The Environmental Toll of Austin’s I-35 To Central Texas

Many of us love driving around in the state of Texas. What we don't love is running into traffic while we're making our way around the state. With one highway in Texas, there might be issues with it.

How Bad Had I-35 Gotten In Austin, Texas?

If you've driven on I-35 before, there's a chance you've run into traffic before. The city of Austin gets crowded a lot, and there's many people in the city as well. Because of the growth, there's a ton of vehicles on the roadway.

Also, with the amount of roadwork going on, getting from point a to point b is difficult some days. Per CultureMap Austin, it was revealed that I-35 isn't viewed very highly. In fact, it's been places on a list deemed "freeways without futures." A lot of factors were included in this designation.

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Why Was I-35 In Austin Looked Upon So Poorly?

Per Congress For The New Urbanism, 1/4 of deaths that happen on Austin's roads happen on I-35. In addition, there was pushback from Austin residents, and even a change recommended, but it wasn't considered as stated by CNU:

"Reconnect Austin proposes sinking and covering I-35 with a boulevard while Rethink35 advocates for rerouting I-35 around town and replacing the current highway with a boulevard..."However, TxDOT refused to thoroughly study either proposal."

At the time of writing, the I-35 Capital Express Central Project is underway, which will expand the roadway to a massive 22 lanes, but it still might not fix the problem. Do you think the project will help or make things worse? Let us know by sending us a message using the chat feature on our station app.