The Texas Department of Transportation announced the next phase of construction to begin along I-35 between Holly Street and Hwy. 71 in Central Austin as the agency moves forward the next segment of its planned I-35 overhaul.

A closer look

The road work falls under TxDOT’s $4.5 billion I-35 Capital Express Central project, which broke ground last October. The undertaking will add two nontolled high-occupancy-vehicle, or HOV, lanes stretching roughly 8 miles from Hwy. 290 to the north down to Hwy. 71 to the south.

The I-35 facelift will also see the removal of the upper decks, sink portions of the roadway about 25 feet below ground level and widen the corridor to a range of 17-22 lanes.

The segment of work along Lady Bird Lake includes:
  • The reconstruction of the Lady Bird Lake bridge
  • Construction of road configuration at Riverside Drive that will accommodate future Capital Metro light rail routes
  • Adding a pedestrian-only bridge at Woodland Avenue
  • Bicycle and pedestrian paths and improvements along the corridor
The $630 million Lady Bird Lake stretch has been contracted to international infrastructure group Balfour Beatty.


The recent road work notice follows the initial lane closures announced in December, which included the reconstruction of the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard bridge.

While construction along the entire corridor is not expected to be complete until 2033, TxDOT officials have indicated that the large project is broken into smaller, “more manageable,” contracts.

As each segment gets contracted out, residents can continue to expect road closures. However, the transportation agency has said they remain committed to keeping three lanes of traffic open throughout the duration of construction.

On a related note


City leaders have a separate but related project to add public green space connections over I-35 on top of the sunken roadway. The vision for the project is to add amenities like parks and coffee shops on top of the caps.

However, local officials are still considering if and how much of the proposed plans they want to build after a Nov. 19 update indicated costs for the cap and stitch project had ballooned to $1.4 billion, up 67% from 2023 projections.



TxDOT extended the city’s deadline to commit the millions of dollars needed for roadway infrastructure until March 2025.


Find additional information or sign up for alerts on TxDOT’s I-35 project here, and the city’s proposed cap and stitch project here.