HOW DID WE GET HERE?
THE ULI PANEL REPORT
In 2019, the Downtown Austin Alliance organized an Urban Land Institute (ULI) panel of international experts to help shape a roadmap for capping and connecting the I-35 corridor once TxDOT lowers the highway. The study identified the potential locations for caps and stitches along the corridor and recommended key strategies to evolve TxDOT's investment into a community-centered plan.
Click here to see the ULI's full report.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is planning to reconstruct I-35 through Central Austin as part of the I-35 Capital Express Central Project. Initial plans to this approximately 10-mile stretch call for removing the upper decks and lowering the highway between Airport Boulevard and Cesar Chavez Street.
THE SCOPING WORKING GROUP
A critical strategy outlined in the ULI report was to form a scoping working group to inform TxDOT's National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) process. In 2020, the Downtown Austin Alliance established the Our Future 35 Scoping Working Group to influence the evolution of TxDOT's design alternatives. To learn more about the scoping working group's accomplishments, please visit http://www.ourfuture35.org for the complete archive.
ATKINS’ FEASIBILITY STUDY
In 2021, the City of Austin funded a study to evaluate the engineering feasibility of various cap locations that could be built in conjunction with TxDOT's I-35 Capital Express Central project to achieve community, safety and mobility priorities.
Click here to read Atkins’ feasibility study.
With State investment and preliminary engineering feasibility in place, the City of Austin is now leading the next phases of work through the Our Future 35 Cap and Stitch Program.