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Several friends and fans contacted me urgently this week: "TxDOT's going to bulldoze the Chronicle! You're in danger!" As part of its current "virtual public meeting" at a computer near you, the Texas Department of Transportation released schematics – big long aerial views of the corridor – for its three alternatives, one of which it has abandoned already, for rebuilding I-35 through Central Austin: what the agency calls the Capital Express Central project. And sure enough, there we are, under layers of proposed new concrete and asphalt at the address formerly known as 4000 N. I-35, where we've been since...

A White House staffer and former Texas state representative are among those suing several participants of a "Trump Train" that allegedly harassed a Biden campaign bus last October in Texas, claiming in a lawsuit filed Thursday that the Trump supporters engaged in coordinated, illegal political intimidation in violation of the Ku Klux Klan Act. The complaint was filed on behalf White House staffer, David Gins; former Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis; former Biden campaign volunteer Eric Cervini; and the driver of the Biden campaign bus, Timothy Holloway. The plaintiffs wrote in their complaint filed in the Western District of Texas...

A Texas A&M Transportation Institute report recently ranked the segment of Interstate 35 that goes through Austin the most congested roadway in the state. This congestion is one of the reasons behind the I-35 Capital Express Project, a multiyear, multibillion-dollar transportation initiative that will add two non-tolled managed lanes in each direction along I-35 from U.S. Highway 290 East to State Highway 71/Ben White Boulevard. The project will also add flyovers at I-35 and U.S. 290. Discussions about the plan were central to last week’s Urban Transportation Commission meeting, which kicked off with a presentation by Austin Transportation Director Robert...

After years of work, the Interstate 35 reconstruction project in Bell County is pretty much done, while a similar project to widen Interstate 14 still has years of work ahead. “Overall, the I-35 Reconstruction Project ... particularly in Waco, is continuing at an aggressive pace, well on track for a 2023 completion. Bell County work remains substantially complete with minor ‘punch list’ items such as completion of the Temple Welcome Monument and the standard establishment of vegetation along the corridor within the Temple/Troy area remaining, prior to final acceptance of the project,” Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Ken Roberts said...

The strain is showing, and pretty early into construction along Interstate 35 through Waco. Some readers on the Trib Facebook page began to crack upon learning Waco-area transportation leaders last week approved $76 million worth of work to I-35 near New Road with hopes of finishing in 2023, around the same time larger I-35 reconstruction wraps up to the north. The Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization policy board approved the work, including new ramps, frontage roads and overpasses at Valley Mills Drive and New Road, as part of a long-range plan called Connections 2045. The improvements, divided between two $38 million...

The Twin Ports Interchange reconstruction project through Lincoln Park soared $100 million over budget this month, forcing planners to defer indefinitely portions of the work scheduled for 2020-23. The $343 million project is scheduled to begin in May. Minnesota Department of Transportation figures released Monday at a regular public meeting about the project showed a $443 million price tag. "This is what happens with every big project," Duane Hill, district engineer based in Duluth, said Monday. "You have to manage it as you go along. We thought we did a good job initially coming up with a budget for this...

Two wrecks in as many days has us reminding you of the risks we face driving through construction zones on Interstate 35. The first accident happened early Thursday when an 18-wheeler hit a road worker on I-35 near the flyovers to US 183. And early Friday, police had to respond to a three-car chain reaction crash just a mile away on the interstate. And while police explained to reporters how they were going to handle the aftermath of the latest crash, a car behind the officer spun out of control, hit the curb and finally stopped facing the wrong direction....

AUSTIN, Texas — Deep in the heart of Texas is an artery that's been clogged for decades. According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, the portion of Interstate 35 that runs through downtown Austin is the third-most congested highway in Texas. About a quarter of a million cars in the Austin area use it daily. Gabrielle Guevara, a New Orleans native who works as a nurse at the Austin Cancer Center in Georgetown, drives on I-35 every day. She describes her commute home as "frustrating." "When I first moved here in August, I thought it was going to be about...

One of the largest and most expensive road construction projects in Iowa is being delayed because of a big mistake. A flyover bridge is being built to serve as a new exit ramp to U.S. Highway 30 for motorists heading northbound on Interstate 35 at Ames. Iowa Department of Transportation engineer Scott Dockstader says the contractor, Minnesota-based Minnowa Construction, messed up. “The bridge is being built right now and we have piers in the middle. Our contractor that’s constructing the bridge made a few mistakes with the elevation of the piers and more importantly, the anchor bolts that go into...

Here is the video--6 minutes long of a 50-70 car pileup on I-35 near Ames, Iowa. First minute is a little slow. At about 4:30 in, it starts getting "wow".

Several key Central Texas highway projects — including expansions of U.S. 183 in North Austin, U.S. 290 in Southwest Austin and Interstate 35 through the heart of the area — are once again in limbo after Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last week staked out firm anti-toll positions. “Right now there’s a billion dollars worth of projects on hold, between 183 and Oak Hill,” said Mike Heiligenstein, executive director of the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority. The I-35 project, estimated to cost $8 billion to add toll lanes and other improvements from Round Rock to Buda, was...

An oversized tractor-trailer hit a beam of an overpass under construction on Interstate 35 in Salado, causing several beams to fall onto the roadway, according to Texas Department of Transportation officials. One person was killed and three others were taken to Baylor Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple with injuries that were not life threatening, Bell County authorities said.

Protesters are winding through downtown Dallas streets after briefly blocking Interstate 35. Police cars continue to accompany the group, which appears to be working its way back to Dallas Police headquarters where the march started earlier after peaceful and prayerful rallies. Fewer than 50 people remain from a group that was once more than 200-people strong.

Will the governor sign the death certificate for his brainchild? The House unanimously voted late Monday to accept Senate changes to House Bill 1201, Rep. Lois Kolkhorst's legislation that would remove all references to the Trans-Texas Corridor from state statutes. And, oh yes, allow an 85 mph speed limit on certain roads completed after June. The bill now goes to Gov. Rick Perry for his signature, or his veto. For now, the only road likely to qualify for the 85 mph limit will be the southern 40 miles of the Texas 130 tollway, now under construction between the southeast outskirts...

AUSTIN — The ceremony was brief and drew few mourners, but the Trans Texas Corridor is finally dead. The Senate unanimously passed a bill that strikes from state law any language, reference and authority once connected to the massive highway envisioned to slice a swath through Texas. The same measure already has passed the House. There are some minor differences that still need to be reconciled, but the bill is expected to go to Gov. Rick Perry, who will have to decide whether to join in the final rites for his once-prized project. Legislators did keep a provision that was...

This video was filmed by the Minnesota Dept of transportation on I-35 in Minneapolis. I guess it's two separate incidents that were filmed like 5 years apart at almost the exact same time. It begins like just any other normal wet rainy day, until all of a sudden the water bubbles up and begins to spew from a manhole in the middle of the Freeway. Then the water just begins to shoot about 15 to 30 feet into the air like Old Faithful does in Yellowstone. I'm really surprised that no one was killed. Especially the way the the...

We have all seen those manhole covers in the road or even on the sidewalks.  Usually we just walk or drive over them without giving them a second thought.  About the only time we may actually put any extended amount of thought into them is when we see a utility or sewage worker climbing in or out of the hole they cover.  During heavy rain storms when the sewage tunnels are flooded you may even see water bubbling out of them. Depending where the manhole is located, sometimes the water in the sewage will build up with so much...

MINNEAPOLIS -- Explosive documents about the Interstate 35W bridge suggest the engineering company the state hired to make sure the bridge was safe actually predicted it would collapse months before it fell apart. The documents are part of a lawsuit victims are bringing against California based URS Corporation. They accuse the firm of predicting a catastrophic event, but allegedly not telling anyone about it. The thought has been tough to swallow for the victims of that day in August 2007, when 13 people lost their lives and well over 100 were injured. "I remember until probably about 5:15 that day,"...

AUSTIN, Texas — If anyone wondered whether Texas toll road rage had subsided or lawmakers' irritation at the Texas Department of Transportation had eased, those questions got answered a few days before Christmas: Not so much. Denouncing the massive transportation agency as dysfunctional and out of control, a group of lawmakers reviewing the department said it will be intensely debated in the legislative session that begins Jan. 13. "This is a big agency that is a mess," said Rep. Carl Isett, a Lubbock Republican and one of the leaders of the Sunset Advisory Commission that periodically examines state agencies. He...

A citizens’ advisory committee appointed to advise the Texas Transportation Commission agrees with Texas Farm Bureau that the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) concept needs to be scrapped and new avenues explored to meet the Lone Star State's transportation needs, according to TFB President Kenneth Dierschke. “This advisory committee does not support the TTC concept,” A Citizens’ Report on the Current and Future Needs of the I-35 Corridor, issued Nov. 12, stated. “Instead we recommend a more inclusive solution that respects local communities and private property rights while addressing statewide and local transportation needs.” Dierschke said the state’s largest farm organization agrees...