June 2, 2026 - TRA Austin -

Editors note: Project Connect is avoter-approved $7.1 billion transit expansion program designed to overhaul public transportation in Austin, Texas. It is spearheaded by the Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), CapMetro and the city of Austin. Here is a summary of recent developments:

Operations and maintenance facility contractor

Austin Transit Partnership (ATP), the local government corporation charged with implementing Austin’s first light rail system, selected Kiewit Austin Partnership (KAP), a joint venture between Kiewit Building Group and Austin Commercial, as the design-build contractor for the system’s Operations and Maintenance Facility (OMF).

The OMF is where Austin’s light rail vehicles will be stored, serviced and dispatched. The facility will also serve as a workplace for operators, maintenance crews and support staff.

The selected team includes about 10 subcontractors for the design phase of work, half of them in the Austin region. The project is expected to support thousands of jobs during design and construction, according to ATP.

The OMF contract is one of three major agreements for the project. ATP awarded the line construction contract in February and has entered negotiations on the third, to purchase the light rail vehicles, pending board approval.

Pre-construction begins

On May 19, KXAN reported that ATP crews had begun geotechnical boring, drilling to test soil conditions along the route, an early step in pre-construction. Subsurface utility engineering will follow. ATP expects to begin construction in 2027.

Bond lawsuit returns to trial court

The Texas Supreme Court ruled May 22 on a procedural question in ATP's bond validation suit. The court ordered the Travis County trial court to decide the attorney general's plea to the jurisdiction, which argues that neither the City of Austin nor ATP qualifies as a bond “issuer” under state law. The justices did not rule on whether the project's funding is legal. ATP says it expects the suit to confirm its financing complies with state law, while a related taxpayer suit challenges the tax structure.

The case now returns to the trial court.

Rendering credit: ATP