Amid howls of protest and a legal challenge in federal court, the Texas Department of Transportation is plowing ahead with the first of three projects to widen Interstate 35 through Travis County. The I-35 Capital Express South project stretches from Ben White Boulevard south to State Highway 45 East. The signature feature will be two elevated […]
TxDOT
The transportation agency for the State of Texas.
Posted inRoads
UTC calls TxDOT proposal to expand I-35 ‘just so weak’
Urban Transportation commissioners voiced their continuing concerns Tuesday about the Texas Department of Transportation’s plans to reconstruct and expand the portion of Interstate 35 that goes through Austin’s downtown. TxDOT is currently studying the environmental impacts of the two design options it has left – Build Alternative 2 and Updated Build Alternative 3 – and is scheduled […]
Posted inRoads
Lawsuit alleges TxDOT’s I-35 expansion project is ‘clearly violating the law’
Three Texas organizations – Texas Public Interest Research Group, Environment Texas and Rethink35 – have come together to file a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Transportation over its plans to expand Interstate 35. At the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization transportation policy board meeting on June 13, TxDOT reported that the three multibillion-dollar projects […]
Posted inTransportation
TxDOT wants cops to crack down on speeders, but APD’s traffic enforcement units are understaffed
With traffic crashes killing about 10 people a day across the state, the Texas Department of Transportation is launching its first-ever safety campaign focused on the leading cause of road deaths: speeding. The new campaign includes an increase in speed limit enforcement by police across Texas from June 7-21, officials said at the unveiling Thursday […]
Posted inRoads
Construction material shortages are delaying TxDOT projects and driving up their costs
A shortage of building materials like steel and concrete is driving up costs for Texas Department of Transportation road projects and could delay some construction contracts. “We have also seen significant increases (over 100 percent in some cases) in some material prices,” TxDOT’s construction division director Duane Milligan wrote in an internal memo dated April 5. After […]
Posted inTransportation
Don’t expect traffic problems around Circuit of the Americas to be fixed anytime soon
For the last 10 years, Circuit of the Americas has drawn thousands of people to major events, from races like the U.S. Grand Prix and MotoGP to concerts by megastars like Elton John and Kendrick Lamar, helping to pump millions of tourist dollars into the local economy while thrilling fans with A-list entertainment. The 1,500-acre […]
Posted inRoads
I-35 expansion could destroy a 70-unit affordable housing complex. TxDOT didn’t notice at first.
The Texas Department of Transportation overlooked a 70-unit affordable housing complex when tallying how many homes could be destroyed by a move to widen Interstate 35 through Central Austin. Aria Grand, an apartment community in the Travis Heights neighborhood that opened in 2019, was omitted from the initial count of residential displacements in TxDOT’s early analysis of the expansion […]
Posted inRoads
Why doesn’t Austin pre-treat its roads for ice?
State highways are being sprayed with magnesium chloride to lower the temperature at which ice can form. The Texas Department of Transportation has finished pre-treating major roadways and is now focusing on stretches of secondary roads where ice could form, like bridges or overpasses. Meanwhile, in Austin, the city has not pre-treated any roads. The […]
Posted inRoads
I-35 frontage roads would be on the same side of the interstate under TxDOT’s new plans
The Texas Department of Transportation’s latest proposal to expand Interstate 35 includes a plan to run the northbound and southbound frontage roads directly next to each other on the same side of the highway between Cesar Chavez and Dean Keeton streets. The frontage roads would be at ground level with the interstate lowered and possibly covered if […]
Posted inBicycles
First phase of South Lamar bike lanes delayed nearly two years
Work on a major face-lift to South Lamar Boulevard between Riverside Drive and Barton Springs Road was supposed to have been well underway by now, but as those who frequent the stretch know, not much has changed. That’s because the “road diet” project, which will remove one lane each way to add protected bike lanes […]
Posted inRoads
Internal memo reveals TxDOT’s latest changes to I-35 expansion plans
Lowering Interstate 35 under more cross streets including Holly Street and Woodland Avenue, increasing the number of pedestrian crossings and reconfiguring downtown frontage roads are among the changes to TxDOT’s I-35 widening project that are outlined in a new internal memo to the mayor and City Council. Speed limits would be reduced on the frontage […]
Posted inPlanning
Montopolis Bridge in East Austin could get $7 million in amenities and visual improvements
An 83-year-old East Austin bridge with a view of the downtown skyline could get some major aesthetic upgrades under a project being considered by the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. The Montopolis Bridge was opened to traffic in 1938 to replace an older crossing washed away by deadly floods three years earlier. The bridge served as a crossing for […]