28-01-2025
How VR factors into Project Connect's future light rail design
AUSTIN (KXAN) — As Austin transportation leaders gather feedback on the city's future light rail, they've given some people the opportunity to 'experience' the system firsthand — all within a headset.
In approximately two years time, officials will begin work on the first phase of light rail in Austin: a 9.8-mile route, 15-station system running from 38th Street to Oltorf Street to Yellow Jacket Lane. Ahead of that future milestone, Austin Transit Partnership held a Project Connect meeting Tuesday afternoon at the University of Texas at Austin, where visitors could test out navigating the light rail system via virtual technology headsets.
The design scenario centered around UT's campus — a key segment of the first phase of light rail, which is set to run along Guadalupe Street and transform the UT corridor. Using the VR technology, people could test out three possible crossing scenarios at UT's campus: a Z-crossing, a scramble and an elongated platform.
Z-crossing: One crosswalk aligned with West 23rd Street and another with the West Mall are linked via a buffered walkway centered in the road that leads to the light rail station
Scramble plaza: Guadalupe Street between West 23rd Street and the West Mall is both colored and textured differently, 'indicating the ability to start and end crossings at any point'
Elongated platform: A longer platform will lead to a narrower crossing, offset by the West Mall and linking to West 23rd Street
Users would wear the headset and navigate the simulation using two joysticks, with officials collecting feedback on the ease of wayfinding, pedestrian crossings and the proposed interactions with the light rail line. Attendees could write down their thoughts on the simulation, with specific questions asking users if the crossings were easy, if they felt safe and what were some favorite aspects or areas for improvement.
Lisa Storer, ATP's vice president of architecture, urban design and sustainability, told KXAN the data collected will help outline how people engage with mass transit and how to finalize the system's design to be most intuitive and effective for all transit riders.
'We've been really focused on people-centered design and performance-based design,' she said. 'So that means getting an idea of how people are experiencing that transit environment and what makes them feel good about using a new mode of transit, and then also using that data in order to inform those small design moves that might make it more intuitive and more safe for people in that transit environment.'
The event was part of an ongoing community feedback series on the light rail system's draft environment impact statement (DEIS). That document, released Jan. 10, includes thousands of pages detailing all the possible environmental, neighborhood and socioeconomic impacts the future system could have on Austin.
As part of that DEIS' release, ATP held four public engagement events, culminating with the stop at UT. The transit organization will continue collecting feedback on the DEIS through March 11, before a final environmental impact statement and a record of decision are expected to be released at the end of this year.
Construction on the light rail is projected to begin in 2027 before opening to the public come 2033.
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