Isaac Thornwell arrived in Austin in 2013, chasing a story that hasn’t stopped evolving: how does a city absorb a million new residents when its roads, buses, and rail lines were built for a much smaller place? That question has shaped his reporting ever since.For over a decade at newsofaustin.com, he has covered Austin’s transportation landscape—from the prolonged political battles over Project Connect’s light rail expansion to the less-publicized but equally consequential decisions TxDOT makes about I-35. His 2021 series examining how Capital Metro’s bus network redesign affected shift workers in East Austin and Del Valle earned him a Texas Press Association Award for Public Service Reporting.
Career Background
Before relocating to Austin, Isaac spent four years at the Houston Chronicle covering Harris County’s flood control district and regional mobility planning. He holds a bachelor’s degree in urban planning from Texas A&M University—an unconventional path into journalism, but one that lets him translate environmental impact statements and traffic modeling into language readers actually want to finish. He’s been told his explainers on toll financing are “the only ones that make sense,” which he considers high praise.
Community Connection
When not parsing Capital Metro board agendas, Isaac bikes the Shoal Creek Trail with his retriever, Hank. He lives in Crestview with his wife, a pediatric nurse at Dell Children’s.Stay Connected
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