Reconnect Austin proposal calls for removing the decks and tunneling I-35 [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

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Reconnect Austin proposal calls for removing the decks and
tunneling I 35. Photo: Black + Vernooy.

The Austin City Council will review a radical solution to I-35 traffic called “cut and cap.”

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The Reconnect Austin design calls for the upper decks to be taken down and the roadway tunneled all the way to River Street.

I-35 has long served as a barrier that has divided Austin both racially and economically. Removing it and replacing it with tree lined streets might go a long way in resolving the whole East-West thing. Old neighborhoods would reconnect, and new development opportunities would arise.

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The only problem is that tunneling I-35 under the Reconnect Austin design and proposal would cost over half a billion dollars ($550 million proposed).

The complete story at http://digitaltexan.net/2013/austin-local-news/reconnect-austin-proposal-calls-removing-decks-tunneling-i35/article54889/ .

[font color=green]The current design of I-35 is flawed in my opinion because the express lanes are elevated and are the outside lanes. The inside lanes with access to the city streets are submerged. Because of that design, it creates a situation where taking the express lanes on the upper deck requires motorists to move from the faster lanes nearest the center of the highway to the lanes on the outside. For local traffic the opposite occurs where traffic that would normally be on the right must move towards the center. Thus accidents occur at both ends of the elevated ramps as drivers are changing lanes and having to look in their rear-view mirrors instead of focusing on the traffic in front of them.

If the lifespan of the elevated ramps is coming to an end, then this is a great opportunity to correct the engineering design error made decades ago to improve traffic flow through the central business district, UT area and northward towards the US 290/RM 2222/I-35 junction. In addition it opens up additional land for development and reunites neighborhoods that were destroyed by the I-35 barrier.

While retrofitting the area would require significant financial investment, the ability to improve traffic flow, add another traffic lane along the central business district in the submerged portion, reduce traffic accidents/injuries, possibly include a ground level biking lane or providing right-of-way for the Lone Star Rail District, and reunite the neighborhoods that were segregated decades ago offsets the initial investment.[/font]