Are the I-35 caps worth it?
What else could we do with this money?
The city of Austin was recently awarded a $105 million federal grant to help build caps on soon-to-be-expanded I-35. But building all of the caps proposed by the city's "Cap & Stitch" vision will cost an estimated $881 million, a price tag that is likely to increase in the many years before the highway expansion is complete.
And frankly, if we've learned anything in recent years about infrastructure cost estimates...who the hell knows how close to reality this actually is?
Here is the city's estimated breakdown of costs for the different caps and the Holly Stitch, which is a glorified bridge.
Tomorrow, City Council will seek to get more funding for the project by approving an application for a $193M loan from the state infrastructure bank. Assistant City Manager Robert Goode explained that it's likely the city will not get the full amount, but that there was no harm in making a big ask.
