You don’t need to be told that traffic is a big problem in Austin. In fact, complaining about traffic delays has become nearly a daily habit for many of us. So what is the city doing about it?

The City of Austin and its regional partners currently have several plans in the works, all aimed at improving our local transportation system. One of them is called the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan. That’s what we’ll be focusing on today.

The Austin Strategic Mobility Plan is being designed to guide our city’s future transportation investments. It’s also replacing the city’s existing transportation plan, which was adopted in 1995 and needs to be updated to reflect a more modern vision of Austin’s future, and as the city’s Transportation Department explains, our new Imagine Austin plan.

What’s Imagine Austin again?
For those who don’t know, Imagine Austin is our city’s comprehensive plan. Developed with the help of extensive community outreach, Imagine Austin lays out high level goals and an overall vision for how the city should look in the future. Some of the priorities laid out in Imagine Austin include a healthy environment, household affordability, and the creation of a more compact and connected city.

So what’s next for the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan?
The new mobility plan is being designed to create a series of actionable “goals and objectives to guide Austin’s near- and long-term transportation investments.” Essentially, it will be taking Imagine Austin’s vision and turning it into action. The plan will also integrate and combine many of the city’s existing transportation-related plans, including the Bicycle Master Plan and the Sidewalk Master Plan.

How can you get involved?
The city has just released an Austin Strategic Mobility Plan online public survey, which is being used to collect data on transportation priorities for Austin residents. This survey is your opportunity to tell the city what is most important to you in creating a new transportation system. Is it making transportation more affordable? Providing more transportation options? Creating an innovative 21st century transportation system that can be modeled across the country? Or is it a combination of several priorities?

The results of the survey will be used to inform the next phase of the Austin Strategic Mobility Plan process, during which future transportation investments scenarios will be discussed and weighed against the community’s priorities. The survey is available online through June 9th. You can take it here>>