Austin secures I-35 deck funds
City faces deadline to identify sources
The city of Austin was awarded $105.2 million in federal grant funding to build large decks over portions of Interstate 35 through Central Austin, transit officials announced Monday, firming up a chunk of funding for the first time ahead of an end-of-year deadline.
The proposed decks – also referred to as “caps” and “stitches” – would stretch over certain portions of the highway, connecting parts of the city with new pedestrian walkways, bike paths and green space. The announcement comes as the city faces a December 2024 deadline from the Texas Department of Transportation to identify funding sources.
Later this year, TxDOT will start construction to expand and widen I-35 through Central Austin – an effort state highways officials say will last a decade and cost $4.5 billion. The deadline for cap and stitch funding is a result of TxDOT needing to know whether to engineer parts of the highway to accommodate the decks, saying such additions are cosmetic.
The newly awarded grant funding will go toward the construction of a 5.3acre cap over I-35 between Cesar Chavez and Fourth Street, the city said in a news release Monday afternoon. The city, after submitting its grant application in September, is receiving its “full ask” of funding as part of the proposal, said Jack Flagler, a city spokesperson.
In addition, the city will contribute a $45 million local match to fund a majority of the amenity construction for the Cesar Chavez to Fourth Street cap, meaning the city has secured about $150 million for the cap and stitch initiative.
City officials have estimated that
fully realizing the cap and stitch program could yield more than 30 acres of new real estate. Last fall, Richard Mendoza, then interim director of the city's Transportation and Public Works Department, said the cost for all the caps and stitches could range between $600 million and $800 million. Annual maintenance costs for the caps and stitches could reach the tens of millions of dollars.
Proponents of caps and stitches see the infrastructure as a means to rectify the downsides of carving a thoroughfare through a major city, including the bifurcation of Austin's neighborhoods. Critics say the infrastructure falls short of addressing the lasting effects of I-35's existence, particularly on the city's Black and Latino communities.
This first tranche of funding will diversify how the city plans to pay for the project and inform future efforts to identify additional funding, Flagler said. The city is exploring funding and phasing strategies for other caps and stitches, including additional grants, philanthropy and other sources, according to the city news release.
The $105.2 million is coming from the U.S. Transportation Department's Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods Program, a $1 billion effort meant to lessen the effects of decades-old transportation projects. City officials said the proposed Cesar Chavez to Fourth Street cap was “highly competitive.” Among other criteria, proposals were graded on whether they were located in disadvantaged census tracts, would enhance transit availability and increase density, according to city documents.
What will be built on the cap remains to be seen. The city will coordinate with TxDOT on the design and engineering of the cap structure and anticipates a “robust public process” to determine the design of amenities on the cap, according to the city news release.