Austin awarded $105.2M federal grant to fund 5.3-acre freeway cap over I-35

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The U.S. Department of Transportation recently awarded Austin, Texas, a $105.2 million Capital Construction Grant as part of the Neighborhood Access and Equity Grant Program.

The city will use the funding to build a 5.3-acre freeway cap over I-35 between Cesar Chavez and Fourth Street. The project will provide residents of the East Cesar Chavez Neighborhood connections to downtown that were previously cut off by the original construction of I-35. Work will include a potentially uninterrupted walking and biking corridor across I-35 at Third Street.

“A primary goal of pushing and pushing to get I-35 lowered was so that we could have the potential for not only reducing the divide it created and continues to perpetuate, but so that we might have caps and stitches that allow for far better connections,” Mayor Kirk Watson said. “This federal award will better enable Austin to realize that vision, and I’m really excited about the opportunities that lie ahead to work together to create a more complete city.”

The project is part of the city’s Our Future 35: Austin’s Cap and Stitch Program, an initiative to construct caps and stitches over the portions of I-35 in Central Austin being reconstructed as part of the Texas Department of Transportation Capital Express Central Project.