When people in Texas talk about transportation, what they really mean is how easy or difficult it’s going to be to hop in the family sedan, minivan, what-have-you and drive to wherever it is you’re wanting to go. This is especially true of elected officials. Say the word "transportation" to a state legislator, for example, and the knee jerk reaction is to look for money to build new highways or improve existing ones. The so-called Texas Department of Transportation has absolutely nothing to do with transportation, per se, only with road construction.
So it’s always with a little bit of skepticism when I hear some entity or another is working on a "Master Transportation Plan," especially one bearing the slogan "Help Drive the Future." This skepticism increases when one takes a gander at the city’s last Master Transportation Plan (2005), a 46-page document that’s all about road building and contains only this one paragraph concerning other forms of transportation, in this case, rail:
"Austin-San Antonio Commuter Rail Study, completed by Capitol Metro, identifies the proposed commuter rail corridor linking Austin to San Antonio as the existing UPRR line that runs north-south through Kyle. The TPAC considered the location of possible rail stop alternatives in downtown Kyle and at the intersection of future FM 1626 at UPRR overpass. After consideration by the public and the TPAC, the general consensus is that the FM 1626 overpass is the preferred location for a rail stop."
Of course, as we all know now, that isn’t going to happen. According to the latest plans from the Lone Star Regional Rail Project, Kyle and Buda would share a single rail station that would be located somewhere between the two cities.
With all that being said, I’m still planning on attending what Kyle Connected is calling its Council Workshop & Kick-off Meeting for Master Transportation Plan 2040 at 7 p.m. Monday at the Kyle Public Library, 550 Scott St. The meeting’s promoters are promising attendees will "learn about transportation planning, help set goals and priorities, and mark up maps." Kind of what happened in the preparation of the 2005 plan.
This time, I am hoping, planners intend on wiping the slate clean and starting from scratch. There are two important reasons for this.
First, I am convinced the term "transportation" limits the scope of work that needs to be done on a study such as this. Transportation infers that individuals are going to use some sort of vehicle, be it bicycle, automobile, bus, rail car, airplane or something similar to get from Point A to Point B. But there’s a whole generation of 20 somethings coming to the fore that don’t necessarily accept that. Why, they quite reasonably ask, can’t we master plan communities where we can simply walk most places we’d like to go? Not only that, as I mentioned above, in Texas "transportation" has become synonymous with highways. That’s why I prefer a more inclusive term like "mobility" to describe the studies.
Next month, Austin is hosting a seminar on how to build a tiny house. I personally know individuals who are traveling more than 200 miles to attend this seminar and dozens more who have told me they are seriously looking into downsizing to a tiny house. Tiny houses are on wheels. They can be towed without a permit with a pickup or an SUV. How many communities are including provisions for tiny houses in their mobility plans? I know of none but I am convinced that those that do are going to find themselves ahead of the curve.
There is also a study well under way concerning Highway 150 and the plans to convert that road into a four-lane roadway connecting Dripping Springs to Interstate 35. Currently, Highway 150 forms the main street through downtown Kyle, which, of course, will not be the case when the new highway is finished. Any Kyle-related mobility plan must be inclusive of the separate Highway 150 options. Currently there are three options for the I-35 terminus of 150 and all three appear to be economically detrimental to the city of Kyle. I would hope that any Kyle mobility plans accomplishes two things: (1) Strongly advocates a fourth option that connects 150 to Kohlers Crossing which could lead to magnificent development, possibly with the help of TIFs, of the property along that roadway between 2770 and I-35. (2) Converts that portion of the current 150 that runs from Rebel to I-35 into a magnificent pedestrian concourse, complete with sidewalk cafes, flower shops, and other mom-and-pop commercial ventures. And that’s why I prefer the term mobility, because that term includes pedestrian walkways whereas transportation infers vehicular traffic only.
Reason No. 2 and here’s the real kicker: Any Kyle mobility study must be linked directly and permanently to the city’s goals of becoming a destination city.
I started thinking about this is an entirely different light when I learned someone wants to build a mid-rise hotel, presumably along the northbound frontage road of I-35 north of Kyle Parkway. And while I was thinking about this, I was thinking of what Scott Sellers told me just days after he assumed the position of Kyle’s city manager at the beginning of the year and something he has since made well known throughout the community and that is he wants to find something that will attract visitors to Kyle, that magic attraction that will convert Kyle into a Destination City, much the same way he believes the River Walk made San Antonio a tourist magnet.
And the more I thought about this and the more I thought about that possible mid-rise hotel, the more I realized that "Hey, Kyle is already a destination city."
Think about it. Kyle has been for a number of years now one of the top three most rapidly growing communities in the state. Why? Why are people moving here, not by the hundreds, but by the thousands? What is it about Kyle that made these people decide Kyle was their "destination"? I could be wrong, but I’m betting the answer lies in that tried-and-true adage of every real estate broker: Location! Location! Location!
Then I remembered something else Mr. Sellers told me. He said on his very first visit to Kyle he was struck by a sign he saw that referred to the city as "the gateway to the Texas Hill Country." He didn’t like it. "I don’t want Kyle to be the gateway to somewhere else," he said, "because that means the people are just passing through on their way to that somewhere else."
Not necessarily. If thousands of people are determining Kyle is their destination for living, why not use that same rationale to make Kyle the destination for visiting, by marketing the city as "The Gateway to the Treasures of Central Texas."
But for this to succeed, it has to be more — much more — than a mere marketing plan. First the good folks in economic development must use that strategy in order to convince other high-end hoteliers to locate properties here. And that shouldn’t be all that difficult because of that same rationale that is convincing the multitudes to live here: Location! Location! Location! I am convinced that because of the easy access to the 130 toll road, it is far more convenient to get to the Circuit of the Americas from an upscale hotel along what I am now going to dub as the "Kyle Korridor" (forgive me), than from an upscale hotel located in downtown Austin. And now Austin is seriously considering building not one, but two, PGA golf courses directly across 130 from that location of the Summer X Games and the only Grand Prix race in North America. I would also argue that given current traffic conditions, not to mention what those conditions will be like five, 10, 15 years from now, it is far easier to get to Austin Bergstrom International Airport from a Renaissance Hotel in Kyle than a Renaissance Hotel in downtown Austin.
Now, here’s where the link to the mobility plan is so important. Try to visualize all the appealing vacation packages upscale Kyle hotels could offer their guests:
The historical San Antonio excursion that includes a visit to the Alamo and other missions, historical sites in the area and concludes with a Tex-Mex dinner at a Riverwalk Restaurant.
The family San Antonio package that includes a day at Six Flags or Sea World, followed by dinner at the Riverwalk Restaurant and, for an extra charge if the team is at home that particular evening, tickets to a Spurs game.
The Water Recreation Day that includes tubing in the morning on the San Marcos River, a picnic lunch at Canyon Lake and ends with an afternoon at Schlitterbahn in New Braunfels.
An Austin tour that takes vacationers from their hotels in Kyle to a tour of the capitol, the LBJ Library, the UT campus and other Austin sites.
A Hill Country venture that includes tours of area wineries and time to visit the stores of Wimberly.
Here’s one of my big favorites: An Austin pub crawl, a nighttime tour that includes the cover charge at some of Austin’s most famous nightspots and one "adult beverage" at each. Think about it. Participants wouldn’t need to worry about a designated driver. The tour bus would take them to each facility and then return them to their Kyle hotels. They could even leave their wallets or purses in their hotel rooms or with hotel security because each individual who purchases a pub crawl ticket gets an armband that shows that person is of age and entitled to all benefits of the tour.
I’m sure keener minds than mine can come up with hundreds of other possibilities.
All of these other cities have gone that extra mile to attract visitors to their communities. Why, instead of trying to compete with them, we simply exploit them? It requires less of an economic investment and I am convinced the awards would be greater. We make Kyle that destination that provides easy, fun, hassle-free access to everything Central Texas has to offer, even if it includes something as simple as shuttle services from the Kyle hotels to UT and Texas State home football games, or similar shuttles to Zilker Park during Austin City Limits Festival weekends.
But obviously this plan does not succeed without the transportation element — the means of making it easy and fun for visitors to Kyle to have the most varied vacation experience they could possibly have this side of Orlando, Fla. Whether it involves Kyle developing a central transportation center from which all these excursions depart and, of course, ultimately terminate or just regulating the conditions under which private transportation providers can operate must be a part of any successful Master Transportation Plan.
Transportation and Destination. The two terms were linked long before I started thinking about applying that linkage to Kyle.
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