AUSTIN, Texas — For more than a decade, Jaime Cano has been helping kids grow up in the Capital City.

“When you have a school built around a community like this, it’s crucial for parents to know they’re safe and well cared for,” Cano said.

These are stressful times for Cano, who is the assistant director of the Escuelita Del Alma preschool and daycare center, one of dozens of businesses set to be impacted by the upcoming I-35 Capital Express Expansion Project in downtown Austin.

Escuelita Del Alma, Assistant Director, Jaime Cano, says the I-35 expansion project will force the school to move for a second time and has caused increased anxiety for staff and families across the city. (Spectrum News 1/Dylan Scott)

“It’s created that anxiety around, 'Where are we going to find a place that meets all of the requirements that you have to have to be licensed in the state of Texas?'” Cano said.

The highway infrastructure project is set to break ground mid-2024 and will stretch eight miles across the most congested part of Austin’s freeway system.

“We’re about to reach 50 years since the last significant upgrade to I-35,” Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) Southwest Communications Director, Brad Wheelis said.

Selecting the final of three proposed builds, TxDOT said the project received input from 18,000 local residents and ultimately, a typical eight-minute commute that now takes up to 40 minutes, highlighted one of many issues. The featured design will create two additional lanes in each direction, along with reconstructed bridges, improved bike and pedestrian paths, and safety and mobility improvements.

TxDOT’s Brad Wheelis says it has been nearly 50 years since a major highway project has been taken place in Austin and this eight-mile stretch no longer fit the safety and mobility standards in Texas. (Spectrum News 1/Dylan Scott)

“Something needs to be done about this vital artery right in the heart of Austin, most of the traffic in this area is local traffic,” Wheelis said.

Austin City Council member Zohaib “Zo” Qadri, campaigned on this issue in District 9 and says it’s the job of local policymakers to monitor this balance closely.

“We don’t want to start this chain reaction where in 25, 50, 75,100-years, that we just see this situation get worse,” Qadri said. “I think we can either be the council that stops that from happening or be the council that starts a bad chain of events.”

District 9 Austin City Council member Zohaib Qadri believes it is up to the city’s policymakers to monitor the balance between the city’s growth and those displaced by construction projects. (Spectrum News 1/Dylan Scott)

For Escuelita Del Alma, this marks their second move due to Austin’s growth in two decades, a teaching point for all at the heart of this issue.

“This traffic solution is really going to destabilize what we and other businesses have taken decades and decades to establish,” Cano said.