Interstate 35 through East Austin, Texas.The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) has given the Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority a $282 million loan through the Transportation Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act (TIFIA) to construct additional lanes to U.S. Highway 183 near Austin, Texas.
The lanes will be added to an eight-mile section “to help relieve congestion” as an alternate route to Interstate 35, which travels into downtown Austin. The loan is for a fraction of the estimated $856 million cost of the project that will be made up of tolled and non-tolled lanes as well as pedestrian and bicycle paths.
U.S. 183 was built roughly 50 years ago and is a four-lane divided highway that serves as the primary route to the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport and has more than 60,000 vehicles each day travel across it.
“The U.S. 183 project will improve mobility and the quality of life for people in cars, on bike, or on foot in the Austin area,” said Federal Highway Administrator Gregory Nadeau. “It also is an answer to the increasing transportation demands that have resulted from the rapid development in the region.”
The TIFIA program has provided $2.5 billion in loans in 2015.
