The Austin Transit Partnership (ATP) is moving forward with a 9.8-mile light rail system. ATP estimates that right-of-way acquisition could begin as early as 2026 and that initial construction could start in 2027.
ATP will have to use the power of eminent domain to take the property rights it needs to accomplish the Light Rail Project. Property owners whose property will be affected by ATP’s Light Rail project have constitutionally-protected private property rights. Impacted property owners have a right to just compensation for the land taken and any negative reduction in value to its remainder property.
Up to 64 businesses and 4 single-family residences will be displaced by the transit project, according to the recently released Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS). The light rail system would also eliminate over 600 on-street parking spaces, mostly from Guadalupe Street, Lavaca Street, and South Congress Avenue.
The proposed light rail corridor would originate at the Guadalupe Street and 38th Street intersection in North Austin, run south through UT Campus on Guadalupe, then run further south through Downtown on Guadalupe, 3rd, and Trinity Streets, and cross Lady Bird Lake on a new dedicated bridge. South of the lake, the route splits into two branches: one continues south along South Congress Avenue to Oltorf Street and the other runs southeast along East Riverside Drive toward Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. Here is a map that shows ATP’s planned route:
Texas Condemnation Projects 