Plans for an east-west rapid bus route advanced on Tuesday after Bexar County Commissioners approved paying for about a third of the total price tag.
Most of that money has been raised through 1/8th-cent sales tax for transportation projects, a legal entity known as the Advanced Transportation District (ADT), approved by county voters in 2020.
Commissioners’ approval came with a condition that the route extend to the Frost Bank Center, a county-owned facility where the San Antonio Spurs’ future is uncertain.
VIA Metropolitan Transit has estimated that its planned Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) Silver Line, a complement to the north-south Green Line, will cost roughly $289.2 million.
In March, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it is recommending $134.7 million for San Antonio’s Silver Line in President Joe Biden’s asks from Congress for the 2025 fiscal year. It was one of 14 transit projects chosen by the White House.
As a local match, Commissioners approved spending $102 million on the Silver Line, which will connect San Antonio’s East Side to the West Side across downtown.
The first $100 million will be used for construction and $2 million will go toward passenger fares for the first year of operation.
ART is a public transportation system that provides fast, reliable service in 10- to 15-minute frequencies on dedicated lanes, according to VIA.
The 12-mile Green Line, which is already fully funded, will connect the San Antonio International Airport to downtown and continue on to Mission Concepcion on the South Side.
Construction is expected to start early next year on the 26-station route and be operational by 2027.
The Silver Line will serve a 7.3-mile route from North General McMullen Drive to Houston Street, an area where the population is expected to increase by over 34,000 between 2020 and 2050, according to VIA. The line is projected to start in 2029.
VIA President and CEO Jeff Arndt said planning and work for the ART began even before transportation funding was approved through the use of federal COVID-19 relief funds.
The ADT will pay VIA about $80 million from existing funds and the remaining $22 million over time. Based on projections, the remainder will be paid by September 2025, said County Manager David Smith.
“Once that happens, the county can then utilize the surplus annually as a local match to draw down [Texas Department of Transportation] or federal funding for badly needed road projects,” Smith said.
Precinct 2 Commissioner Justin Rodriguez said he supported funding the project because it would leverage federal funds to improve transportation county-wide.
“I also do want to point out the other reason that it is significant to the county is the connectivity to county assets over in Commissioner [Tommy] Calvert’s precinct, the Freeman and the Frost Bank Center, and how that’s going to help connect the rest of that area to the downtown and the urban core,” Rodriguez said.
Recent reports have confirmed that Spurs Sports & Entertainment (SS&E) is negotiating with the City on a joint economic venture — involving potentially a new Spurs arena — at the site of UTSA’s shuttered Institute of Texan Cultures.
The Spurs currently play at the 19,000-seat Frost Bank Center, built in 2002, and have a lease that runs through 2032.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Grant Moody said he was glad the ADT funds were being made available for use by the county. “However, I would still like to see those dollars come to Bexar County potentially fix our roads downtown, on some of these projects that have gone on for far too long,” he said.
Moody also worries about construction cost overruns that turn the project into one that costs billions of dollars just to increase frequency and capacity, he said.
Arndt said the Department of Transportation would not have funded a project that wasn’t already tested and proven.
“These routes that we’re putting in, it’s not like they are virgin territory,” Arndt said. “If you look on San Pedro, we’re already carrying thousands of passengers. If we look on the east, we’re already carrying thousands of passengers. What we’re trying to do is improve the service for them and make it attractive for additional [passengers].”
Arndt said officials need to act now because the federal funding is available now. If not, the project could be pushed out to the mid- to late-2030s.
“That’s a long time away for a corridor that already has successfully generated ridership,” he said. “Every square inch that that route operates outside of downtown is an area of persistent poverty, so we feel it’s a viable project.”
County Judge Peter Sakai said he wants people to understand the Advanced Rapid Transit project is also about helping people who don’t ride the bus.
“I want to be clear, there’s a silver lining here for those that don’t use public transit because we hopefully are removing cars so that we lessen congestion,” Sakai said.
The project will also result in improvements to intersections and sidewalks, Arndt said.
On Friday, Arndt announced at a San Antonio Mobility Coalition event that he plans to retire at the end of 2024. Arndt joined VIA in 2012 as deputy CEO/chief of business support services after serving in leadership roles at Houston Metro.
In September, VIA Metropolitan Transit will host four public input meetings on the proposed VIA Rapid Silver Line project. Find more information here.