I-35 expansion project: Austin receives $105M grant for freeway cap

Austin receives $105M grant for I-35 project

The City of Austin received $105M grant to help fund the I-35 expansion project. District 8 Austin City Council member Paige Ellis spoke about the project, and how the new funding will help.

AUSTIN, Texas - The expansion and beautification of I-35 in Austin is $105 million closer to becoming a reality thanks to a federal grant.

District 8 Austin City Council member Paige Ellis spoke with FOX 7 Austin's Rebecca Thomas about the project, and how the new funding will help.

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Rebecca Thomas: Paige, would you give us some background on the City's "Our Future 35" initiative and how it relates to Texas' expansion of the interstate?

Paige Ellis: Our future 35 is a community involvement effort to make sure that as Tex Dot works on the I-35 highway expansion, that we know what kind of community benefits the folks who are most affected by it are asking for.

Rebecca Thomas: Now, how will the grant from the federal government that the city was just approved to be used?

Paige Ellis: We recently learned that we are going to receive $105 million of federal grants to be able to work on the cap and stitch program. We very much appreciate the advocacy from our Congressman Doggett and Casar to be able to work on these initiatives. It's part of the Reconnecting Communities program and Neighborhood Accessibility and Equitable City Program through the federal government. So we're very, very happy that we're going to be able to move forward with the community benefits that are so desperately needed in this area.

Lawsuit filed over I-35 expansion project

The I-35 Capital Express Central project would impact an 8-mile area between US 290 East and SH 71/Ben White Boulevard.

Rebecca Thomas: What is the total cost to the city, and where will the city find funding to cover remaining construction costs outside the grant?

Paige Ellis: Well, final costs are still yet to be determined as we move forward with the cap, the caps and the stitches. We are going to be talking about submitting an application through the State Infrastructure Bank to make sure that we can qualify for as much money as possible to do these. I'm also working with Council Member Zohaib Zo Qadri's office to talk about the prioritization of the proposed caps and stitches. We know this $105 million is going to help us with Cesar Chavez through Fourth Street, but there are many other parts of this project that we need to make sure we know how to prioritize as money becomes available.

Rebecca Thomas: And what is the plan? Is there a plan B if the money doesn't materialize? As far as donations, I mean, how does the community get involved?

Paige Ellis: All options are still on the table. We would love for a philanthropist to come in, as we have seen in the city of Dallas, to be able to make a project of this size work. We know there are many folks in our community that love being philanthropists. They care about our park system. They care about public space. So that is still on the table. But we also need to make sure we have options like federal grant assistance or using the state infrastructure bank to make sure that we have more approachable loans for this project.

Rebecca Thomas: Now, TxDOT's project to widen I-35 has received some opposition in the community, arguing that it would make traffic worse. There are also some environmental concerns. What is your take on that?

$105 million grant for I-35 freeway cap

The city of Austin recently announced it will receive a federal grant to help fund a freeway cap over I-35 between Cesar Chavez and Fourth Street.

Paige Ellis: There are a number of folks in this community, myself included, that have been working on projects like pollution reduction, making sure that our air quality standards are being upheld as the EPA changes its standards. There are a lot of folks that do believe this highway is too wide. They were promised no higher, no wider. And we're seeing that that's not the case. But at the end of the day, it's the communities that are closest to this highway project that will be the most impacted. And we have to do everything we can to make sure that they can still get across the highway to get to school and get to jobs, and to be able to live their life without this, this big highway divide that we're going to see. A lot of people think one extra lane is going to solve all of our problems in some spaces, but we know that that just encourages more people to drive in their cars. And the city of Austin and Cat Metro in the ACP have stepped up to provide massive amounts of alternatives over the last couple of years. So it is very much an ongoing conversation. But at the end of the day, you're going to see me and some of my colleagues say, even if we don't agree with the total plan, we still want to make sure the community is getting as many benefits as possible.

Rebecca Thomas: And before we wrap up, what's on the agenda for the next City Council meeting?

Paige Ellis: Well, in addition to applying for the State Infrastructure Bank loan, we are looking at another grant application through the EPA for climate pollution reduction. But I'm working with a number of my colleagues on issues like wildfire. Street trees and the right of way, and making sure that we can actually put trees on the sidewalks of new developments. And even another item where we're talking about in vitro fertilization, to make sure that our city employees have access to all types of reproductive health care that families need.

Rebecca Thomas: All right. Council member Paige Ellis, thank you so much for sharing your time and perspective with us tonight.