Austin City Council gave final approval Thursday to a long-awaited light rail expansion plan that will extend the city’s transit network through East Austin neighborhoods, connecting several historically underserved communities to the broader metropolitan transit system for the first time and marking a major milestone in the city’s decade-long effort to modernize its public transportation infrastructure.
The approved route will stretch approximately 6.4 miles from the existing downtown transit hub at Republic Square through the Cesar Chavez corridor, East 6th Street, and into the Mueller and Windsor Park neighborhoods. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2026, with the line projected to open to riders by 2030.
“This is a historic day for East Austin,” said Council Member Natalie Rivera, who represents the district through which much of the route passes. “For too long, transit investment in this city has bypassed the neighborhoods that need it most. Today we are changing that, and we are doing it in a way that prioritizes the people who have lived here and built this community.”
The expansion was approved as part of Austin’s Project Connect transit plan, which voters originally endorsed in 2020. The East Side extension had faced significant delays related to cost escalation, engineering challenges along the corridor, and community concerns about displacement of existing businesses and residents along the route.
Austin Transportation Director Marta Guzman said the final design incorporated feedback from more than 40 community engagement sessions held over the past two years and included provisions for affordable retail space at station areas and anti-displacement protections tied to transit-oriented development guidelines.
“We listened to this community extensively,” Guzman said. “The route has been refined, the station designs reflect community input, and we have built in mechanisms to protect against the kind of gentrification pressures that transit investment can sometimes accelerate.”
Business owners along the proposed route expressed mixed reactions. Some welcomed the transit investment and anticipated increased foot traffic, while others raised concerns about construction disruption and the impact on parking availability in an already congested corridor. The city said it would work with affected businesses to minimize disruption and provide small business support resources during construction.
Capital Metro, the regional transit authority that will operate the line, said it expected the East Side extension to serve approximately 18,000 to 22,000 daily riders when fully operational, based on ridership modeling using current population and employment density projections. The agency said it anticipated significantly higher numbers given expected population growth in the corridor.
The expansion is projected to cost approximately $1.4 billion and will be funded through a combination of local transit funds, federal grants, and a small portion of the Project Connect bond approved by Austin voters. City officials said they were in active dialogue with the Federal Transit Administration about securing additional federal formula funding for the project.
Construction on the initial underground segment beneath Congress Avenue and the downtown transit hub was already underway as part of Phase 1 of Project Connect. Thursday’s vote cleared the path for the East Side extension to move into final design and environmental review, with a targeted start of civil construction in mid-2026.
