City, TxDOT still on board to bridge eastern and western parts of downtown over I-35

As the Texas Department of Transportation readies for the green light to expand Interstate 35, city staff hopes to leverage the massive infrastructure project to give downtown Austin a once-in-a-lifetime face lift.

Both TxDOT and Austin’s Transportation & Public Works Department visited the Downtown Commission last week for an update on their respective ends of the bargain, which would see up to 30 acres of civic space and new east-west crossings atop the reworked highway. While TxDOT has agreed to lay the groundwork for the structures throughout their design, it ultimately will fall on the city to fund construction, operations and maintenance.

TxDOT’s plans for the interstate have been controversial, particularly as the city invests nearly $11 billion to expand Austin’s public transit system and aspires to shift to just 50 percent of the population commuting by vehicle by 2039. Nevertheless, the project is barreling forward, with its final design expected to secure environmental clearance sometime next month.

If approved, the project would add two high-occupancy lanes running in each direction from Ben White Boulevard to U.S. Highway 290 East alongside a host of pedestrian and cyclist-friendly east-west crossings, or “stitches,” at 41st Street, 38th 1/2 Street, 32nd Street, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, 12th Street, 11th Street, Seventh Street, Sixth Street, Fifth Street and Cesar Chavez Street. Plans to lower the lanes below ground level would allow for large swaths of civic space, or “caps,” to cover sections of downtown from Cesar Chavez to Eighth Street and 15th Street to Dean Keeton Street.

“This is obviously a transformational project that only comes once in a generation,” said Susan Daniels of the Corridor Program Office. “We have these amazing assets on either side (of I-35). … We have the Convention Center and its redevelopment, the Palm District Planning Initiative, all of the work with Waterloo Greenway. … We have a lot of cultural institutions, history and services on both sides – the Mexican American Cultural Center, the (African American Cultural & Heritage Facility), Six Square. … We want to tie them all in and make sure people can access them seamlessly.”

While there’s excitement about the prospects, the project’s estimated $800 million price tag looms large. So far, the Our Future 35 project team has managed to secure $2.6 million in federal grant funds, but Daniels acknowledged that voter-approved bonds and public-private partnerships are likely in order.

The project’s scale has bought them some time. Tommy Abrego, a TxDOT project manager, said that while construction is set to begin sometime next year, major roadway construction likely won’t kick off until nearly 2026, and it could take another six years to complete.

“Drainage tunnels will be the first thing to get built. Since the roadway will be about 40 feet below its current grade, in heavy rain events, we’ll need a system that carries all that water. The drainage tunnel system is a hundred feet below the corridor and will go east under Cesar Chavez to drain in the river near (U.S. Highway) 183 in East Austin,” said Abrego. “Another project we’re trying to go to bid in the spring is the MLK bridge. … We want to do that in advance as it’s a key east-west connectivity location.”

Despite the long timeline, Daniels said staffers are moving quickly to lay the groundwork, looking to exemplars like Dallas’ Klyde Warren Park and Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway for guidance. Immediate priorities include working through issues of environmental health, including air quality, noise pollution and heat island impacts, with plans to conduct a formal study over the next year.

“Next, our opportunity is to figure out what to put on top. Obviously, we can put park-like amenities there, but we can also put in buildings. The question is what’s the right mix,” said Daniels. “We’ve talked about affordable housing, about retail businesses, about parks and splash pads for kids. It all depends on the funding we get and what the community decides.”

Those interested in sharing their thoughts on the project can participate in a number of focus groups on Aug. 31 and Sept. 9.  Readers can also stay up to date via the Our Future 35 newsletter.

Photo made available through a Creative Commons license.

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