Nathan Bernier
Transportation reporterWhat I Cover
As KUT's transportation reporter, I cover the big projects reshaping how we get around Austin, like the I-35 overhaul, the airport's rapid growth and the multibillion dollar transit expansion Project Connect. But I also focus on the daily changes that affect how we walk, bike and drive around the city. I break down complex jargon into clear, everyday language. And I'm constantly trying to peer inside government agencies and find out what's really going on.
I'm a tech nerd with a passion for Python, so I use computer code, data journalism and other investigative techniques to establish facts and look for hidden stories no one else has covered.
Ultimately, I'm just trying to report transportation news you find interesting. Please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what I'm missing.
My Background
When I was a teenager, I watched the movie Pump Up The Volume. It changed my life. Christian Slater played an introverted teenager who was secretly running the coolest pirate radio station in town. With the help of a family friend who was a radio technician, I soldered together my own pirate radio transmitter. I'd climb up the mountain to the train tracks in my tiny Canadian hometown of Nelson, BC and broadcast pre-recorded radio shows from a Walkman with my friends to the town below.
This passion for broadcasting led me to a radio school in Ottawa, Canada's capital city 2,000 miles away. Algonquin College had its own radio station, CKDJ, and that's where I started in news. My first real news job was at 580 CFRA, a news/talk radio station just blocks from Parliament Hill. I worked overnights — doing newscasts, producing late-night call-in shows and running old time radio programs like Zorro and the Shadow on a vintage reel-to-reel tape player.
After a while, I moved to Montreal, studied political science at Concordia University and worked at a 24-hour news station called 940 News. I became the youngest morning news anchor in Montreal.
But growing up in Canada, I always wanted to live in the United States. My mom is from Chicago, so I had dual citizenship. With my then-girlfriend/now-wife Sonia, I moved to Boston and worked at New England Cable News and WBZ Newsradio 1030. But after visiting Austin, Sonia’s hometown, I fell in love with the city and moved here without any job lined up. A few months later, after barely scraping by, I started freelance work as a reporter at KUT. I've been at the station ever since.
I served a bunch of different roles including education reporter, web editor and the local host of All Things Considered. In 2021, I took over the transportation beat, and it's the best job I've ever had.
Journalistic Ethics
I believe in reporting honestly and accurately without a hidden agenda. When I speak to people, I'm upfront about who I am and what I'm doing. I treat people with respect and empathy. I try to understand why they think what they do. But I'm constantly skeptical and enjoy looking for the nuance in stories. I also try to stay humble about what I think I know. I'm still a human being, after all.
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Austin has dozens of low-water crossings that can flood during heavy rains. But money is tight and the city is only able to upgrade one every three years or so. -
As ripple effects of the disaster spread through the community, a crowd gathered to work through their intense emotions and remember the victims. -
The National Weather Service is warning of more flash flooding Sunday in areas already saturated from last weekend's deadly storms. The warning remains in effect until 3 p.m. -
Officials scramble to reconnect FM 1431 and the only road leading into the Sandy Creek neighborhood near Leander after two important bridges were washed out by floods over the Fourth of July weekend. -
Austin airport's CEO warned the Federal Aviation Administration months ago about the "critical" staffing shortage at the air traffic control tower causing delays and reducing safety. -
The City Council voted to pay more than $100 million for columns to support parks over the interstate from Cesar Chavez to Seventh Street and 11th to 12th streets. The council also approved two 300-foot-long caps near the Red Line crossing at Airport Boulevard. -
Austin City Council faces a deadline on whether to spend hundreds of millions covering the highway with acres of public space at the expense of other priorities facing the city. KUT News did a deep dive on the project and interviewed council members during a livestream Monday. -
The transit agency's own share of Broadmoor station has tripled to $37.3 million with an opening set for 2027. -
The average number of vehicles on local highways ticked up after Governor Abbott ordered state workers back to the office full time. But new data shows average speeds didn't change much. -
Austin City Council members are divided over whether to fund highway parks as financial warnings mount, but they must make a decision before the end of the month.
