The Austin City Council unanimously passed a resolution Thursday urging the mobility authority to commission a more thorough environmental study on its \u201cMoPac South\u201d proposal. The move came the same week the Travis County Commissioners Court passed a similar resolution and the day after a crowd gathered at Austin High School for an Earth Day town hall to rally opposition to the project.<\/p>\n
The project would add multiple lanes in each direction to the highway, including tolled express lanes. The project\u2019s corridor runs alongside Austin High School, Zilker Park and Lady Bird Lake, and it crosses the Barton Springs segment of the Edwards Aquifer recharge zone.<\/p>\n
A draft environmental assessment the authority completed in February\u00a0found the project would not significantly impact the environment. CTRMA, which is leading the effort, has said the expansion would reduce congestion and decrease commute times through the 8-mile corridor. Drivers would save about five minutes during rush hour, or up to 14 minutes if they use the proposed express lanes, the authority estimated.<\/p>\n
But organizations like the Save Our Springs Alliance and the Better\u00a0MoPac Coalition argue the modest time savings don\u2019t outweigh the risks to water quality, endangered species and air quality. They say the environmental study fails to paint a complete picture of the project\u2019s impact.<\/p>\n
The assessment is full of \u201clies about how this won\u2019t harm the environment, how it won\u2019t harm Barton Springs and it will improve our ability to get through town faster,\u201d Travis County Commissioner Brigid Shea<\/a> said Wednesday at\u00a0the organizations\u2019 town hall. \u201cNone of that is accurate.\u201d<\/p>\n At issue is the type of study that was conducted. Highway projects in Texas require one of two types: an \u201cenvironmental assessment\u201d or an \u201cenvironmental impact statement,\u201d the latter of which is much more comprehensive and time intensive. The Texas Department of Transportation decides which type of study is needed, and it directed CTRMA to conduct an environmental assessment for the MoPac South project.<\/p>\n TxDOT also makes the final call on whether the project meets federal environmental rules. Once an environmental assessment is done, the department can clear a project or require a full environmental impact statement. Austin and Travis County are pushing for the latter outcome.<\/p>\n \u201cI-35 had to have a full EIS. Project Connect had to have a full EIS. I just don\u2019t see why the expansion of MoPac\u00a0would not have to have a full EIS,\u201d Council Member Chito Vela said in support of the city\u2019s resolution during a Thursday meeting.<\/p>\n Jori Liu, a spokeswoman for the mobility authority, emphasized in a\u00a0statement that nothing is final\u00a0\u2014 including the environmental study.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MoPac South Project has not received environmental clearance,\u201d Liu wrote. \u201cWe anticipate that decision to be made sometime later this year.\u201d<\/p>\n