Estadio McKalla

Estadio McKalla

Major League Soccer is coming to McKalla Place

Menu
  • Home
    • About This Site
  • McKalla Past
    • History of McKalla Place
    • McKalla Neighborhood History
  • McKalla Today
    • The McKalla Brewery District
    • Food, Bevs, and Entertainment
    • Getting to McKalla Place
  • Austin Anthem
  • Membership

Getting to McKalla Place

Here at Estadio McKalla, we have a simple set of directions for all McKalla Place guests: Think CapMetro First. Why?

  • It’s cheap – $2.50 for a full day of MetroBus and MetroRapid usage, and $7.00 for a full day of MetroRail services. A MetroRail day pass also gives you access to MetroBus and MetroRapid at no additional charge. Pay from the Capital Metro app and never lose your fare.
  • It’s easy – Capital Metro has optimized routes with Cap Remap, which kicked off in June, 2018, with a more-optimized, faster network in more areas.
  • More drinking, eating, and yelling – Don’t drink and drive. Let Capital Metro take you from the stadium back home, and be as tired from supporting Team Austin without endangering yourself or others on the road.
  • Reduce traffic – Taking one car off the road isn’t a big deal for traffic. But taking thousands off the road on matchday will reduce the impact on nearby businesses and your Austin neighbors.
  • Metro plans your whole ride – TripPlanner will tell you the fastest route to the match. It’s also available on most mapping services, including Google Maps. Just slide those settings over to transit.

McKalla is located in a unique part of Austin that is easily serviced by multiple Capital Metro lines – a benefit of the density coming to the area.

If you can’t take Capital Metro, make life easy on yourself: rideshare or park at a high frequency Capital Metro station, and let the driver do the rest while you study our lineup, figure out how to mock the opposing keeper, watch highlights from last week’s road win for the twentieth time, or post to Twitter how much Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas suck. The world is your oyster.

These routes are accurate following the June 2018 CapRemap project, but you should expect changes for matchday service.

By MetroRail

MetroRail is the super preferred service for all travelers with access to it. No traffic to re-route around, no bumpy road, and a stop 8 minutes from the stadium. And, if delays do occur, Capital Metro will send a bus to take you to the next stop. Leander, Lakeline, and Howard station commuters should pick up a southbound Red Line train to Kramer Station. Everyone else – head north, young’un!

Kramer is served about every 34 minutes for northbound service from downtown from 5:08pm – 2:57am, and southbound service towards downtown from 4:00pm – 1:38am.

Mixed-mode fan? 5 stations have MetroBike parking for your bike: Plaza Saltillo, MLK, Jr., Highland, and Lakeline in addition to Kramer itself.

Stations for your use:

Downtown: The Downtown Station is located at the Austin Convention Center at 4th and Red River. It’s a pretty easy walk to the station from the center part of downtown. And, it includes lots of nearby paid garage parking too.

Plaza Saltillo: Plaza Saltillo is located at 5th and Comal, just around the corner from Zilker Brewing, Hotel Vegas, and The Arnold apartment complex. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the hike and bike trail at Festival Beach. Free parking near this site is limited, but you may try parking to the south.

M.L. King, Jr.: The M.L. King, Jr. station is located off Alexander Ave, between Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and East 12th. This is about a 15 minute walk from the American Outlaws Austin bar at Haymaker, and a 10 minute walk from Airport Blvd. There is a fair amount of free street neighborhood parking nearby.

Highland: This is on Airport Blvd, just across from ACC Highland. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the Half Price Books on North Lamar. Onsite parking is non-existent, though there are neighborhoods and Highland lots that you may be able to park in, depending on the hours.

Crestview: Crestview is located in the Midtown Commons development at Airport and North Lamar. There is no on-site parking, but there is a Car-2-Go lot here. Crestview is about a 10 minute walk from Stiles Switch BBQ and Michi Ramen.

Howard, Lakeline, and Leander: These three stops are Park and Ride stations. They are not really accessible for pedestrians except the transit-oriented development onsite. Howard Station is at MoPac and Howard Lane/Wells Branch Parkway.

Lakeline Station is located in the northeast corner of the SH45/US-183 interchange on Lakeline Blvd.

Leander Station is located in Leander, at Old 2243 and US-183. Leander Station operations typically only at peak hours, and is not served on Saturdays.

By MetroRapid

MetroRapid is, unquestionably, the second-best way of getting to McKalla for those with easy access. While Capital Metro has gotten rid of the “MetroRapid” branding to some extent, these are red, high-frequency buses that have limited stops. Some of them are the very European bendy-buses. Their routes generally means you’ll get to the major stops faster.

If you’re anywhere near the 803, simply hop on, head towards the station, and get off at the UT Research Campus stop – for now. I’d fully expect a Stadium stop to be operational before the stadium opens, as it is part of the cost estimates for the stadium.

MetroRapid 803 runs north/south on Burnet, North Lamar, Guadalupe/Lavaca, and South Lamar. Major stops include Westgate Mall, Lamar Square, Barton Springs, Seaholm, four downtown stops, two University of Texas stops, the Triangle, and Northcross Shopping Center.

If you’re coming from Southpark Meadows, the South Congress Transit Center, St. Edwards, or from South Congress itself, hit the northbound MetroRapid 801 and transfer to the 803 at any station between Republic Square and 31st Street. There are 7 shared stops.

By MetroBus

A blue MetroBus. From Wikimedia.

MetroBus has the most comprehensive coverage, but it is also the least frequent. CapRemap brought more routes onto the high frequency schedule, but there are a few blue routes that come by every 30 minutes. Most routes south of the stadium will have you link up to the 803 or a MetroRail station. I’ve attempted to provide my local knowledge about bus routes to give a decent amount of detail, but the best way to figure out your fastest route is Capital Metro’s TripPlanner. Please let me know if there are routes that you’d suggest and I’ll add them!

Major routes

Metric, Rundberg, and Howard: Good news for fans of the 325 – Metric/Rundberg route: you’re within walking distance of a stop with no transfers. Hit up the northbound bus if you’re south of Rutland Drive, and the southbound bus otherwise and get off at the two stops on Metric Blvd, just south of Rutland. You’re about a 15 minute walk from that stop.

Roughly Along Research/183 west of Lamar: Good news for you as well. The 383 – Research route has a direct stop at Braker and Burnet. If you’re in the northern half, you could also consider taking the bus away from the station towards MetroRail’s Lakeline Station. The 383 is not part of Capital Metro’s high frequency network, so it may be a longer wait – but it is direct.

Braker and Tech Ridge: The 392 – Braker route is what you’re looking for. It stops at Braker and Burnet as well as Kramer Station. This is another route not on the high frequency network with a direct stop.

Oltorf, Pleasant Valley, Springdale, 51st Street, and St. John’s Ave: The 300 – Springdale/Oltorf route is good and bad. It’s a route that has the 803 and MetroRail on it’s path, but it’s also an incredibly long route, and you may be on the bus for a while if you’re in the middle of the route. However, if you’re on the south end (Oltorf), you have a direct route to the 803 stop on South Lamar, and if you’re on the north end (St. John’s Ave), you’ve got a quick trek to Crestview Station on MetroRail.

East Riverside: Neighborhoods such as Montopolis, the Ballpark, and the wonderful Rosita’s Al Pastor on Riverside will take the 20 – Manor Road/Riverside towards downtown, switching at Capitol Station for the 803. The 20 also serves Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.

Stassney: Those with easy access to Stassney will take the 311 – Stassney towards Westgate Station and change there for the 803.

Airport Blvd: Anyone with walking access to Airport Blvd should take the 350 – Airport Blvd. towards MLK, Jr. Station or Crestview Station and pick up MetroRail

Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and Enfield/15th: The 18 – MLK route serves Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard east of the University of Texas, and Enfield/15th west. You can choose to head towards Downtown for the 803, or towards the M.L. King, Jr. MetroRail station.

Mueller/38th/35th: The 335- 35th/38th Street route serves Mueller, 38 1/2 St, 38th St, and 35th street. It links up with the 803 MetroRapid at the Triangle between Lamar and Guadalupe.

Ridesharing

Austin is home of the lazy. The McKalla plan accounts for this, with a drop-off driveway for drop-offs. While it’s unclear how, exactly, that will work, it would not be too crazy to suggest that a drop-off/pickup area for ridesharing will be available.

Austin is served by our local non-profit RideAustin, where you can round up your ride and donate to local partners such as Austin Pets Alive! and the Dell Children’s Medical Center. Lyft and Uber are back in Austin as well, following the state being sufficiently bribed into overruling Austin’s ridesharing ordinance and subsequent vote requiring a city-backed fingerprint check.

Biking

Locals to the stadium can ride their bikes to the stadium and use the bike valet in the June proposal. Those beyond the immediate neighborhoods can ride their bikes today, but significant improvements to the quality of that ride were part of the 2016 Mobility Bond, which will see up to 10 miles of shared-use sidewalk and bike paths along Burnet Road from Koenig Ln. to MoPac, including the stretch next to McKalla Place. More about the Burnet Road Corridor plans and progress are available from the city website.

The 2016 Mobility Bond also included funding for a trail along the MetroRail Red Line between Walnut Creek Trail and Braker Lane.

If you’re planning on biking to McKalla, the City of Austin has a great site showing bike comfort levels for the entire city. (Thanks, @MattNovacek!)

By Car

The most popular method of travel in the Austin area is, unquestionably, the private automobile. McKalla is one of the more accessible places for vehicular traffic due to its short distance from MoPac and US-183.

In general, you should find your way to MoPac, IH-35, or US-183. These directions are for the location itself, and should not be used for parking, as parking on-site will be minimal, and you will need to use Waze accordingly. I believe in you.

From MoPac: Folks north of the stadium will want to exit Braker Ln by the Domain, then head east. Folks south of the MoPac/183 interchange will want to exit for eastbound US-183 and stay right to northbound Burnet Rd.

From US-183: If you’re east or west of the stadium, the plan is the same: head towards the stadium, exit Burnet Rd, then head north.

From IH-35: Travelers south of US-183 should head north to westbound US-183, and head west towards Metric Blvd via the wonderful interchange involving the Right Lane Parking Lot Exit With Line Cutters. Head north on Metric, then go west on Rutland.  Travelers north of Parmer Lane should head south to the Parmer Lane exit, go west on Parmer, then take Metric south to Braker or Rutland.

About Estadio McKalla

Estadio McKalla is a stadium tracker project by Austin Anthem, Austin FC’s original independent supporters group.

 

Austin Anthem. The Song of Our City.

Tweets by @McKallaMLS

©2019 Estadio McKalla/Austin Anthem. | Powered by WordPress

This site is not associated with Precourt Sports Ventures, Austin FC, or Major League Soccer.