Austin Climate Fears Can’t Stop $4.5 Billion Highway Expansion

In 2021, when Eileen McGinnis learned that the Texas Department of Transportation wanted to expand Interstate 35 through the heart of Austin, she didn’t initially think about climate change. Mostly, she was surprised she’d never heard about the $4.5 billion plan to dramatically increase the footprint of a highway that already divided the city.

TxDOT had been trying to widen I-35 for decades, but in early 2020, the project had finally been funded. The agency intended to remove the existing I-35 upper decks, which clattered over central Austin, lower the roadway, and add two managed lanes in each direction, plus additional frontage ...