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At the special session of the city council’s mobility committee on Friday, residents to a quorum of city council members voiced their concerns over a controversial TxDOT plan to significantly expand the portion of Interstate 35 that runs through Austin. The complaints come as a wave of supporters across the state calling on the Department of Transportation to demonstrate more transparency, engage with local residents, and examine options for the expansion plan.
While TxDOT argues that the expansion would alleviate Austin’s growing traffic problem and improve safety, critics criticize the plan as being unhelpful and unsightly. Critics say TxDOT’s traffic forecasts are gross overestimates to justify adding more lanes, pointing to discrepancies between TxDOT’s earlier traffic flow forecasts and traffic data available today.
Then there is the problem of “induced demand,” which refers to the tendency for people to drive more as the number of lanes increases, resulting in bigger and louder highways that are no less congested.
Despite TxDOT’s stated commitment to listening to the public, many community members involved in the process feel that the department is giving them an overview. They claim that their inputs have no actual weight as they ultimately still have to choose between three less than ideal options.
Diann Hodges, a spokeswoman for TxDOT, encouraged those interested to come to an open house hosted by TxDOT today where members of the project team will answer questions from the public. “It is an opportunity for the public to look at the criteria we use to evaluate these three alternatives,” she said.
When the Austin Monitor asked if TxDOT would consider a fourth option of not widening the lanes, Hodges suggested that option be off the table.
“We can’t do nothing and be responsible stewards of the Texas highways,” said Hodges. “We have a lot of people who use that. This is how they come to work, how they come home, how goods and services come to people. How the food arrives on your table is likely coming from a truck using I-35, so it would be irresponsible on us not to make the necessary improvements to I-35. “
Hodges added that TxDOT’s plan would increase east-west connectivity in Austin, one of the most common requests from community advocates. “We’re removing a lot of the blocked views by removing these decks. it will dramatically change the view of the highway, ”she told the monitor.
A public caller, Heyden Black Walker, executive director of grassroots group Reconnect Austin, said that TxDOT offers the illusion of multiple alternatives, although the three possibilities are essentially minor variations on the same theme, all of which involve “a 20” lane highway. Walker also pointed out that, despite the Mobility Committee’s prior request for a 60-day comment period, TxDOT only allows a 30-day public submission period.
Each of the three alternatives described by Hodges include lowering the main lanes of I-35 through downtown Austin, removing the upper decks, and adding two HOV lanes on each side of the freeway.
“I would really encourage us to somehow figure out how we can build a process from the ground up that isn’t just, ‘Here’s your 20-lane highway. How are you going to decorate it? ‘ But what does the community really want? ”Said Walker.
Another speaker, Nancy Crozer, shared her firsthand experience of attending numerous meetings and that TxDOT consistently fails to meet its commitments.
“I was nearby and saw plans come into effect. They said “yes we will” in the meetings and no, they didn’t. We had to fight with them as citizens to get better access. ”Crozer cited TxDOT’s broken promise not to take land over a significant domain. “I have no hostility towards TxDOT. It’s just that what I see and what I know is happening are two different things. “
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