UTC Recommendation to TxDOT Recommendation 20210907-02A — original pdf

Recommendation

BOARD/COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION Urban Transportation Commission Recommendation Number 20210907-02A: [TXDOT I-35 Capital Express ] WHEREAS, The City of Austin Urban Transportation Commission (UTC) has made previous recommendations opposing the core purpose and response of TxDOT’s I-35 Capital Express project, WHEREAS, the UTC opposes the TxDOT plan’s outcomes, specifically, ● To demolish small businesses and homes, despite the current economic and housing crisis ● To widen I-35 to as many as 20 lanes, exacerbating racial and economic divides while reducing safety for pedestrians, bikers, wheelchair users and others not in cars ● To add multiple square miles of concrete through the center of Austin, despite the current climate catastrophe in which we are already engaged and which we all must play a part in addressing ● To spend billions of taxpayer dollars, despite lacking assurance of a positive outcome ● To impose the negative outcomes of major highway construction through the heart of the 11th largest city in America, despite objection from local elected officials and informed citizen groups WHEREAS, All these disruptive and negative outcomes are without believable data or key stakeholder belief they will meaningfully reduce congestion or increase mobility, especially when accounting for the years of construction disruption, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the UTC urges the City Manager, Mobility Committee, and Council Members to pursue all legal methods to require TxDOT to defer any I-35 Capital Express project construction until the I-45 widening project in Houston and Harris County is resolved and can be used for clues to prevent widening I-35 in Austin, and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Urban Transportation Commission urges TxDOT in the strongest possible way to abandon the I-35 Capital Express project. Record of the vote: 8-3 vote with Commissioners Brooks, Driscoll and Weatherby voting nay. No abstentions. Date of Approval: 9/7/21 Attest: Christopher Parks Christopher Parks, Staff Liaison