Explosive growth

Austin-San Antonio is the ‘next great U.S. metroplex,’ says Austin mayor

San Antonio downtown skyline skyscrapers

In a speech on August 25, Austin Mayor Steve Adler discussed the potential evolution of Austin-San Antonio into a mega-region rivaling Dallas-Fort Worth.

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Look out, Dallas-Fort Worth. Austin Mayor Steve Adler wants Austin-San Antonio to become the “next great U.S. metroplex.” Experts believe we’re already well on our way toward that status.

In his last State of the City address as Austin’s mayor on August 25, Adler touched on the burgeoning notion that the Austin-San Antonio corridor — encompassing 13 counties across both metro areas — is evolving as a mega-region like DFW.

In alignment with that vision, Texas billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Austin-based automaker Tesla, recently floated the idea of building a transportation tunnel between Austin and San Antonio. On Twitter, Musk noted that this futuristic tunnel would be the “fastest way” to travel “between one downtown and another with known physics.” The distance along I-35 between downtown Austin and downtown San Antonio is about 80 miles.

In the past, transportation advocates have pushed for a commuter rail line between the Austin and San Antonio areas, but the concept has never gained enough traction.

Calls for stepped-up transportation and cooperation between Austin and San Antonio come as the two adjacent regions become more neighborly.

Today, the Austin-San Antonio corridor is home to roughly 5 million people. As of the 2020 Census, 2.3 million people lived in the Austin metro area and almost 2.6 million people lived in the San Antonio area. The corridor’s population is expected to reach 6 to 7 million by 2030.

From 2010 to 2020, two of the country’s fastest-growing counties were the adjoining counties of Hays and Comal. At 53.4 percent, Hays County (part of the five-county Austin metro area and anchored by San Marcos) led growth among all U.S. counties during that period. Comal County, situated in the eight-county San Antonio metro area and anchored by New Braunfels, ranked third on that list with a growth rate of 48.9 percent.

This population growth is occurring as home prices continue to climb in the Austin and San Antonio areas. However, the San Antonio area remains a much more affordable place than neighboring Austin. In fact, San Antonio ranks among the top spots where both buyers and renters are seeking a refuge from skyrocketing prices for housing in Austin.

In July, the median home price in the San Antonio area was $341,600, compared with $515,000 in the Austin area. That’s a gap of $173,400.

“Austin is in the middle of a housing supply and housing affordability crisis. This is an existential challenge,” Adler said. “We are losing neighbors who can longer afford to live here. With their loss, we lose the diversity that is our biggest asset — our people.”

In November, Austin voters will decide on a $350 million bond program that would add affordable housing for low-income families and homeless people.

“We have quadrupled our investment in affordable housing units in the city since just 2014. And we have invested more in the last six years than in the city’s history up to that point,” Adler said. “And it’s still not enough.”

The Austin Board of Realtors has repeatedly sounded the alarm about the escalating cost and ongoing shortage of housing in the area.

“Although we’ve seen an uptick in inventory recently, we must focus on creating more supply to meet the increasingly high and sustained demand for housing. We must put housing first and use all the tools we have in the toolbox to address this issue,” says Cord Shiflet, president of the Austin Board of Realtors.

The same sentiment likely could be applied to the San Antonio area, especially if the population of the corridor exceeds 9 million by 2050, as former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros has indicated will happen.

In 2020, Cisneros wrote that nowhere else in the U.S. are two connected metro areas expanding so rapidly. As the two areas move closer to the mega-metro level, Cisneros believes Austin and San Antonio can “provide a 21st-century example” of regional collaboration, including the possibility that a single NFL, NHL, or Major League Baseball team could serve sports fans up and down the corridor.

“We can avoid the worst consequences of lack of planning and of erratic growth in the Austin-San Antonio region,” Cisneros wrote in a newspaper op-ed. “We can make wise investments, pursue inclusive growth, and assure environmental responsibility.”

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Red Light

San Antonio City Council votes to end horse-drawn carriage rides by 2030

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Horses will no longer pull carriages on the streets of downtown San Antonio.

Life for a horse in San Antonio is about to look a lot different. City Council has unanimously voted (with one abstention) to phase out the use of horse-drawn carriages over the next five years. That means by January 1, 2030, there will be none on the streets at all; instead, there will be electric carriages.

These plans have been in the making since 2022 — if not always at the same level of intensity — when District 2 Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez and District 3 Councilmember Phyllis Viagran wrote up some concerns about the horses' wellbeing. A special session at the end of October 2024 hinted to San Antonians that the end for this practice was neigh — sorry, nigh — and the final vote was made on December 12. In addition to accepting the plan, it extended its timeframe by two years.

The initial proposal included worries about the horses' exposure to traffic and pollution, as well how their presence might exacerbate those issues for the environment at large by slowing traffic. It also raised concerns about the effects of standing or walking on hard surfaces for too long, or spending time in extreme weather.

At the December 12 meeting, San Antonians gave impassioned speeches about animal welfare — both to call attention to the need for better conditions and to defend the reputations and jobs of current horse drivers — but it wasn't the first time the council heard from the public about the issue.

In a prior city survey, 50,476 respondents weighed in. Of those respondents, 51.98 percent said they liked the idea to "Transition horse-drawn carriages to electric carriages and pedicabs and ban horse drawn carriages completely." There were alternative solutions listed, but respondents were less drawn to them.

A cultural divide emerged in the data and continued in the December meeting: some people avoided the carriages because they worried about the treatment of the horses, while others enjoyed them because of their historical echoes and living legacy. Many speakers in favor of the plan used this to form their argument, raising questions about history versus progress.

More tangible objections to the plan hinged on the businesses — specifically five companies — and jobs that would be lost, which was the main factor behind extending the adjustment period.

Discussions about the particulars of the electric vehicles are still to come, as confirmed in the discussion near the end of the meeting. Councilmember Jalen McKee-Rodriguez addressed concerns about what would happen to the horses, mentioning the Brady Hunter Foundation as a future partner in finding them rescue homes.

Some council members also brought up rhetorical questions about animal exploitation by groups like Sea World, the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo, military and police forces, and even various groups in the Fiesta parade, although these did not come with a formal motion to pick the issues up.

This decision could have a ripple effect on other Texas cities. Dallas has recently considered a similar ban, but it appears to have stalled; Austin's attempts at a ban have been unsuccessful, but according to the Austin-American Statesman, only one operator is permitted to bring horses downtown. She declines to do so because the long hours are unfair to her and the horses. Houston does have horse-drawn carriages, and there seems to be little conversation about banning them.

Cities like Chicago and Salt Lake City have led the charge in the United States with some of the most prominent successful bans. Other cities around the world with bans include Brussels and Guadalajara, which both switched to electric models. Bans that have been around for years, like Guadalajara's and Prague's, still aren't out of the woods — people are still pushing back on the decision, so it sounds like San Antonio still has much work cut out for it.

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