City Council has given early direction to staff to begin working on the financial planning and models for constructing a series of caps over portions of a reconstructed and lowered Interstate 35. At Tuesday’s work session, Council members heard a number of scenarios and timelines for adding caps, which are large plazas that would be […]
Texas Department of Transportation
Posted inRoads
Rethink35 plans what it hopes will be largest anti-highway protest in Texas history
Rethink35, the organization fighting the Interstate 35 Capital Express Project slated to begin next year, is organizing what it hopes to be the largest anti-highway protest in Texas history. The rally is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Nov. 5 at the Sanchez Elementary, which is located at 73 San Marcos Street. According to a Wednesday […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin elected officials, community groups coalesce in opposition to I-35 expansion
At a town hall event last week, U.S. Rep. Greg Casar became the latest community leader to speak out against the Interstate 35 Capital Express project that is due to break ground next year. “Wider highways aren’t actually a traffic solution,” Casar said at his Aug. 31 event. “We are going to endure multiple years […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin grapples with arrival of autonomous vehicles
Autonomous vehicles are in Austin. According to a Sept. 1 memo from the Transportation and Public Works Department, the presence of autonomous vehicles has become an increasingly common sight over the past few months. “Currently, there are approximately 125 fully electric AVs in operation and we anticipate additional vehicles in the near future,” wrote interim […]
Posted inDevelopment
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 […]
Posted inPublic Safety
Crash deaths, injuries on the rise despite Vision Zero interventions
Traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries in the city of Austin have increased in 2022 compared with the five-year average, highlighting the barriers that stand in the way of the city’s Vision Zero goals. The Vision Zero program, which originated in Sweden in the 1990s, aims to end traffic-related fatalities and serious injuries. City Council adopted […]
Posted inRoads
City seeks federal transit funds to improve east-west connections along I-35
The city has hopes of securing federal transportation funds intended to reconnect communities severed from economic and other opportunities by transit infrastructure, specifically Interstate 35. Last week City Council approved a resolution to submit the Our Future 35: Connecting Equitably Study to the U.S. Department of Transportation for funding consideration as part of the new […]
Posted inZoning
Northwest Austin cave prompts ZAP to postpone vote on apartment complex
With more questions than answers available to consider a proposed multifamily development at a Luby’s cafeteria in Northwest Austin, the Zoning and Platting Commission delayed a vote for two weeks on Aug. 3. The property is located on the southwest corner of Steck and MoPac Expressway, with the project calling for a 275-unit apartment complex, […]
Posted inTransportation
TxDOT to hear case for Livable Oak Hill design
Mediation between environmental organizations and the Texas Department of Transportation seeking a compromise in a lawsuit over the state’s controversial plans for the Oak Hill Parkway project will take place Tuesday. The plaintiffs – Save Barton Creek Association, Save Oak Hill, Fix 290, Clean Water Action and the South Windmill Run Neighborhood Association – continue to […]
Posted inRoads
City forms team to ensure equity with I-35 cap-and-stitch
As the Texas Department of Transportation moves ahead with plans to expand Interstate 35 under the Capital Express project, the city has joined the effort to use the giant construction project as an opportunity to help minority communities recover from the damage the interstate has done to East Austin since the 1950s. The city has […]
Posted inTransportation
Austin’s Strategic Mobility Plan supports Cap Metro’s Project Connect
Austin’s Capital Metro recently released its revamped Project Connect plan, which it hopes to put before voters in 2020, and this time it has integrated its plans with the city’s overall strategy. The last time Austin laid out a transportation plan was in 1995, and at that time, it was not intimately woven into the public […]
Posted inTransit
Project Connect advances despite lingering concerns over key details
The Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Board of Directors on Monday gave its blessing to the handful of staff-curated corridors that will be studied for potential high-capacity transit investments. The 6-0 vote, with Council Member Delia Garza and fellow Board Member Terry Mitchell absent from the meeting, provided Project Connect with clearance to advance to the second […]