Photo courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation

The Texas Department of Transportation was joined recently by Texas Transportation Commission Chairman J. Bruce Bugg Jr., Commissioner Robert Vaughn, Sen. Judith Zaffirini and other partners to break ground on the Interstate 35 Capital Express Central project in Austin.

"Currently, TxDOT has under contract over $53 billion under construction across Texas," Bugg said. "Last week we broke ground on the start of the $13 billion NHHIP project in Houston, and today we are breaking ground on the $5.6 billion Capital Express Central project, bringing that total of construction and planned projects to $71.6 billion."

The contractor is Harper Brothers LLC.

The I-35 Texas Clear Lanes project will add two non-tolled high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) managed lanes in each direction from U.S. 290 East to State Highway 71/Ben White Boulevard.

The project also will lower the main lanes from Airport Boulevard to Lady Bird Lake, remove the upper decks, provide opportunities for deck plazas, improve transit connections, add boulevard-style segments through downtown and enhance pedestrian and bicycle paths along the corridor.

"I-35, and this particular project, is of such significance and such importance," Zaffirini said. "The impact will be statewide, nationwide and international. But it will also be local, and we who travel this route every day are most relieved. We welcome it because it will relieve congestion, improve safety and drainage, and help in so many ways."

"In addition to mobility improvements, we're also improving bicycle and pedestrian paths helping to accommodate all modes of transportation," Vaughn said. "We are excited to make transportation safer and easier to use for cyclists, runners, walkers and everyone else."

The project includes more than 19 mi. of new shared-use paths, as well as widened and enhanced east-west crossings, and new bicycle-pedestrian crossings at 3rd Street, 15th Street and 41st Street.

Construction on the Central project started in October 2024 with the reconstruction of the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Bridge.

The next segment to begin construction will be at Lady Bird Lake (Holly Street to SH 71/Ben White Boulevard) in early 2025. The contractor is Balfour Beatty.

Construction along the entire corridor is expected to be complete in 2033, weather permitting.

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