Once again, the Austin City Council is doing what it does best: Make life worse for Austin residents.
As the population boom in Texas’ capital city has led to increased demands for improvements to its highway system, a recently approved expansion plan is set to be underway but is not without its detractors.
Austin — as well as Texas, the second most populous state in the country — has seen population growth at an explosive rate. Many of these new residents are younger and want to live in the most economically viable areas of the state.
In response to the growing demands of the booming population in Austin, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) approved the $4.5 billion Capital Express Central Project that plans to add four lanes to Interstate 35 in downtown Austin.
TxDOT contended that the I-35 improvements are necessary because the highway currently “does not adequately accommodate current and future travel demand and does not meet current federal and state design standards.” It goes on to say that “deficiencies” in the safety and operational management of I-35 “can impact crash rates and peak period travel times.”
Austin is known for having some of the worst traffic conditions in the state and a report from earlier this year found that the roads are getting more dangerous with an all-time high in fatalities due to traffic crashes, at least 125 in 2022. TxDOT expects traffic on the Austin section of I-35 to increase by “45 percent between 2019 and 2050.”
Everyone in the greater Austin area knows that I-35 traffic has been horrible essentially forever. In the 1980s, it was only bad at rush hour, but now it’s bad most days, evenings and weekends as well. The only time it didn’t suck was during the Flu Manchu lockdowns, and we all know how well those worked out.
So is Austin going to move forward to help the problem? Of course not.
Despite TxDOT’s plans to move forward with the I-35 expansion, the Austin City Council has been more skeptical about its prospects.
The council recently approved a resolution asking TxDOT to postpone their construction on I-35, claiming that the environmental impact statement (ESI) is insufficient in addressing “reducing transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions.”
“I believe TxDOT’s project design should not be finalized until the findings and recommendations from the regional plans can be taken into consideration,” said Mayor Pro Tem Paige Ellis. “While I-35 Central’s groundbreaking is inevitable, Austinites have shown strong support of efforts to reduce car-dependency and slow climate change, and it can’t be stressed enough how important it is to get this multigenerational project right.”
In the sense that they’re stupid enough to keep voting for radical leftwing Democrats who hate cars and the people that drive them, then yes. But I fail to see how having more cars idling on I-35 gridlock helps fight “climate change,” no matter how much Soros-stooge run Center for American Progress (also quoted in opposition) says so. I suspect most Austinites would just like to get somewhere on time for a change.
The request resolution passed by the Austin City Council would require two environmental plans to be finished before TxDOT begins construction, but Council Member Chito Vela told Community Impact that “the project is moving forward, and I’m not aware of any legal or political strategy that will stop it.”
Good.
Tags: Austin, Austin City Council, Center for American Progress, Chito Vela, Democrats, environmentalism, I-35, Paige Ellis, transportation
The environmental wackos are in your face about frustrating roadway improvements. They call it a “road diet.” They even demand already inadequate roads and highways be downsized.
Sounds like I-45 in Houston. The Leftists put the kibosh on the widening and improving of the parts running through Houston. Apparently too many POC neighborhoods would be impacted by this.
[…] outrage over communist Cuba’s 64-year history of holding prisoners of conscience? BattleSwarm: Everyone: “I-35 Sucks.” TxDoT: “You Need To Add Four Lanes ASAP.” Austin City Council: “Na… Behind The Black: Red Chinese crew completes five-month mission on Tiangong-3 after return to […]
Kinda like the southern extension of MOPAC in the 1980’s (at that time, MOPAC ended at what is now 360.
At the time, *everyone* knew Austin was growing and that it had to be done. But the Hyde Park / Clarksville / Tarrytown sorts couldn’t abide the idea of making it easier to commute into Austin from outlying suburbs, and so they delayed it for years.
End result: more expensive and that much more disruptive when it became indisputable that it had to be done.
Ha, i’m so old i remember when the frontage road near Airport Blvd. had to stop for trains.
Keeping Austin weird.
And then there’s the Chamber of Commerce types that feel everybody needs to slow down, and stop at every intersection, because you might come in and spend some money.
Steve, Yeah, I remember the old days. Traffic on I-35 main lanes had to stop for trains because there was no overpass until the late 70s.
On rare occasions some poor soul would try to make a u-turn from northbound lanes to southbound through the railroad crossing.
There was a recent article in the local paper about some Luddites who opposed the TxDOT proposal. They wanted to turn I-35 into a boulevard to keep it from attracting more traffic. That’s why they’re called “progressives” instead of MENSA.
This reminds me of when we had to go through the emissions testing in my state to get your tags renewed. Most testing stations had 4 bays and at the end of the month, there would probably be 50 cars waiting in line to be tested, all idling their engines.
And my former city is on a big “reconfigure streets to add bike lanes” push. So what they’re doing is removing center turn lanes, and adding the bike lanes on the sides. So what happens? Someone wants to turn left and if there’s a lot of oncoming traffic, then that person plus everyone behind him has to wait, again, with the cars idling.
So glad I don’t live in that cesspit anymore. With luck, I’ll never have to go there again.