The familiar red glow of brake lights, a daily sight for many commuters, could fade in the future as officials consider transformative proposals for the cap and stitch project—a plan to create a number of public green space connections over I-35.
With three major interstate expansion projects underway—the most recent breaking ground in late October on a stretch of I-35 in the heart of Austin—city staff are weighing options to minimize the effects of roadway construction.
After a hike in costs and a newly extended deadline to fund infrastructure that would support these caps, City Council members are evaluating several financial options, likely to impact taxpayers.
What’s happening?
As the I-35 expansion project in Central Austin rolls forward, the city has worked to address the highway’s historical division of the east and west sides of the city by incorporating caps and stitches, or land bridges, for connectivity.
Austin officials were forced to reconsider original plans after a Nov. 19 update indicated costs had ballooned to $1.4 billion, up 67% from 2023 projections.
Initially, plans called for more than two dozen acres of amenity decks atop the wider, sunken I-35 between Lady Bird Lake and Airport Boulevard. The vision—shaped by resident input—calls to reconnect communities divided by the highway with new parks, art and programming on the caps.
After conducting community outreach over the summer, the transportation and public works department unveiled plans for the full build-out Sept. 28, which included a slew of amenities. However, as inflation has swelled the construction costs, staff recommended scaling back.
Austin City Council members caught a break before being forced to make the weighty decision surrounding funding of the longstanding proposal of I-35 land bridges, as the Texas Department of Transportation extended the city’s deadline to commit the millions of dollars needed for the project until March.
Originally outlined for the year’s end, the city would need to front $284 million to TxDOT to secure the construction of structural components for all eight proposed caps and stitches.
The city’s plans are not tied to proposed caps around The University of Texas at Austin campus, which are being developed separately and are funded by the institution. These include roughly 17 acres over the interstate between 15th Street and Dean Keeton Street.
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What’s new
Out of all the project options, city staff recommended decreasing the caps, reducing the total area from 26.26 acres to 12.6 acres—still twice the size of the only other highway land bridge in Texas, located in Dallas.
The new strategy reduces most cap sizes by 25% and brings the total cost to just over $500 million. This would also reduce the initial funding commitment required by TxDOT to $109 million.
“If we’re going to go through the trouble of doing this, my sense would be to go ahead and do full caps, and do it right,” council member Chito Vela said.
Council member Vanessa Fuentes hopes the city will focus on keeping full-scale downtown caps, noting the project was meant to be a “silver lining” for residents impacted by the highway expansion.
Some context
Over the next decade, TxDOT will be expanding the 8-mile stretch of I-35 that runs through the center of the city, which prompted local authorities’ initial proposal of the cap and stitch initiative.
TxDOT’s $4.5 billion Capital Express Central project will remove I-35’s raised lanes, sink the roadway, add new lanes, and improve east-west highway crossings for vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists—representing the agency’s first significant infrastructure improvements made to the area’s interstate in 50 years.
Though the project has received criticism for years, officials broke ground on the project running between Hwy. 71 to the south and US 290 to the north Oct. 30.
The project connects with two ongoing local corridor improvement projects focused on the northern and southern sections of I-35 in Austin.
The entire I-35 face-lift is expected to widen the corridor from 11-18 lanes up to 17-22 lanes.
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Looking ahead
Regardless of which configuration receives approval, the city will likely need to bring forward a bond election in 2026, Deputy Chief Financial Officer Kim Olivares told council members.
The next phase of financing must be committed for constructing the first deck covering the interstate from Cesar Chavez to Fourth Street.
For the average Austin homeowner, each $100 million in bonds adds $13.78 annually to their property tax bill. According to city documents, a proposed $600 million bond program in 2026 would raise the annual tax bill by roughly $82.71.
The newest proposed scenario presented to council is projected to need $1 billion in bonds and cost homeowners $137.86 per year.
Road construction along the entire I-35 corridor in Austin is not expected to be completed until 2032, but TxDOT officials say commuters may see the upper decks torn down as early as 2027.
City staff will continue to look for funding opportunities, as there are still millions of dollars needed for remaining phases of the project that will need to be secured by 2032.
“We are looking at federal grants, but we are also looking at things like philanthropic strategy—that’s how the Dallas cap program got a lot of its funding,” said Brianna Frey, an urban planner overseeing the Austin project.
