In March 2025, we need your help to

Tell Austin City Council to Fund ALL the Caps

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is rebuilding I-35 through Austin, and Austin has the once-in-a-generation opportunity to build 25 acres of parkland (“caps”) on top of the submerged highway. While these caps would transform Austin for decades, Austin City Council is not certain to fund the structural “Roadway Elements” necessary to support future caps.

With a vote impending in March 2025, we need you to contact City Council and register to speak at the March 2025 City Council meeting to encourage them to

“FUND ALL THE CAPS”

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Email all Austin City Council Members here

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Reducing the scope of the caps undermines residents’ vision and deprives the City of future revenue streams that could support additional infrastructure and services for residents across all Austin communities.

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Please fund ALL Roadway Elements now to allow future generations of Austinites the opportunity to benefit from caps. Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, and funding caps today will provide a never-again-possible opportunity to add parkland to the urban core.

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The complete cap & stitch vision has strong public support. Narrowing the scope suddenly disregards years of community engagement and planning.

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At full completion, caps could generate significant new property tax revenue and economic activity as well as provide parkland, environmental benefits, and pedestrian-friendly spaces that help bridge the divide created by I-35.

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Funding ALL the Roadway Elements is a legacy project that will extend beyond the next 50+ years. While financial commitments on caps are not due for decades, funding Roadway Elements now gives future Austinites the opportunity to plan a future that matches the growth of our quickly-developing world-class city.

About the caps

In March 2025, Austin City Council will vote on whether or not to fund I-35 Roadway Elements, which are structural elements required to support 25 acres of parkland, called caps, that could eventually cover large sections of I-35.

While these caps would prove transformational for Austin, city staffers are recommending that City Council only fund part of the Roadway Elements, thus bypassing this once-in-a-generation opportunity to cover I-35 with parks.

If you support investing today in the Roadway Elements that would allow for caps in the future, we need you to contact City Council NOW and sign up to speak at the March City Council meeting.

FAQs

What is happening to I-35, and what are caps?

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is planning to rebuild I-35 through Austin. This project will remove the upper decks, and all highway lanes will be submerged below ground level. Drawing upon the success of similar projects across the county, TxDOT is offering to build the highway in such a way that major sections of the highway (totaling around 25 acres) can be covered by caps. These ground-level caps (which essentially turn the stretch of highway beneath them into tunnels), can be covered by parks, neighborhood amenities, and 1-2 story buildings.

While TxDOT is funding the highway rebuild, the money for caps has to come from the City of Austin. And while Austin has already received a federal grant and a state loan to help pay for part of the caps, the City of Austin still needs to authorize additional funds.

What is Austin City Council deciding in March 2025, and what are “Roadway Elements”?

In March 2025, Austin City Council will vote on whether or not to commit to funding some or all of the Roadway Elements necessary for future caps. Roadway Elements are the structural and fire-prevention elements that any future cap would require. While caps could be added at a later date, TxDOT has to include the Roadway Elements in the highway construction now in order for caps to be built at any point in the future. And so, while Austin does not have to commit to all of the funding for the entire caps now, it does have to commit to the funding for the Roadway Elements by March 2025.

If Roadway Elements aren’t funded now, can the highway ever be capped?

No. If Austin City Council doesn’t fund Roadway Elements now, Austin can't ever build caps (until the highway is rebuilt in 50+ years). If Austin funds Roadway Elements now, Austin can choose to fund the caps by the end of next year, which will get them completed by 2032. If Austin can't come up with the money by the end of next year but can before the highway is finished, we can add the caps as a change order and have them completed by 2034. And if Austin can't come up with the money by then either, we can still build caps at a later date, but it would have to be after 2044, as Texas state law requires no additional construction on a major construction site for ten years after the conclusion of construction.

Who made this website?

This website was created by Adam Sparks, a longtime Austinite and Cherrywood resident with no connection to the I-35 project other than wanting the best possible outcome for I-35. Recognizing that this once-in-a-lifetime decision was coming before city council with incredibly little public awareness, I decided to quickly put together this site to facilitate the process of helping Austinites learning about the I-35 cap funding situation and getting them to make their voices heard before the Dec. 12th meeting