CAMPO board OKs amendments to I-35 expansion project without votes from 3 Council members

The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Transportation Policy Board voted last week to approve amendments to its highway improvement plans, which will pave the way for the latest version of the Interstate 35 Capital Express project. It did so without the votes of three City Council members appointed to the board.

The 22-member board considered Items 5 and 7, which are the conclusion of an amendment cycle for the Transportation Improvement Program and the Regional Transportation Plan. The out-of-cycle amendment process was conducted to assist the Texas Department of Transportation with its redistribution of unspent transportation funding.

TxDOT this week announced its finalized plans for the I-35 Central project, which expands the stretch of interstate from Ben White Boulevard to U.S. Highway 290. Many of the requested amendments approved by the board on Aug. 14 concern engineering and construction in that portion of the project.

Four Council members serve on the regionally appointed mobility committee: Alison Alter, Paige Ellis, Vanessa Fuentes and Natasha Harper-Madison. The board ultimately passed the item with just Fuentes and Harper-Madison voting no. Ellis abstained.

Council and some community groups have been fiercely critical of the plan and demanded more widespread mitigation efforts to protect the environment and the people who live near the project. That led to changes in TxDOT’s plan to include a boardwalk and additional cap over the highway to make it safer for pedestrian and bicycle use.

However, those changes did not go far enough to secure Fuentes’ vote, as she explained during the board meeting. “First, I want to thank TxDOT for the conversations that they’ve been having with the city of Austin,” she said. “I know that there have been significant changes and improvements made to the I-35 expansion and renovation that’s happening in our city.”

She continued, “As a policymaker of the city of Austin, I have to think very seriously about what we’re asking Austinites to do. And we’re asking Austinites to spend at least six to seven years in construction, dealing with traffic delays, dealing with construction activity, and as part of that ask, I believe that it is my responsibility to do all that I can to ensure that this is the best project possible.”

Fuentes said she would like the conversations between the city and TxDOT to continue, particularly in regard to water quality infrastructure and retention.

“For us, it’s really important that we secure funding for the caps to connect our east and west side communities. So there is still a lot more work that needs to be done. In that spirit, I will be voting no on this, but want to acknowledge that there has been considerable progress made,” she said.

Fuentes also thanked the advocates pressing for additional public engagement on and improvements to the plan.

“I learned about some of the commitments and some of the improvements made through a letter that was provided to advocates,” she said. “So our community advocates are doing a great service, and raising their voice, and it’s having an impact. I want to thank them for their service as well.”

Photo by Larry D. Moore, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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