Austin Freeway Expansion Fight Continues

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) “turned a blind eye to the environmental injustices of the project, failed to explore less disruptive alternatives and glossed over the effects on air and water quality,” alleges a lawsuit filed by a group of activists in Austin opposing the expansion of Interstate 35. As Nathan Bernier reports for KUT, “The legal complaint also zeroes in on TxDOT’s plans for seizing land on the shores of Lady Bird Lake.”

The state has been moving forward with a plan to add four ‘managed lanes’ along eight miles of U.S. 290 East. “Among the big changes, TxDOT will lower the main lanes from downtown to Airport Boulevard. The city of Austin and UT Austin are planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to cover the highway trench with large decks called ‘caps’ that might support buildings, effectively concealing the widened interstate beneath a tunnel through the core of the city.” But even if capped, opponents say widening the freeway will induce more traffic and worsen air quality.

“Rethink35 escalated its fight against the expansion by simultaneously filing a civil rights complaint with the Federal Highway Administration,” charging that the project amounts to “knowingly engaging in acts of discrimination.”