Austin Considers Spending $482M In Bond Funds On Road Upgrades

The proposal calls for a major upgrade of East Riverside Drive, but only short-term improvements such as pavement and sidewalk rehabilitation, intersections, traffic signals and bike lanes will take place on the eight corridor roads.

Austin City Council members are reviewing a staff proposal to spend $482 million in bond funds approved in 2016 on a project to upgrade nine corridor roads. Once completed, the project is expected to cost $1.4 billion.

The proposal calls for a major upgrade of East Riverside Drive, but only short-term improvements such as pavement and sidewalk rehabilitation, intersections, traffic signals and bike lanes will take place on the eight corridor roads.

Once funding becomes available, the remaining plans for the eight corridor roads- installing medians and adding lighting, benches and trees- will be finalized. City officials plan to spend $27 million on design and engineering for the corridor roads.

City officials intend to seek federal grants, funding from developers along the nine corridor roads and to possibly ask voters to approve more bond funds for upgrading corridor roads.

This article was originally published by strategic partnerships.