City Of Austin: Official Comment Period On Major I-35 Project Closes Friday

Press release from the City of Austin:

Official comment period on major I-35 project closes Friday

Central Texas residents have a few more days to provide feedback that will shape a $4.9 billion project to reconstruct an 8-mile stretch of I-35 through downtown Austin. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is leading the project to remake the highway’s central stretch for the first time in nearly 50 years. The virtual open house, available here, closes to feedback Friday, Sept. 24, at 11:59 p.m. As the project will likely take 10 years to reconstruct and last another 50-70 years, it is important to get the design right for our community.

While this is a critical stage to provide public input on the project's development, this does not mark the finish line in the federally regulated process. After the public comment period closes on Sept. 24, TxDOT will take all feedback into account on the official meeting record and perform detailed technical analyses on impacts to the community, air quality, biological and water resources and more.

TxDOT then expects to present its preferred design in the fall of 2022 at a public hearing, at which point another public comment period will open. This will be the next time comments are part of the official meeting record under federal regulations, although TxDOT encourages feedback throughout the duration of the project. TxDOT then expects to select its alternative and issue a Record of Decision in summer 2023 and begin construction in 2025.

As a partner of TxDOT’s in the project, the city of Austin’s goals include minimizing the overall footprint of the highway, maximizing east-west access across the highway, increasing safety for people by designing frontage roads to urban arterial standards and speeds, maximizing the safe movement of people, goods and services on the corridor and assuring a thorough public process.
Find coverage of the I-35 frontage road design here. Information on proposals to “cap-and-stitch" I-35 with decks covering the interstate and widened bridges crossing the highway is available here, and watch a video of a presentation from Austin Transportation Department Director Rob Spillar, P.E., to Austin City Council here.

This press release was produced by the City of Austin. The views expressed here are the author’s own.