New National Report Lists I-35 Austin As One Of 10 Highways That Needs To Go

By, Terra Rivers, Managing Editor

Anyone that has lived in Austin or had the opportunity to drive thru it at least once or twice has experienced the headache of Austin traffic. Austin isn’t as large as Los Angeles or Seattle, but any Austin resident or commuter will tell you that traffic can be a nightmare. And it looks like people on a national level are starting to agree. 

Freeways Without Futures 2019 is a national report released in April by Transportation Advocacy Group Congress for the New Urbanism, who identified 10 highways in cities coast to coast, and Austin’s I-35 has been named for the first time and comes in at number 4. 

According to the report, a grassroots coalition Reconnect Austin has advanced an alternative, human-scaled vision for the I-35 Corridor, particularly the section of North and South I-35 that runs through downtown Austin.

The report states that I-35 thru Austin carries more than 200,000 vehicles a day; while catering to mobility from the North to the South, the section of freeway cut off travel between East and West Austin.

 According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, I-35 has carried commuters and commerce across the Lone Star state from the Rio Grande at Laredo to the Red River for nearly 150 years.

Once used to drive cattle to Kansas, residents of Austin are more familiar with bumper to bumper traffic through the Texas Capital on a regular basis.

I-35 in Austin has been identified as one of the most congested roadways in Texas. Reconnect Austin, a grassroots campaign to bury I-35 through downtown, proposes a four-step plan to “reclaim this vital corridor as public space and developable land.”

1. Remove the elevated highway between Cesar Chavez Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
2. Remove existing highway frontage roads to reclaim 30 acres of downtown land 
   
3. Bury this section of I-35 below ground
4. Cover these depressed lanes with a new, narrower, pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly boulevard.

Freeways Without Futures’ details Reconnect Austin’s plan to provide “better traffic dispersion and more connection for cycling and walking” in the downtown Austin as well as reconnecting West Austin with downtown.

According to the report, the potential valuation of the 30 acres of land I-35 between Cesar Chavez and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is an estimated $10 billion.

“If handled with care, this could lead to the creation of up to 4,500 market-rate and affordable housing units in a walkable location, ideal for people seeking or currently holding low- and moderate-income jobs downtown.”

Of course, every plan has its potential flaws; the report states Reconnect Austin recognizes that the removal of I-35 has the potential to accelerate gentrification and displacement as the area becomes more economically robust and aesthetically attractive. This could lead to “soaring” land values.

However, the report says the city could develop a plan to protect against displacement, which is a high priority.

According to report, “TxDOT is about to undertake an $8.1-billion renovation of a 66-mile stretch of I-35 in and around Austin, the cost of which would likely not vary significantly if the downtown portion were depressed instead of simply rebuilt. TxDOT’s estimates for the cost of capping these depressed lanes comes to $300 million. Local support—from neighborhood groups, civic organizations, boards and commissions, city council, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Austin Alliance—in conjunction with TxDOT’s planned renovation, makes for an ideal, once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape downtown Austin by capping I-35.”