Raising hell since 1972, Interstate 35 is the Main Street of Central Texas, like it or not. Most don’t – congestion aside, the highway is widely considered to have exacerbated racial and economic inequality in Austin. Mayor Kirk Watson has repeatedly described I-35 as “a monument to racism in this town.” Reconstructing it has been on TxDOT’s to-do list for several decades, and the expansion is nearly upon us. Though that rebuild will impact Austinites more than any other Texans (and displace somewhere between 100-200 of our homes and businesses in the process), the state’s in charge here.
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This article appears in December 30 • 2022.