The Texas Department of Transportation has awarded a $746 million contract to British-based Balfour-Beatty to build 2.5 miles of its massive Capital Express Central Interstate 35 project.
This section of the I-35 upgrade will begin south of downtown Austin in the first half of 2025 and be completed in 2033. Known as the Lady Bird Lake Segment, it will rebuild a bridge over Lady Bird Lake from 417 acres on the Colorado River. , add two high-occupancy vehicle handling lanes in each direction, build an interchange to access future light rail routes, build a pedestrian-only bridge, and improve bike and walking paths.
Balfour Beatty said in a statement that the almost 60-year-old bridge will be built from a barge as it will require “complex engineering and marine expertise”. Mark Johnnie, director of the company’s US civil operations, said the company will bring “specialized overwater bridge replacement capabilities.”
At its peak, the project will employ around 150 people. Divided into six segments with construction extending into the mid-2030s, the project promises to ease congestion on a road traveled by approximately 200,000 vehicles daily.
When completed, parts of the interstate will include more than 20 lanes. When the project is completed in the middle of the next decade, the improvements will include the removal of I-35’s current covers, thereby lowering the roadway, as well as the addition of toll-free HOV lanes in each direction. Additionally, the construction of east-west cross bridges and pedestrian and bicycle paths are part of the current plan.
It opposes the Rethink35 plan, which argues that more cars on the road will worsen the city’s air quality and that the health of people with lung and heart disease, diabetes, the elderly and children will be adversely affected by the ‘interstate expansion. One of the group’s proposals is for the State to buy the SH-130 highway, which they say is underutilized.
TxDOT said its August 2023 environmental impact studies did not find that the completed project would increase pollution or health problems on the interstate.
