Austin’s plans to pay for parks over I-35 appears to have lost one of the votes it would need to move forward anytime soon.
Council Member José ”Chito” Vela, who’s currently serving as Mayor Pro Tem, said this weekend he does not expect to support putting more city money into the project in the near term. Council members are set to vote this month on whether to commit additional funding while city staff urge them to pump the brakes.
“I wish we could. I wish we were in a different situation, but we’re not,” Vela said during a live taping of The Big Dig Podcast at KUT Fest. “And the loss of that federal grant, I think, changes everything.”
The city had been awarded a $105 million federal grant under the Biden administration. But the Trump administration later canceled the award, removing what Vela described as the “seed money” that could have helped Austin attract support from private donors, the state or future federal grants.
Without that money, Vela said, the city’s role may be limited to preserving the option to build caps someday.
“My role on council was to future-proof,” Vela said. “Some other council, 20 years from now, 40 years from now, again, hopefully with a better state and federal government that are willing to lift a heavy load on the cost of the caps, we’ll take that up.”
The remarks are a notable shift from one of the council’s more prominent supporters of the so-called “Cap and Stitch” project. In December, Vela told KUT News that the downtown cap between Cesar Chavez and Seventh Streets could deliver major economic benefits and become “one of the best downtown parks in Texas.”
A rendering showing a possible park over I-35 from Cesar Chavez to Fourth Street. The Trump administration rescinded a $105 million federal grant awarded under the Biden administration for this section of the “Cap and Stitch” project.
The cap proposal is tied to the Texas Department of Transportation’s $4.5 billion expansion of I-35 through Central Austin. The state plans to lower the main lanes up to 60 feet from Holly Street to Airport Boulevard, creating an opportunity for Austin to fund decks over the highway.
But TxDOT will not pay for decks, the park amenities or the ongoing maintenance.
Last year, the City Council committed $104 million for support structures that would make future caps possible from Cesar Chavez Street to Seventh Street and from 11th to 12th Streets. The city also agreed to fund support columns for two smaller “stitches” near 41st Street and the CapMetro Red Line next to the Hancock Center.
Building the decks that would go on top of the support structures is far more expensive. Current estimates put the cost of the bare caps at $371 million. Amenities such as grass, trees, sports fields, splash pads and performance spaces could add another $258 million, bringing the total cost of the project to about $604 million before annual maintenance costs.
If all those highway decks were constructed, it would create almost 14 acres of new public space.
Council Member Mike Siegel, who opposed the earlier funding, said the city should devote its limited resources to more immediate needs.
“When I think about building a roof over the freeway, I’m thinking of all of the thousands of people that need a roof over their heads,” Siegel said. He was worried that even the cost of the support structures could rise.
“We’re almost gun-to-the-head required to assign this so-called Advanced Funding Agreement in the next few weeks. But even that doesn’t protect us against cost escalations,” Siegel said. “It could be that by the time TxDOT actually builds the full build out, maybe five years from now, that they’ll give us a bill for more.”
Kennedy Weatherby
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KUT News
From left, Council Members José “Chito” Vela and Mike Siegel, reporters Nathan Bernier and Megan Kimble, and host Ian Coss participate in a live recording of “The Big Dig” podcast at the KUT Festival.
Vela said he still believes an expanded, uncapped I-35 would be “a complete and total disaster” and called the caps a form of “harm reduction.” But for now, he said, Austin shouldn’t put more money into the project unless major outside funding returns.
That leaves the city with a scaled-down strategy. The council has already committed to pay for the support structures that would keep the possibility alive but appears ready to leave funding the actual parks for another budget cycle, another council or perhaps another generation.