Last week, we heard a surprising announcement from the Texas Department of Transportation and State Senator Kirk Watson regarding plans to significantly redesign Austin’s downtown stretch of Interstate 35, part of an $8 billion long-range plan — apparently dubbed Capital Express — intending to add two toll lanes to both sides of the highway all the way from Round Rock to…
highways
Austin’s I-35 Problem Has a Solution. But Can We Get It Right?
You probably woke up today to an Interregional Highway 35 choked with cars and caked in soot, a resonant cacophony shaking the bones of unlucky passers-by. Along its frontage roads, crumbling sidewalks exemplify the lack of investment for the pedestrians struggling to navigate its shadows. And you’ll probably wake up to it tomorrow. I-35 can have a…
Reconnect Austin’s I-35 Plan Is Running Out of Time
I-35 is broken. If you use the highway frequently near downtown during peak hours, you’ll understand this statement is less a matter of opinion, and more an invitation to explore just how much of its brokenness can be fixed through design alone. Urbanists, at least the optimistic ones, will tell you that the actual solution to our city’s continuing nightmare of…