If you’ve been driving on I-35 through Central Austin, you may have noticed tall construction walls going up at certain points along the highway and wondered what’s going on behind them. Those barriers are designed to block the sound of machines digging deep holes called drop shafts for one of the largest tunnel projects in […]
Roads
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New concrete barricades coming to Austin’s Sixth Street as part of safety plan
Starting today, city crews will begin replacing the water-filled barricades on East Sixth Street with concrete barriers. The swap is one step in Austin’s effort to tame the famously rowdy strip and create a more welcoming district that draws a broader age range and more spending, even if not everyone’s ready to sanitize “Dirty Sixth.” The new concrete barricades […]
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Lady Bird Lake trail will detour during I-35 construction, but the details remain unclear
A shaded stretch of Austin’s most heavily traveled trail is about to become a construction site for up to eight years. But with days to go before equipment is moved beneath I-35, details of a years-long detour for the Ann and Roy Butler Hike and Bike Trail remain up in the air. The 10-mile-long Butler […]
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Why Austin keeps turning intersections into roundabouts
You’re driving through Austin and come to an intersection with something unfamiliar in the middle. No stop sign. No traffic light. Just a giant concrete circle. Do you yield? Gun it? If you’ve wondered this, you’re not alone. More of Austin’s intersections are being turned into roundabouts as part of a safety strategy. In theory, […]
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Urban Transportation Commission calls on city to narrow traffic lanes
The Urban Transportation Commission wants to see narrower Austin roads, and they have research to back the idea up. Commissioners unanimously approved a resolution recommending that the city adopt a 1- to 2-foot narrower standard for traffic lanes in many of the city’s larger streets and roads during the body’s regular meeting on July 1. […]
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Austin moves forward with plan for parks over I-35
Austin City Council has approved paying for infrastructure that would allow for parks over I-35, a plan made possible by a state project to widen and lower the freeway. Council members voted Thursday to pay $104 million for support columns that would allow decks to be installed over I-35 from Cesar Chavez to Seventh streets and […]
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Plans for parks over I-35 collide with Austin’s cash crunch
Facing a deepening budget deficit as the state legislature tightens the reins on city spending, Austin’s City Council was warned Tuesday that an ambitious plan to build parks and public spaces over I-35 will require tough choices to avoid straining the city’s finances for decades. A stark financial forecast from the Washington, D.C. engineering consultant Hayat Brown said the proposed decks […]
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Council approves grant award to replace Barton Springs Road Bridge
A long-running debate over replacing the iconic Barton Springs Road Bridge appears to be settled, with City Council’s unanimous vote Thursday to formally accept $32 million in grant funds for the project. Although the Council voted in 2023 to move forward with replacing the bridge, funding wasn’t available to cover construction costs. That changed late […]
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Austin has only weeks to decide where to put parks over I-35
Austin must decide within just a few weeks whether to commit hundreds of millions of dollars to installing support structures on Interstate 35, or give up the chance to build parks over the highway. City Council has until May 31 to choose locations for the foundational elements that would hold up large decks – or […]
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Urban Transportation Commission discusses, makes recommendations on CAMPO’s draft regional plan for 2050
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization is cooking up a quinquennial update to its regional transportation plan, and for its part, the Urban Transportation Commission is urging CAMPO to reflect the city’s priorities – and trash some highway projects – in the final draft. The UTC unanimously passed a resolution during its regular meeting April […]
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Travis County sets aggressive goal to eliminate traffic fatalities by 2050
One of the policy areas that the county has most influence over is roadway safety. Past city limits, the Travis County Commissioners Court is responsible – along with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization and other regional authorities – for managing the increased traffic that comes along with booming growth. […]
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Living Streets Program updates include new funding and street closure modifications
Dirty Sixth may be reopening to car traffic, but a growing number of neighborhoods across Austin are moving in the opposite direction thanks to the city’s Living Streets Program. Back from its holiday break, City Council’s Mobility Committee took to the dais last week for an update on the program, which closes roads to through […]