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 […]
Roads
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Extreme heat bakes Austin’s streets, making them warp and crack
Austin roads are taking a beating this summer. An extended heat wave that could be the most severe on record is warping highways and cracking streets. But the pavement is shriveling so slowly, it can be hard to notice. One of the most catastrophic – and fortunately, most rare – road failures blamed on heat […]
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Austin’s I-35 plans revised to include new cap and a $25 million boardwalk
Lee esta historia en español The Interstate 35 expansion through Central Austin is undergoing significant revisions as local officials try to negotiate improvements to the $4.5 billion project, aimed at widening the highway that’s cut through downtown since it opened in 1962. Adjustments to the once-in-a-generation project include the possibility of covering larger sections of […]
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Get ready for downtown street closures
Richard Mendoza, interim director of the Transportation and Public Works Department, notified City Council via memo of some major street closures that are likely to affect anyone traveling through downtown for the next month. It’s another reminder in the busy district of how Austin continues to add residents, regardless of what is happening in other […]
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TxDOT could put a four-lane road where Austin is building a trail
The Texas Department of Transportation is studying whether to build a four-lane highway along the same stretch of land where Austin is planning to break ground next year on a 12-foot-wide concrete trail. Both projects fall within part of an old railroad route that shut down almost half a century ago. The 28-mile MoKan Corridor […]
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TxDOT to seize part of Waller Beach Park for I-35 construction
Interstate 35 in Central Austin is on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation change as the Texas Department of Transportation gears up for an almost $5 billion transformation of the highway that slices through the city’s core. Before the state’s contractors start eight years of construction, residents got a chance to weigh in on the sweeping […]
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Travis County pushes TxDOT to modify I-35 plan to reduce land seizures, add crossings
Travis County commissioners are doing the same thing City Council did last week: asking Texas to tweak its gargantuan Interstate 35 expansion plan. The five-member panel of elected officials – led on this issue by Precinct 2 Commissioner Brigid Shea – echoed calls from Council members to allow for more east-west connections across the highway, […]
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City Council demands changes to I-35 plan
Austin City Council wants Interstate 35 to have more crossings and fewer semitrucks, among other changes, as the Texas Department of Transportation gears up for a sweeping expansion of the highway through Travis County. But the list of City Council demands approved on a 10-1 vote Thursday – with only Mayor Kirk Watson opposed – […]
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Vela urges TxDOT to cap parts of I-35 through Austin
“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity,” Council Member Chito Vela told his colleagues at Tuesday’s City Council work session, referring to cap-and-stitch opportunities for an expanded Interstate 35 through Austin. Vela had prepared a slideshow for an earlier meeting that was canceled, but he put it to good use on Tuesday, impressing Mayor Kirk Watson, who […]
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City looks for silver lining in TxDOT’s I-35 expansion
With the Texas Department of Transportation circling in on finalized plans for Interstate 35, city staffers are racing to seize opportunity of a number of cap-and-stitch projects that could come to be a silver lining in the largely unpopular interstate expansion. In a biannual update Jan. 19, Corridor Program Office Director Mike Trimble caught City […]
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‘Parking district’ proposal may solve South Congress parking woes
The dicey parking shuffle on South Congress is about to get a bit more predictable, thanks to the city’s Transportation Department. City Council’s Mobility Committee rang in 2023 with the welcome announcement that a new South Congress Parking & Transportation Management District, if approved, will bring an expanded paid parking program to the area in […]
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Tower construction to close Red River in Rainey district until SXSW
Increasing growth in the Rainey Street district is expected to bring the closure of a portion of Red River Street until the beginning of South by Southwest in March. The closure is necessary to complete utilities work related to the installation of chilled water lines for 98 Red River St., which, when completed, will become […]