Three Austin-based advocacy groups sue TxDOT over I-35 expansion through Central Texas

Three Austin-based advocacy groups are suing the Texas Department of Transportation over plans to expand 28 miles of Interstate 35 through Central Texas, claiming that the agency improperly split the project into three parts and has failed to properly study its overall impact. Rethink35, Texas Public Interest Research Group and Environment Texas filed the lawsuit, which asks the court to require TxDOT to reassess the entire project, consider its environmental impact and present meaningful alternatives to the current proposal. TxDOT’s current plan — which calls for expanding 28 miles of I-35 from the south end of Round Rock to just north of Buda — has been in the works for years, with funding approved for parts of the project in 2019.

Adam Greenfield, executive director of Rethink35, said his group's position is that the project can't legally be split into north, central and south segments because all three are connected as part of a larger single project. “TxDOT is claiming that these three sections are ‘independent utilities,’ so basically, you could pursue a change on any one of those and it wouldn't impact the range of options you would have for the other two sections. We are crying foul on that claim,” Greenfield said. “This is obviously one massive highway widening project. It would be absurd to widen and put high occupancy vehicle lanes on the north and south and then just leave the central part like it is now.” Greenfield said because of this segmentation, TxDOT did not study the environmental impact of the entire project. Rather, the department looked at each segment and found there would be no significant impact, which means it does not have to provide alternative design solutions. “We're going on the north and south segments from 12 lanes to, in some places, up to 19 lanes. That is a major, major, major environmental impact,” he said. “They should be doing the most thorough environmental review possible, and they should be doing it for the entire project because what is done on any one of these segments will impact the others.” TxDOT did not respond to a request for comment.