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 […]
35 expands
Posted inRoads
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 […]
Posted inRoads
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 […]
Posted inRoads
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 […]
Posted inRoads
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 […]
Posted inTransportation
Urban Transportation Commission criticizes I-35 frontage road plan
The Urban Transportation Commission on March 4 unanimously passed a resolution strenuously recommending against the Texas Department of Transportation’s plan to widen Interstate 35 frontage roads downtown. The resolution specifically addressed the Central Austin project, which covers an 8-mile section of the interstate highway between U.S. Highway 290 in the north and State Highway 71 in […]
Posted inRoads
I-35 caps plan reconsidered as cost estimates soar by 61%
Austin’s transformational plan to cover parts of Interstate 35 with parks and public spaces, intended to bridge the divide between east and west neighborhoods, is facing a financial reckoning as estimated costs soar and city staff warn the project could drain cash from other priorities. Refined plans show the estimated price tag of the full 26-acre […]
Posted inTransportation
Thousands of Austin’s bats will be displaced by I-35 expansion
The expansion of Interstate 35 through Austin is set to displace more than 100 homes and businesses. But an even larger community is being forced to relocate: thousands of bats that roost in the highway’s bridges. While the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has taken steps to protect bats, some conservationists argue more could be done […]
Posted inEnvironment
Regional EPA grant will go toward mitigating I-35 construction traffic and pollution
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency awarded a $47.9 million grant to a coalition of transportation organizations in the Austin region that could go toward mitigating the worst environmental effects of Interstate 35’s inevitable expansion. The city of Austin will lead implementation of this Climate Pollution Reduction Grant (CPRG), as both I-35 and Project Connect’s […]
Posted inRoads
TxDOT argues in court that I-35 never caused racial discrimination – contradicting TxDOT
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is arguing in federal court that Interstate 35 didn’t unfairly disadvantage Black or Latino Austinites, contradicting the state agency’s own historical assessments of the highway that opened in 1962. “Defendant specifically denies the allegations that the construction of I-35 caused discrimination against Black or Latino communities or that I-35 […]
Posted inRoads
Funding freeze for I-35 expansion denied in heated CAMPO vote
An attempt to freeze funding for the Interstate 35 expansion through Central Austin until the project’s impact on air quality can be more fully assessed was easily defeated Monday in a vote by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization’s planning board. The 22-member panel allocates billions in federal transportation cash throughout the Austin area. The […]
Posted inRoads
UT pledges $13.5 million to cover I-35 from Dean Keeton to 15th Street
The University of Texas is making a $13.5 million down payment to cover Interstate 35 from 15th Street to Dean Keeton, a feat that will be made possible by a state project to widen and lower the highway through Central Austin. UT System Regents voted Thursday to approve a funding agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). […]