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Vol. III • No. 23
“The Nation’s Best Read Construction Newspaper… Founded in 1957.”
Your Texas Connection • Dennis Hogeboom • 1-877-7CEGLTD • dennishogeboom@cegltd.com
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TxDOT’s New $8.1B Plan $95M UT-San Antonio Research Addresses I-35 Congestion Building to Showcase Lab Work Since 2011, TxDOT has been developing solutions for I-35 that not only enhance mobility but reflect what is important to the community. At the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce Regional Growth Summit, TxDOT was joined by state Sen. Kirk Watson and other local officials to announce a plan to add two managed express lanes in each direction along 33 mi. of I-35 from RM 1431 (Round Rock) to SH 45 Southeast (near Buda) as part of an enhanced I-35 project called Capital Express. The proposal also includes lowering I-35 through downtown Austin and potentially removing the upper decks from Martin Luther King Boulevard to Airport Boulevard. “We only get one shot to rebuild and improve I-35 through downtown Austin, so we have to do as much as is reasonable within the existing footprint to enhance mobility and lower it,” said Watson. “I want to thank TxDOT for continuing their hard work and honoring what’s important to our community.” Adding two managed express lanes in each direction will require extensive reconstruction of I-35, providing the opportunity to add additional enhancements to the project. They could include placing the express lanes under the mainlanes where right of way is limited and providing direct access
between the express lanes and frontage roads. Those features improve safety by preventing drivers from weaving across mainlanes and causing interruptions. The Capital Express project also includes operational improvements such as longer entrance and exit ramps, intersection bypass lanes, and bicycle and pedestrian improvements. “Five segments of I-35 in the Austin area are on the Texas A&M Transportation Institute’s 2016 Top 100 Most Congested Roads in Texas list,” said Watson. “I-35 through downtown Austin is number two statewide. We need solutions that provide true transit benefits and give drivers reliability when they need it.” According to Austin’s communityimpact.com, the projected cost is $8.1 billion. This new proposal requires adjusting the on-going environmental study. Instead of studying the project in three sections, the new alternative will be studied as one, from RM 1431 to SH 45 Southeast. Public input provided at previous I-35 meetings, open houses, and workshops will be incorporated into the new project. Opportunities to provide additional input will be available at open houses scheduled for spring 2018. “Having a new and improved I-35 is something we have been waiting on for see EXPRESS page 14
When finished, the SEB will house various departments that are currently located in other nearby buildings.
By Eric Olson CEG CORRESPONDENT
What promises to be a sparkling new addition to an already beautiful campus is currently rising from a site on the eastern edge of the main campus of the University of Texas at San Antonio. The school began constructing a 153,000-sq.ft., four-story Science and Engineering Building (SEB) off Bauerle Road and Key Circle earlier this year with a finish date set for May 2020. The $95 million project, the largest in school history, will house laboratory, classroom and meeting space designed to support students and researchers in brain health, mechanical and chemical engineering, biology and chemistry. According to a UTSA official helping oversee
the project, the architecture of the building is contemporary and will blend in with other buildings around it. But the SEB’s design is most notable because it will utilize a large amount of glass both on the exterior and interior to literally give transparency to the work within. “We have designed it so the glass allows students from other disciplines and majors, as well as visitors, to see into the laboratories from the hallways, a concept that is called ‘Science on Display’,” explained Robert Espinoza, director of capital projects at UTSA. By using glass to showcase on-going lab work, the school hopes to foster better interaction among students and give them the chance to see USTA page 12
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