VIA Rapid Advances $481M Green Line as San Antonio City Council Enacts FY2027 Budget

VIA Metropolitan Transit Accelerates Heavy Construction on $481M Rapid Green Line

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Transforming mass transit mobility across the Alamo City, VIA Metropolitan Transit marked major civil engineering milestones in October 2026 along the $481 million VIA Rapid Green Line corridor. Stretching nearly 12 miles from the San Antonio International Airport through the downtown core to the Brooks Transit Center on the South Side, the Advanced Rapid Transit (ART) system is actively installing dedicated center-running bus lanes, smart traffic signal prioritization, and raised-curb stations.

Funded through the voter-approved 'Keep San Antonio Moving' plan and the city's dedicated 1/8-cent transit sales tax, the Green Line is slated to begin passenger operations in early 2028, cutting cross-town travel times by more than 20 percent. Concurrently, VIA advanced architectural schematics for the upcoming Eastside Transit Center at 4211 E. Houston Street, designed to serve transit-dependent neighborhoods with high-frequency feeder routes.

City Council Enacts FY2027 Budget Delivering $156.4M in Targeted Property Tax Relief

In municipal fiscal management, Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones and the San Antonio City Council enacted the city’s Fiscal Year 2027 municipal budget, which took effect on October 1, 2026. The financial plan successfully closed a projected $158 million two-year general fund shortfall through $90 million in operational streamlining and administrative efficiencies without cutting core emergency or sanitation services.

To protect vulnerable residents from rising valuations, the Council enacted $156.4 million in dedicated property tax relief, including expanded 20 percent homestead exemptions, senior tax freezes, and disabled homeowner protections, limiting the average property tax adjustment to under $3 per month.

Affordable Housing and Neighborhood Revitalization Expand Across Core Corridors

City housing officials also directed municipal bond funding into neighborhood housing trusts, underwriting multi-family residential developments along the Green Line and St. Mary’s Street corridors. The investments mandate long-term affordability covenants, ensuring working families benefit directly from new transit links.

Mayor Ortiz Jones emphasized that combining disciplined fiscal management with bold transit and housing investments builds a vibrant, equitable future for San Antonio.