Austin Plans Light Rail Extension to Airport

Austin Transit Partnership has begun design and planning work for a light rail line serving Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Updated on Nov. 10, 2026 in Air Travel

Empty light rail tracks stretch across a flat Central Texas landscape toward a distant airport control tower under a clear morning sky. — Austin Transit Partnership has begun design and planning for a three-mile light rail extension from Yellow Jacket Station to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Do you support extending Austin light rail to the airport?

Austin Transit Partnership has started design and planning work for a three-mile light rail extension from the planned Yellow Jacket Station on East Riverside Drive to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport. The project began the National Environmental Policy Act process with the Federal Transit Administration.

Why it matters

The extension revives a blue line serving the airport that was part of the original 2020 Project Connect proposition but was scaled back from the initial plan. Residents raised the airport connection more than any other request during the agency's public outreach.

The planned extension is three miles long, while the original blue line plan covered 27 miles and 31 stations and the current Phase 1 system spans 9.8 miles with 15 stations. The total cost to build the full Austin light rail is approximately $8 billion, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, but the extension's own cost has not been established.

The players

Austin Transit Partnership

The Austin transit agency responsible for planning and building the Project Connect light rail system.

Federal Transit Administration

The U.S. Department of Transportation agency that oversees federal transit funding and environmental review for rail projects.

Kirk Watson

The mayor of Austin, who expressed support for the airport light rail extension.

The details

Austin Transit Partnership is coordinating the extension design with airport engineering and architectural teams and working with the Texas Department of Transportation to align future improvements along SH 71. The Federal Transit Administration issued a Record of Decision in January for the final environmental impact statement and streamlined the process to allow an environmental assessment for the extension. Mayor Kirk Watson expressed support for the extension in a social media post.

January 2026: The Federal Transit Administration issued the Record of Decision for the final environmental impact statement.
November 10, 2026: Austin Transit Partnership announced the start of extension planning.
Nine to twelve months: Expected duration of the planning work.

Travel Outlook

The airport extension revives a blue line that the 2020 Project Connect proposition included before the plan was scaled back from 27 miles to the current 9.8-mile Phase 1 system. Austin's rail planning now tests whether the airport connection can be funded as a later phase of that original vision.

Travelers using Austin-Bergstrom International Airport do not yet have a rail option, and the extension has no opening date or fare structure. Riders should continue to plan for existing ground transportation until a funded timeline is announced.

The takeaway

Residents who want rail service at the airport should watch for the cost estimate and funding timeline that Austin Transit Partnership is developing over the next several months. Those plans will show whether the airport connection moves from proposal to construction.

What happens next

Austin Transit Partnership expects the nine-to-twelve-month planning work to produce a cost estimate and timeline for the extension, which will determine when Proposition A contract revenue could fund it.