Austin moves forward with plan for parks over I-35

Austin City Council has approved paying for infrastructure that would allow for parks over I-35, a plan made possible by a state project to widen and lower the freeway.

Council members voted Thursday to pay $104 million for support columns that would allow decks to be installed over I-35 from Cesar Chavez to Seventh streets and 11th to 12th streets.

The council also gave the OK to build columns for a pair of smaller, 300-foot-long stitches from 41st Street to the Red Line.

The overall proposal, advanced by Council Member Zo Qadri, is less than half the size of the full 26-acre vision originally presented to the City Council.

“I think this moment is about more than infrastructure or funding. It’s about values and visions for Austin and it’s about hope,” Qadri said from the dais before the vote.

The city’s first payment, 15% of the total, is due in 2026. The remaining balance must be paid off in annual installments based on how much work the contractor completes. The second payment would not be due till 2029, Council Member Ryan Alter said.

The City Council was fiercely split over the price tag for the project. Some members fretted about other priorities — everything from affordable housing to street upgrades and flood resilience.

The city is in an increasingly difficult financial position, facing a multimillion-dollar shortfall next year and a state Legislature eager to crack down on the powers of municipalities to tax and spend.

“I really hope that we can apply the same tenacity to finding the money to fund the needs of our residents who cannot afford to live this close to the city,” Council Member Krista Laine said. “We do not see a lot of opportunity in the coming years to find new funding.”

Pro-cap council members worried about the cost of closing the door on acres of new public space in the heart of the city. Doing nothing would leave an open highway canyon even wider than the existing roadway that opened in 1962.

“We have to seize this moment,” Council Member Chito Vela said. “When I look across the country, I don’t see anybody who has regretted capping their highway.”

 

TxDOT’s timeline

The City Council was facing a deadline of May 31 to decide where to fund support columns for the decks over I-35.

TxDOT is putting the project to bid — inviting construction companies to compete for the contract — and wanted proof the city could foot the bill for the roadway infrastructure.

The state agency pushed back a separate funding deadline for the decks themselves. If the city can show proof of payment by November 2026, it will likely get a better deal because construction companies will compete for the contract. Waiting longer also means inflation could push up the price.

The revised timeline will allow the city to hold a bond election, asking voters how much of a property tax increase they’d be willing to accept to pay for parks over the interstate.

It’s still unclear exactly how much the decks and amenities would cost. A presentation slide from city staff indicated the total cost of highway parks from Cesar Chavez to Seventh Street and 11th to 12th streets, including support columns, was estimated at $570 million. That doesn’t doesn’t include the two 300-foot-long decks near the Hancock Center.

“Staff will be working to develop capital stacks and further partnerships with community members, philanthropic members, developers and the sort to be able to come back to you with options for how we might go about funding the decks,” Kim Olivares, one of the city’s top financial officials, said.

Austin could still add decks to the project after November 2026, but they’d cost more. Instead of being competitively bid on by a number of companies, the decks would be tacked on to the existing contract as a “change order.”

After 2033, TxDOT will impose a 10-year moratorium on any I-35 construction.

I-35 under construction till 2033

TxDOT is widening the highway through Travis County in three segments. South of Ben White Boulevard, columns are already being installed to add elevated lanes almost to Slaughter Lane. Two high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes will run in each direction.

North of U.S. 290 East, the state began rebuilding the highway in 2023 to add one HOV lane in each direction. Several bridges are being rebuilt.

The expansion of I-35 through Central Austin, one of the largest highway projects in state history, will add two HOV lanes in each direction along an 8-mile stretch from Ben White Boulevard to U.S. 290 East. Bridges over the highway will be widened.

Construction on the project is slated to be completed by 2033.

This story was produced as part of the Austin Monitor’s reporting partnership with KUT. 

The Austin Monitor’s work is made possible by donations from the community. Though our reporting covers donors from time to time, we are careful to keep business and editorial efforts separate while maintaining transparency. A complete list of donors is available here, and our code of ethics is explained here.