTAR — including Austin, San Marcos and Georgetown — the city of San Antonio has yet to act. We are currently waiting on a funding recommendation on which the City Council can act.
It’s time to finally move forward.
In September, leaders of the Lone Star Rail District will update council members on the progress they have made and what’s at stake for our region.
I strongly urge our city staff to have a funding plan ready to present to council by then. We need a starting point for this important discussion.
This rail proposal holds more promise for reducing travel times on I-35 between Austin and San Antonio and increasing our region’s economic fortunes than any transportation plan I’ve seen in a long time.
As a decadeslong transportation advocate, I have supported the Lone Star Rail District from the beginning. Indeed, as president of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, I supported the idea before the district was created, when a state-funded feasibility study in the late 1990s found we needed a commuter line between Austin and San Antonio. Since leaving that job in 2007, I have remained a strong advocate for the LSTAR.
This is not a light-rail project, and it is as far from being another streetcar-style proposal as it can be. Unlike that ill-fated plan, the LSTAR would help alleviate a real transportation problem — traffic tie-ups on I-35. Also, its economic payoff would be bigger and more widespread, benefiting the city as a whole, not just downtown interests.
Stations are proposed for Loop 1604 on the Northeast Side, the San Antonio International Airport, the center city and Port San Antonio. There’s also talk of eventually extending the line to Texas A&M University-San Antonio on the South Side.
Apart from sparking residential and retail development around its rail stations, creating jobs, LSTAR would deliver more tourists to our River Walk and our Spanish missions, the newest World Heritage Site.
The rail line also would allow researchers at universities and biomedical and tech firms to easily shuttle among San Antonio, Austin and the communities in between. Students, too. Imagine your child enrolling in UT-Austin but living at home.
A trip from downtown San Antonio to downtown Austin would take 75 minutes. That’s time to read the newspaper or a book, or use the train’s Wi-Fi to get a jump on work.
Today’s economy is driven by information and knowledge, and it fosters the growth of big regional economies. That’s why we’re witnessing a rail renaissance in Texas and across the country.
Dallas and Fort Worth are now linked by Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail service, and a private-sector group is advocating a high-speed rail line between Houston and Dallas.
To continue building on our impressive track record of job creation, we must strengthen ties with Austin and other communities in our region.
The LSTAR is the ticket.
Joe Krier, former president of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce,
is the city councilman for District 9.
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