The Austin City Council recently approved an advance funding agreement of $1.8 million with the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to begin research on the city’s Our Future 35 “cap and stitch” program.
The funding agreement will go toward engineering and design study for TxDOT’s 8 miles Interstate-35 Capital Expansion project in downtown Austin, which features added lanes along with the removal of the upper decks and lowering of the highway.
The cap and stitch program calls for the installation of caps—or deck plazas that can host community and green spaces, pavilions, public art or cultural facilities—on top of the sunken highway lanes.
A second advance funding agreement approved between the city and TxDOT Thursday will lead to the city investing $15.4 million to cover 30% design costs and environmental review of the caps and stitch structures.
Next December, the city is expected to commit an additional $19 million to fund 100% final design costs.
Under current city estimates, the costs for both the roadway elements as well as the tunnels and caps amount to $509 million. That doesn’t include the estimated costs of amenities on top of the deck plazas, which are projected to cost around $338 million.
The city is slated to hear back from the U.S. Department of Transportation on its $105 million cap and stitch grant application in February. From there, officials said they will revisit the caps and prioritize which project components to approve.
Currently estimates expect construction to I-35 to begin in 2026.
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Source: KXAN News
