As San Antonio-Austin continues to evolve right into a mega-region very similar to Dallas-Fort Price, former San Antonio Mayor Henry Cisneros foresees the realm being dwelling to eight.3 million folks in 2050 — sufficient folks to help an NFL soccer crew, Main League Baseball crew, and NHL hockey crew.
Cisneros, former secretary of the U.S. Division of Housing and City Growth (HUD), made that forecast on April 10 on the first-ever Austin-San Antonio Megaregional Collaborative gathering hosted by Texas State College in San Marcos.
At the moment, the San Antonio and Austin metro areas boast a mixed inhabitants of about 5.3 million, Cisneros famous. So, if Austin-San Antonio had been one metro space now, its inhabitants would make it the tenth largest metro space within the U.S., leapfrogging Phoenix within the nationwide rating of metro populations, he identified.
However simply 25 years from now, Austin-San Antonio is poised to be dwelling to eight.3 million folks, Cisneros stated. That’s across the present measurement of Dallas-Fort Price, which sits at No. 4 on the checklist of the nation’s most populous metros. And solely 10 years later, in 2060, the inhabitants of the Austin-San Antonio megaregion ought to hit 9.6 million, he stated. By comparability, the present inhabitants of the Chicago metro space is near 9.3 million.
“So, this space goes to develop,” stated Cisneros. “It’s not a query of if. It’s solely a query of at what tempo and whether or not or not we’re ready for it.”
Cisneros stated the mega-metro’s major-league sports activities presence ought to surpass the realm’s two present franchises — the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs and Main League Soccer’s Austin FC — as soon as the realm’s inhabitants reaches 8.3 million. That variety of folks would give the realm sufficient of a fan base so as to add an NFL crew, Main League Baseball crew, and NHL crew, in accordance with Cisneros. The event may rework San Antonio, the place the Spurs is perhaps getting a brand new enviornment as a part of the $3-4 billion Venture Marvel mission downtown.
Nonetheless, Cisneros doubts the Austin-San Antonio mega-region will construct a serious airport between Austin and San Antonio, as had as soon as been proposed by the previous mayor and different officers. As a substitute, he believes Austin-Bergstrom Worldwide Airport will change into the area’s major worldwide airport “due to the energy of its runways and since it’s already on a roll.”
In the meantime, Cisneros thinks San Antonio Worldwide Airport will wind up being the mega-region’s “lesser airport,” dealing with a number of flights inside the U.S. and to Mexico. Why? As a result of the location of San Antonio’s airport “is small so far as worldwide airports go,” he stated, “and there’s no viable dialogue about constructing a brand new airport.” Though Cisneros stated the San Antonio airport might lack international-level facilities, it’s including 17 gates and different enhancements as a part of a $2.5 billion overhaul that kicked off in December.
“So, we’re going to need to assume when it comes to how we rationalize flights and routes and so forth to serve [the] area,” Cisneros added. “There’s no motive for us to compete — have two totally different airports competing for airways, routes, [and] visitors — when there’s a solution to … make it work for the area as a complete.”
