Three dozen Austin bridges need to be replaced or significantly repaired within the next five years, a job that would cost $90 million. But with the city facing a widening budget deficit, when or how that work gets funded remains unclear.
The city has more than 1,300 bridges. Of those, two major bridges — defined as at least 20 feet wide — need to be replaced, while seven need significant work. Another 26 smaller structures need significant rehabilitation or replacement.
The $90 million price tag is only one piece of a much larger need, according to a recent report by the Austin Transportation and Public Works Department. After that work is funded, the city will need $30 million in capital funding each year to build and repair Austin’s aging bridges.
Without more money, the city may have to resort to closing some bridges or imposing load restrictions on others, the report states.
Bonds and grants are the biggest source of funding for bridge construction. The transportation department turns to $1.8 million in city money for routine maintenance.
The April bridge status update comes as Austin faces a budget deficit that could force millions in cuts to housing, education and job programs. The city’s recently released five-year financial forecast projects a $26.4 million shortfall for 2027 that is expected to get worse through 2031.
At the same time, rapid population growth is adding traffic and strain to aging infrastructure. Most of the city’s bridges remain in satisfactory or better condition, the transportation department report states.
But a satisfactory grade doesn’t tell the whole story. The Texas Department of Transportation’s assessments on Austin’s 466 major bridges are based on “brief visual assessments and may not detect all underlying structure issues or deterioration,” the report states.
“That is the hard part about bridges,” said Amica Bose, assistant director of civil engineering services, “You actually don’t know when it’s really going to be at that breaking point, because it’s not so visible.”
Aging landmark faces uncertain future
Some Austin bridges are more than infrastructure. They are monuments to the city’s past.
The Barton Springs Bridge, built in 1926, went up when just 34,000 people called Austin home. It stood before nearby Zilker was officially designated a city park, before then-U.S. Rep. Lyndon Johnson secured money for area dams, before the integration of Austin ISD, and before the launch of South By Southwest, the tech boom, the skyscrapers and skyrocketing land prices.
For years, the city has planned to replace the Barton Springs Bridge due to structural damage, a move that still generates controversy and debate. It is on the transportation department’s list of bridges that need to come down. Its fate remains undetermined.
Through it all, it continues to provide safe passage over Barton Creek. More than 20,000 vehicles cross the bridge every day.
Built for a different era
Many of the city’s bridges weren’t built for today’s traffic volumes. Richard Mendoza, director of the city transportation department, wrote in a 2018 report that some old bridges were stressed by current day conditions.
“Many bridges constructed in this era were only designed for the lighter truck loadings of that era and a 50 year design life,” he wrote, referring to the 1948 Emmett Shelton Bridge. “Further, trucks in the 1940s were about half the weight of today’s trucks.”
In its April report, the transportation department laid out its assessment of the current state of Austin’s bridges.
- 94% of the city’s 466 major bridges are in satisfactory or better condition. Nine bridges need to be replaced, rehabilitated or stabilized over the next 5 years at a cost of $66 million.
- 97% of the 840 small bridges and culverts are in satisfactory condition. Eighteen need to be replaced or rehabilitated at a cost of $16.5 million.
- 60% of the 20 pedestrian and bike bridges are in satisfactory or better condition. Eight need to be replaced or rehabilitated at a cost of $7 million.
- Forty of the 466 major bridges are more than 90 years old. Twelve are a century or older. The average age of the city’s major bridges is 45.
Many of Austin bridges are cracked and worn. But the health of a bridge isn’t always reflected in aesthetics, Bose said.
“There’s always going to be some minor cracking and other aspects that are easily repairable,” Bose said. “That doesn’t mean that the bridge is in poor condition.”
Paying for repairs
The city is looking to bonds to move projects forward. But Austin may have bond fatigue.
Last year, taxpayers rejected a property tax rate increase that would have generated $110 million for homelessness services, parks and public safety. Council Member Krista Laine worries voters aren’t ready for another big ask.
“It’s no mystery that I am skeptical of a bond coming so soon,” she said in a January meeting of the city audit and finance committee.
The transportation department could supplement its bridge money through federal grants, like the $32 million to replace the Barton Springs Bridge or $4.1 million for the Wishbone Bridge.
However it’s funded, transportation leaders say Austin’s bridge system needs sustained investment.
“It is the backbone of our city,” Bose said. “It’s representative of the quality of life and the quality of mobility for our people.”
