Traffic in Austin's downtown district could get a dramatic new look. Austin Mayor Will Wynn is pushing for a new rail system.

The downtown district is growing with new residential and office developments. That mean's traffic on the streets is backing up.

Wynn says a new rail line could keep congestion down. The mayor announced plans for the new rail line Thursday at his State of Downtown address.

"With a lot more folks moving into our downtown that dynamic -- that I promise you is the envy of the rest of our country -- we have to have a circular system," said Wynn.

Under the mayor's proposal, the rail line will run from Austin Bergstrom International Airport to the downtown district. Once downtown, the rail line will continue onto the State Capitol, the University of Texas, the Triangle development at North Lamar and guadalupe and then to the Mueller development. It will then loop back to the airport.

It's a system on its own and not related to the commuter rail line already in the works with Capital Metro.

"What it takes to provide a successful transportation system is offering various modes, and that's part of what this plan is," said Adam Shaivitz, Capital Metro.

Commuters downtown say the new rail line could offer a big relief.

"It cuts down on the traffic if it's done right and it'd be really convenient," said Mike Sloan, downtown commuter.

However, the problem for others is with ridership. According to Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, there are 433,000 commuters in the Austin area. Right now, Daugherty says there's only about 0.5 percent that actually use public transportation.

"Public transportation ridership is not going up with the percentage of people in this community. In fact, public transportation ridership is going down," said Daugherty.

Mayor Wynn says he's putting together a task force to lead this project. It will survey areas for the route, decide exactly what type of rail cars will be used, and how to pay for the system without turning to tax dollars.

The mayor hopes to present his proposal to the voters by November 2008.