Local News
Gondola System Could Be Partial Answer to Austin’s Traffic Woes
Remember riding in little cable cars across theme parks like Astroworld? The gondola, what many think of as an amusement park ride or a way to sightsee while journeying up a mountain, might become a new mode of transportation in Austin.
The City of Austin, the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority, and the Capital Metropolitan Area Transit Authority will fund a research project to see if a gondola cable car system could work for Austinites. The research will cost $15,750.
According to KXAN, “The system would be called the Wire, with the concept to start on a route that would have 19 stops and go from Slaughter Lane to downtown and the UT campus by traveling over South First Street.”
As of now, it’s thought that the system would cost anywhere from $300 million to $600 million and could be built in five years. The gondolas would move 13,000 riders to their destinations every day. Of course, nothing is set in stone yet, and researchers will have to consider all of the detriments of this kind of travel like mechanical and weather related issues. These proposed gondolas would only be one part of an effort to combat Austin’s growing traffic problem.
