Three Austin-based advocacy groups sue TxDOT over I-35 expansion through Central Texas

Three Austin-based advocacy groups are suing the Texas Department of Transportation over plans to expand 28 miles of Interstate 35 through Central Texas, claiming that the agency improperly split the project into three parts and has failed to properly study its overall impact.

Rethink35, Texas Public Interest Research Group and Environment Texas filed the lawsuit, which asks the court to require TxDOT to reassess the entire project, consider its environmental impact and present meaningful alternatives to the current proposal.

TxDOT’s current plan — which calls for expanding 28 miles of I-35 from the south end of Round Rock to just north of Buda — has been in the works for years, with funding approved for parts of the project in 2019.

'No wider, no higher:' Opposition heats up to TxDOT's Austin I-35 expansion plan

Adam Greenfield, executive director of Rethink35, said his group's position is that the project can't legally be split into north, central and south segments because all three are connected as part of a larger single project.

“TxDOT is claiming that these three sections are ‘independent utilities,’ so basically, you could pursue a change on any one of those and it wouldn't impact the range of options you would have for the other two sections. We are crying foul on that claim,” Greenfield said. “This is obviously one massive highway widening project. It would be absurd to widen and put high occupancy vehicle lanes on the north and south and then just leave the central part like it is now.”

Greenfield said because of this segmentation, TxDOT did not study the environmental impact of the entire project. Rather, the department looked at each segment and found there would be no significant impact, which means it does not have to provide alternative design solutions.

“We're going on the north and south segments from 12 lanes to, in some places, up to 19 lanes. That is a major, major, major environmental impact,” he said. “They should be doing the most thorough environmental review possible, and they should be doing it for the entire project because what is done on any one of these segments will impact the others.”

TxDOT did not respond to a request for comment.

MORE: Austin City Council pushes back on I-35 plans that could raze dozens of properties

The expansion plan

TxDOT plans to spend about $6 billion to expand I-35 in Austin from the Williamson County line to Texas 45 South, with $4.9 billion dedicated to building a combination of tunneled lanes, below-ground lanes, bypass lanes and high-occupancy vehicle lanes in Central Austin and downtown.

The city of Austin has identified the I-35 widening project as one of the most important mobility projects for Central Texas. The highway's Austin-area section carries nearly 200,000 vehicle trips per day, and the city’s website says this freeway is important for both drivers and transit riders.

The city’s website identifies three key goals to the I-35 project. The first is improving mobility, since the existing infrastructure is one of the oldest freeways in Texas and frequently experiences gridlock. The second is making it safer for pedestrians and cyclists to cross I-35 and its frontage roads. The city's third goal is to improve east-west access, saying, that in its current form, the interstate through Austin has played a role in "perpetuating racial and economic divisions for decades."

The project's north segment proposes to add one nontolled high-occupancy vehicle lane, for cars with two or more occupants, in each direction along I-35 from Texas 45 North to U.S. 290 East. This segment is estimated to cost $500 million and is to start construction this year.

More: Project Connect plan calls for eliminating cars on the Drag near UT's Austin campus

The central segment proposes removing the existing I-35 decks, lowering the roadway and adding two high-occupancy vehicle lanes in each direction along I-35 from U.S. 290 East to Ben White Boulevard. This is estimated to cost $4.9 billion and start construction in 2025.

The south project proposes to add two high-occupancy vehicle lanes in each direction along I-35 from Ben White Boulevard to Texas 45 Southeast. This is estimated to cost $548 million and is to start construction this year.

Austin City Council members and community leaders have denounced plans to expand I-35 through Austin, citing the scores of businesses and homes along the route that would have to be torn down or relocated to accommodate the project.

'It makes congestion worse'

Greenfield said his group's position is that TxDOT should explore alternatives to the current I-35 widening project. Rethink35 is asking that through traffic be diverted to highways that go around the city and to transition I-35 in Austin to an urban boulevard with housing, businesses and public transportation.

“When you expand highways, it actually makes congestion worse because you induce more driving,” he said. “Driving obviously has major advantages. But it doesn't scale up well in an urban, dense area as a form of mass transportation. If everyone does it, then it constantly locks up because it's the most space-inefficient form of transportation available.”

However, TxDOT said in documents posted online that 82% of cars on I-35 are local, and that research has found that diverting traffic to other highways around the area would not significantly reduce congestion on I-35 and would add substantial costs to the project.

Matt Casale, environment campaigns director at the Texas Public Interest Research Group, said: "Highway expansion is a poor use of taxpayer dollars, and will exacerbate the environmental and public problems associated with our transportation system. There are better ways to reduce congestion, improve mobility and reduce pollution."

A report by Transportation for America published in 2020 indicated that there is no clear evidence that widening freeways has helped reduce delay or congestion. Transportation for America is a program run by Smart Growth America, an advocacy organization pushing for a transportation system that safely, affordably and conveniently connects people.

The report argues that expanding highways counterintuitively makes traffic worse by incentivizing more people to drive. Instead, the report says, cities should invest in a variety of transportation options, including public transportation, to move people around.

Casale and Greenfield both pointed to Austin's Project Connect as a better solution to alleviating congestion than expanding I-35.

Casale said now that the lawsuit is filed TxDOT will have time to respond before the issue goes to court.

Greenfield said he expects arguments to start in court in several months.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin-based advocacy groups sue TxDOT over I-35 expansion