Construction of IH 35 in the Austin area

Construction of IH 35 in the Austin area

By Larry Willoughby Friday, 03 April 2009

Anyone who lives in or travels to the Austin area has, at some point, been on a very congested stretch of highway: IH 35.

However, there was a time when that stretch of motoring madness through downtown was a tranquil and scenic boulevard that evoked the small-town feel of laid-back Austin. Just 50 years ago, that peaceful neighborhood street was known as East Avenue. Today’s commuters would hardly recognize it.

The story of IH 35 begins as far back as 1839, when Judge Edwin Waller was on a mission to locate a site for the new capital city of the young country — a city named for the recently deceased “Father of Texas,” Stephen F. Austin. Waller found a site on the Colorado River 30 miles upriver from the settlement of Bastrop. As he laid out the central city, Waller bounded it by two north-south streets, West Avenue, which still exists, and East Avenue.

Colorful and vivid descriptions of East Avenue appear in every historical reference about Austin. It was known as “that tranquil tree-lined boulevard” that served as the ideal roadway for a horse and buggy view of downtown and the Capitol. And just a few feet west of East Avenue, picturesque Waller Creek (so named by Judge Waller) flowed swiftly down to the Colorado River.

Despite its postcard beauty, East Avenue came to symbolize one of Austin’s historical dilemmas: It was the racial divide. Deed restrictions kept African-Americans and Mexican-Americans east of the Avenue until actual segregation laws were passed in the 1920s. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 formally ended legal separation of the races.

As early as 1946, Mayor Tom Miller and the Austin Chamber of Commerce began discussions to create an interregional highway through Austin that would connect it southward to San Antonio and to Dallas-Fort Worth to the north. Right-of-ways were purchased, and some construction began in the early 1950s along the East Avenue corridor. As is often the case with Austin politics, neighborhood concerns were raised and rumors abounded that a “submerged super highway” was planned that would radically change the character of this historic street. That concern became reality when the Interstate Highway Act that funded America’s network of super highways was passed in 1956.

IH 35 was officially dedicated and opened to traffic in May 1962. With an upper deck completed in 1975, the current highway is constantly undergoing additions, loops and overpasses to handle the ever-increasing traffic load. And there are the endless studies and proposals to address future needs that thrust IH 35 into almost every political debate on Texas transportation.

Next time you find yourself stranded in a sea of automobiles in downtown Austin, picture the scene a century ago: families leisurely strolling the boulevard of East Avenue, horses dragging carriages into the bustling city, children throwing stones into nearby Waller Creek. Those were the good ol’ days, before IH 35.

Larry Willoughby, an associate professor of history at Austin Community College, is the author of four history books.