Austin Mobility News For August 9

Press release from the City of Austin:

August 10, 2021

The current I-35 corridor is vitally important to the Central Texas Region and to Austin as an economic lifeline to the rest of Texas and the nation, but its current layout does not meet the needs of its users. More than 40 pedestrians and bicyclists were killed trying to cross I-35 main lanes and frontage roads in Austin from June 2016 to May 2021, and more than 20 others were seriously injured. The I-35 Capital Express Central Project can improve safety throughout the corridor by increasing safe crossings on the busy highway.

Another top goal for the City of Austin is to reduce the barrier I-35 creates for local residents. Currently, East Austin is excluded from the key employment, educational and entertainment opportunities in Central and West Austin by the lack of pedestrian or bicycle options across the highway. With this project, the region has the opportunity to eliminate the barrier by capping and stitching the two sides of the highway together with sufficient pedestrian crossings. Additionally, the City aims to improve transit access into central Austin from other parts of the city and region.

"We are very supportive of the new managed lane system that will define the new design," Austin Transportation Director Rob Spillar said. "We are hopeful that TxDOT explore maximizing the efficiency of the managed lanes that can further incentivize transit access into these key employment locations like transit only ramps, park-and-rides and similar facilities.

This Tuesday, August 10, TxDOT will host an open house in the Davage-Durden Student Union at Huston-Tillotson University from 4 to 8 p.m. The public is encouraged to attend, view the plans, meet with members of the design team and provide feedback on the project. Masks are required by Huston-Tillotson. Since this is an in-person event, attendees are encouraged to follow the latest protocols from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Austin Public Health to protect themselves and others from COVID-19. Learn more about the open house at My35CapEx.com and the City's comments on this state-led project at AustinTexas.gov/I-35Mobility.

Austin Transportation expects the construction of multimodal intersection improvements at Manor Road and Cherrywood Road/Chesnut Avenue to begin this week and conclude by spring 2022.

View a fact sheet about the project. Ver un mapa de mejoras del proyecto.

These improvements are made possible through a combination of funding from the City of Austin’s Mobility Bonds and Quarter Cent programs as well as Capital Metro. In April 2020, Austin City Council allocated $634,000 of Quarter Cent Program funds to improve the intersection.

Austin Transportation then identified and designed several safety and mobility improvements for the corridor, including:

Crews will work on one corner at a time and the intersection will remain open and passable during all phases of construction. Visit AustinTexas.gov/CherrywoodManor for more information and to subscribe for project updates.

To prepare for the return of back-to-school commutes, the Austin Transportation Department re-established its Open Roads program beginning today and occuring on weekdays between 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. The Open Roads program restricts temporary lane closures due to construction work during certain periods of the day in order to help increase mobility. When traffic volumes dropped in early 2020, the department lifted those restrictions. Daily lane closure restrictions were reinstated on weekdays from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., effective May 17, 2021, due to increasing afternoon traffic volumes.

Those increasing traffic counts are likely to continue their upward trend later this month, as many students will be returning to the classroom for the first time since March 2020. Austin ISD students start their school year on Aug. 17, and the University of Texas begins classes on Aug. 25. Austin Transportation Department data from 2019 shows an average increase in weekday morning peak period travel times of about 12% when schools reopened after the summer break.

This press release was produced by the City of Austin. The views expressed here are the author’s own.