Cap Metro to embiggen Lakeline Park and Ride

Capital Metro’s Board of Directors on Monday approved the expansion of a parking lot in far northwest Austin. The $1.79 million contract with Muniz Concrete and Contracting, Inc., will add 460 spaces to the Lakeline Park and Ride, which already has enough room to hold 485 vehicles. Capital Metro officials explained that the facility is often filled to capacity and even overflows during special events such as South by Southwest. The expansion dovetails with big changes to the MetroRail service, including new trains, double-tracking along the route and the construction of a larger downtown station. Those additions are being funded by a state grant, while the Park and Ride work will be paid for with money approved in the agency’s 2016 capital budget. Said Chairperson Wade Cooper after Monday’s unanimous board vote, “I’m excited to have a nearly 1,000-space parking lot.”