Fast Facts
- Population
- 961,855 (2020 census) · 1,002,632 (July 2025 estimate)
- What the Capitol cost the state
- 3 million acres of Panhandle land
- Capitol height
- 311 feet, ground to the top of the statue
- Bats under one bridge
- An estimated 1.5 million, by the state wildlife agency’s count
- Moonlight towers
- 17 of 31 still existed in 2017
What to Know Before You Arrive
Austin nearly lost its job to a wagon train. When a Mexican army reached San Antonio in March 1842, President Sam Houston called Congress to meet in the city of Houston instead, and Austin residents, sure the move was meant to stick, formed a vigilante committee and warned officials that the state papers were staying put. At the end of that December, Houston sent rangers to collect the archives anyway. They had the wagons loaded and leaving when Angelina Eberly, an Austin innkeeper, fired a cannon at them. The committee caught the wagons at Kenney’s Fort on Brushy Creek on January 1, 1843, a few shots later the rangers gave the papers back, and the Handbook of Texas files the whole affair as the Archives War. The papers stayed in Austin, and Austin became the capital again in 1844.
The building at the top of Congress Avenue was bought with land rather than money. The state’s 1876 constitution reserved three million acres in the Panhandle, and a syndicate that included the Farwell brothers of Chicago built the Capitol in exchange for it; that land became the XIT Ranch. The limestone first chosen turned out to discolor, the owners of Granite Mountain in Burnet County gave the state its red granite for free, and the state supplied convict labor to quarry it, which set off a union boycott and the import of stonecutters from Scotland in violation of federal contract-labor law. The total bill came to about $3.74 million. A hundred years later, the Handbook says, the lands traded for the building carried a tax valuation of almost $7 billion.
Two older decisions still shape what a visitor sees. After a 26-story apartment tower went up beside the Capitol grounds in the 1960s, a 1983 state law and matching city rules began limiting building heights inside protected sightlines to the dome, so the downtown skyline is partly drawn by views of a building from 1888. The other decision is harder. A 1928 city plan placed schools, parks and other services for Black residents east of East Avenue, and I-35 was later built along that same street. The state’s own environmental statement for the current highway project says the highway reinforced that division.
The Road Trip Stop
The Texas State Capitol is free to enter and still a working statehouse. Modeled on the U.S. Capitol, it was built with 392 rooms, 924 windows and 404 doors, and each eight-inch-square bronze door hinge weighs more than seven pounds and carries the words “Texas Capitol.” The Goddess of Liberty on the dome is a 1986 aluminum casting; the original zinc figure came down by helicopter in November 1985, and the Handbook of Texas places it at the Bullock Texas State History Museum. North of the building, the extension finished in 1993 was built underground.
Budget the time
- Guided tours are free and leave from the South Foyer about every 15 to 30 minutes, running roughly 40 minutes. They start at 9 a.m. Monday through Saturday and noon on Sunday, with the last departure at 4:15 p.m.
- Self-guided visits run 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekends, with free brochures outside Room 1S.2. The building closes on Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, and the State Preservation Board says hours may run longer during a legislative session.
- Groups of more than 10 need to phone ahead for a reservation, and the State Preservation Board says those slots fill quickly. The tours page lists no booking step for smaller parties.
- Parking: the Capitol Visitors Parking Garage at 1201 San Jacinto Blvd. is free for the first two hours on weekdays, then $1* per half hour to a daily maximum of $12*. Weekend charges vary with events, up to $25*. No overnight parking.
- Congress Avenue also leads to the bat bridge. Texas Parks and Wildlife says no city has a bigger bat colony than the one under the Ann W. Richards Congress Avenue Bridge, an estimated 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats that moved in by the thousands in the early 1980s after a renovation. There is no charge to watch at the Bat Observation Area the Austin American-Statesman keeps on the southeast side, though the nearby lot charges for parking. Austin Bat Refuge gives the season as March through October, Bat Conservation International as March through late September, and Austin Bat Refuge posts a predicted flight time each day.
*Fees subject to change, please check tspb.texas.gov for updated information.
Neighborhoods
Hyde Park
A streetcar suburb on the north edge of town when the first moonlight tower was lit here in May 1895; a tower stands at West 41st Street and Speedway. It is a National Register historic neighborhood and the home of the Elisabet Ney Museum.
Clarksville
Charles Clark, a freedman, started this community in 1871 by buying two acres on what is now West Tenth Street and dividing them among other freedmen. City policy later pressed residents to move east; most stayed, through dirt streets that lasted until 1975 and a MoPac Expressway that displaced families along the community’s western edge.
Six Square
Six square miles of East Austin that the City Council set apart for Black residents in 1928, bounded today by Manor Road, Seventh Street, Airport Boulevard and I-35. Visit Austin lists its historic churches, cemeteries and old Chitlin’ Circuit juke joints, and Six Square runs guided history tours.
Rainey Street
A 1967 study wanted the whole neighborhood cleared. Residents and preservationists got it onto the National Register in 1985, a 2004 rezoning folded it into the Central Business District, and many of the same old bungalows now hold bars and restaurants.
South Congress
Boutiques, restaurants and live-music rooms south of the river, including the Continental Club, which Visit Austin bills as the elder of the city’s local venues, with the Capitol in view up the avenue. The street has had its own city improvement district since 2014.
The Food Stop
Matt’s El Rancho grew out of a tamale pushcart beside the Capitol. In 1952 Matt Martinez and Janie, his wife, opened their first restaurant on East 1st Street with 10 tables; it moved to South Lamar in 1986. The family still runs it, and its own history says Lyndon Johnson once had its chile rellenos flown to Washington. The Bob Armstrong Dip on the menu is one of its own inventions.
Franklin Barbecue started in 2009 as a trailer beside an Austin interstate. The business’s own site says crowds now stand in line for hours for the brisket, and that Aaron Franklin holds a James Beard Award for Best Chef. For a comparison, Lockhart’s older pits are in the day trips below.
20 breweries within 10 miles of Austin, 4 of them brewpubs with a kitchen.
See all 20
- Black Star Co-op7020 Easy Wind Dr Ste 100, Austin
- Lazarus Brewing Company1902 E 6th St, Austin
- Pinthouse Pizza North4729 Burnet Rd, Austin
- Pinthouse Pizza South4236 S Lamar Blvd, Austin
- 4th Tap Brewing Cooperative10615 Metric Blvd, Austinproduction site*
- Adelbert's Brewery LLC2314 Rutland Dr Ste 100, Austinproduction site*
- Austin Beerworks3001 Industrial Ter, Austinproduction site*
- Blue Owl Brewing2400 E Cesar Chavez St Ste 300, Austinproduction site*
- Central Machine Works4824 E Cesar Chavez St, Austinproduction site*
- Draught House Pub and Brewery4112 Medical Pkwy Ste 100, Austinproduction site*
- Friends and Allies Brewing Company979 Springdale Rd Ste 124, Austinproduction site*
- Hold Out Brewing1208 W 4th St, Austinproduction site*
- Independence Brewing3913 Todd Ln Ste 607, Austinproduction site*
- Nomadic Beerworks3804 Woodbury Dr Suita A, Austinproduction site*
- Oskar Blues Brewery10420 Metric Blvd # 150, Austinproduction site*
- St. Elmo Brewing Company440 E Saint Elmo Rd, Austinproduction site*
- The Brewer's Table4715 E 5th St, Austinproduction site*
- Thirsty Planet Brewing Co8201 S Congress Ave, Austinproduction site*
- Uncle Billy's Brewery1530 Barton Springs Rd, Austinproduction site*
- Zilker Brewing Co1701 E 6th St, Austinproduction site*
*Check before you go. This list says what the source records as open and where it is — nothing more. Opening hours, whether a kitchen is serving, and whether anywhere suits your family are not in this data and change without notice. A production site may have no public room at all. Please confirm with the venue.
Brewpub locations from Open Brewery DB (MIT)
The Home Teams
Austin FC
MLSThe club played its first home match on June 19, 2021, against San Jose, in a privately financed stadium it describes as a 20,500-seat venue. Its report on the October 28, 2026 match gave attendance as 20,738.
Texas Longhorns
NCAAHome of University of Texas football since 1924, when an estimated 10,000 students, alumni and friends gave money for a 27,000-seat stadium on the eastern edge of campus.
Day Trips
| Destination | Time | Distance | How we got it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lockhart | 37 min | 30 mi | routed |
| The Texas House recognized this town as the Barbecue Capital of Texas in 1999, citing Kreuz Market, which first fired its pits in 1900, and Black’s, owned by one family since 1932. | |||
| Hamilton Pool Preserve | 51 min | 30 mi | routed |
| A collapsed grotto with a waterfall and pool, at the bottom of an 80-foot descent into a canyon. Travis County requires a reservation every day, at $12* per vehicle online, plus $8* per adult in cash at the gate. A reservation does not guarantee swimming, and the path under the overhang to the foot of the waterfall is closed. | |||
| Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park | 1 hr 30 min | 64 mi | routed |
| Two districts, in Johnson City and at the LBJ Ranch near Stonewall, with no entrance fee and a free permit for the ranch driving tour. The National Park Service says the Texas White House complex is closed for a rehabilitation project while the driving tour stays open. | |||
| Inner Space Cavern | 31 min | 26 mi | routed |
| A Texas Highway Department core-drilling crew found this cave in 1963 while testing the ground for I-35, and it opened to the public in 1966. It sits right beside the interstate in Georgetown, at a constant 72 degrees. | |||
| Bastrop State Park | 56 min | 40 mi | routed |
| The Lost Pines, a stretch of loblolly forest the state parks agency calls unique to the region, regrowing after wildfire, with cabins the Civilian Conservation Corps built in the 1930s. Entry is $5* daily for ages 13 and up. | |||
Routed figures are computed over map data at free-flowing speeds, between map points rather than street addresses, so a real drive runs longer.
Distances routed by OSRM and places geocoded by Nominatim, over map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL)
*Fees subject to change, please check parks.traviscountytx.gov for updated information.
*Fees subject to change, please check tpwd.texas.gov for updated information.
Worth a Weekend
3 more Highway Heads places lie within about 180 miles of Austin in a straight line — far enough that most are a night away rather than an afternoon.
Practical Road Trip Info
Budget one full day for the Capitol, Congress Avenue and the bats, and a second for Barton Springs, a museum and one of the neighborhoods. Any day trip adds a day of its own.
Barton Springs Pool is a three-acre, spring-fed pool in Zilker Park that averages 68 to 70 degrees all year. Hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily except Thursday, when it closes for cleaning from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Adult entry is $5* for residents and $9* for non-residents; the city says fees apply March through October. Parking is $3* per hour on weekends and holidays from March 1 to Labor Day.
Heat is the main seasonal fact. The National Weather Service’s September 2026 report for Camp Mabry lists a normal September high of 91.4°F, and that month actually averaged 99.7°F. Bat season, which runs from spring into fall, overlaps most of that heat, and the bats fly around sunset.
I-35 through central Austin is a work zone until about 2033. TxDOT is removing the upper decks and lowering the main lanes along eight miles from U.S. 290 East to Ben White Boulevard, and Community Impact reported in July 2026 that the downtown segment was expected to start in 2027. Congress Avenue itself is being rebuilt block by block north from Cesar Chavez Street, with the first phase due by summer 2027.
*Fees subject to change, please check austintexas.gov for updated information.
The Local Debate
Family-Friendly
Austin Nature & Science Center
Free for families, with a Dino Pit outdoor fossil dig and a Trade Counter where children bring in nature finds to swap. Open Monday to Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday noon to 5 p.m.
Thinkery
Austin’s hands-on children’s museum at Mueller. General admission is $19.95* for ages 1 and up; closed Mondays.
The bat bridge at dusk
Free and outdoors on the Statesman lawn, with volunteer educators on some weekend evenings from May through September. The flight comes around sunset, which falls late in summer, so it can run past an early bedtime.
Inner Space Cavern Adventure Tour
A walking cave tour of an hour to an hour and 15 minutes that leaves every 15 to 25 minutes with no reservation. The cavern’s own site says strollers and wheelchairs cannot go in, so very young children need to walk or be carried.
*Fees subject to change, please check thinkeryaustin.org for updated information.
Plan Your Visit
Texas State Capitol
- Address
- 1100 Congress Ave., Austin, TX 78701
- Hours
- Self-guided: Mon–Fri 7 a.m.–8 p.m., Sat–Sun 9 a.m.–8 p.m. Guided tours: Mon–Sat from 9 a.m., Sun from noon, last tour 4:15 p.m. Closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Day
- Admission
- Free, including guided tours
- Parking
- Capitol Visitors Parking Garage, 1201 San Jacinto Blvd.: weekdays free for 2 hours, then $1 per half hour, $12 maximum; weekends vary, up to $25*
- Reservations
- None for individuals; groups over 10 call ahead
- Link
- tspb.texas.gov
*Fees subject to change, please check tspb.texas.gov for updated information.
We checked opening hours, reservations, fees, seasonal opening, closures and operating status on 2026-11-01. These change without notice — confirm with tspb.texas.gov, hrc.utexas.edu, cemetery.tspb.texas.gov, austintexas.gov, parks.traviscountytx.gov, nps.gov, tpwd.texas.gov, thinkeryaustin.org, austinbatrefuge.org, batcon.org, forecast.weather.gov, communityimpact.com, innerspacecavern.com and txdot.gov the week you travel.
Sources — 62 claims, 62 checked against the source on 2026-11-01
| Claim | Source | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Austin population: 961,855 in the 2020 census; 1,002,632 estimated for July 1, 2025 | U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Austin city, Texas | Checked |
| Moonlight towers: roughly 160 feet tall; only Austin's remain; 17 still exist, 15 standing and two in storage (Winter 2017); six carbon arc lamps originally, blue-white light reaching 3,000 feet in diameter; managed by Austin Energy | National Trust for Historic Preservation: Austin's Iconic Moontowers By The Numbers | Checked |
| First tower lit May 1895 in Hyde Park, then a streetcar suburb on the north edge of town; 31 original towers; corrected account: a UT researcher found the city purchased new towers from Fort Wayne Electric Company rather than second-hand ones from Detroit as often repeated, so this article leaves the Detroit story out | Not Even Past (UT Austin Department of History): City Lights | Checked |
| Archives War: Mexican army at San Antonio March 1842; Houston named the city of Houston as meeting place; vigilante committee; rangers sent late December 1842; Angelina Eberly fired a cannon; wagons overtaken at Kenney's Fort January 1, 1843; Austin capital again 1844 | Handbook of Texas: Archives War | Checked |
| Angelina Eberly described as innkeeper and Archives War cannoneer | Handbook of Texas: Angelina Belle Peyton Eberly | Checked |
| Capitol: three million acres set aside by the Constitution of 1876; modeled on the national Capitol; 392 rooms, 924 windows, 404 doors; 311 feet from ground to top of statue; total cost $3,744,630.60; lands later taxed at almost $7 billion; convict labor; stonecutters from Scotland; Goddess of Liberty removed by helicopter November 1985, aluminum replacement June 1986, original at the Bullock Museum; underground extension completed by January 1993 | Handbook of Texas: Capitol | Checked |
| Union opposition to convict labor on the Capitol; granite cutters' boycott | Handbook of Texas: Capitol Boycott | Checked |
| Capitol Syndicate including John and Charles Farwell of Chicago built the Capitol in exchange for land that became the XIT ranch; limestone discolored; Granite Mountain owners donated the granite | State Preservation Board: Capitol History | Checked |
| Each eight-inch by eight-inch bronze hinge is inscribed Texas Capitol and weighs over seven pounds | State Preservation Board: Capitol Architecture Gallery | Checked |
| Guided tours free, every 15 to 30 minutes, about 40 minutes, from the South Foyer; Mon-Sat from 9 a.m., Sun from noon, last at 4:15 p.m.; self-guided Mon-Fri 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat-Sun 9 a.m.-8 p.m.; closed Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Day | State Preservation Board: Capitol Tours | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Groups larger than 10 must call for a reservation and tour times fill quickly; no reservation stated for individual public tours | State Preservation Board: Capitol Tours (group tours) | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Capitol address; hours may run longer during a Legislative Session | State Preservation Board: Hours and Contact Information | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Capitol Visitors Parking Garage: weekdays free for 2 hours, then $1 per half hour, $12 maximum; weekends vary up to $25; no overnight parking | State Preservation Board: Capitol Visitors Parking Garage | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Capitol view corridors: 26-story Westgate Tower in the 1960s led to a 1983 state bill by then-Sen. Lloyd Doggett and similar city rules limiting heights within corridors | KUT: How do Capitol View Corridors preserve sights of Austin's most famous building? | Checked |
| 1928 plan placed services for Black residents east of East Avenue; I-35 built along East Avenue; the state's environmental statement says the highway reinforced the segregated division; TxDOT's lawyers denied in court that it caused discrimination | KUT: TxDOT contradicts itself arguing I-35 never caused racial discrimination | Checked |
| Bat colony estimated at 1.5 million, called the world's largest urban colony by TPWD (Bat Conservation International says largest in North America); large numbers from the early 1980s after renovation; free viewing from the Statesman Bat Observation Area, fee for nearby parking; volunteers on weekend evenings May through September | Texas Parks and Wildlife: Congress Avenue Bridge | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Bat season given as March through October; daily predicted flight time published | Austin Bat Refuge: Congress Avenue Bridge | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Bats at the bridge from March through late September, which differs from Austin Bat Refuge's end date | Bat Conservation International: Bat City | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Hyde Park is a National Register historic neighborhood; Elisabet Ney Museum free, closed for renovation from December 30, 2024, reopening anticipated spring 2027; Ney's move and studio; Ludwig II and Bismarck portraits | City of Austin: Elisabet Ney Museum | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Formosa was the earliest art studio built in Texas, built of native limestone | Handbook of Texas: Elisabet Ney Museum | Checked |
| Clarksville founded 1871 by Charles Clark, a freedman; city policy pressured residents to move east; dirt streets until 1975; MoPac Expressway displaced families | Handbook of Texas: Clarksville | Checked |
| Six Square: six square miles of East Austin created in 1928 by the City Council; boundaries; historic churches, cemeteries, Chitlin' Circuit juke joints; Six Square Historic Tours | Visit Austin: Six Square | Checked |
| Rainey Street: 1967 clearance study; National Register 1985; 2004 rezoning into the Central Business District; historic buildings converted to bars and restaurants | Austin Chronicle: The Ghost of Developers Past | Checked |
| South Congress boutiques, eateries and music venues; Continental Club; view of the Capitol | Visit Austin: Walkable Neighborhoods | Checked |
| South Congress improvement district created in 2014 | City of Austin: South Congress Public Improvement District | Checked |
| Ransom Center: free admission; one of five complete Gutenberg Bibles in the U.S.; Niepce heliograph, earliest surviving camera obscura photograph; exhibitions Tue-Fri 10-5, Sat-Sun noon-5, closed Mondays. The page source also holds an older 'temporarily closed' line that does not display to visitors (checked in a browser) | Harry Ransom Center: Visit | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Gutenberg Bible and Niepce Heliograph listed as on view | Harry Ransom Center: home page | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Treaty Oak: believed more than 500 years old; small city park; proof of the treaty lacking; poisoned with Velpar in 1989; about one quarter saved | Handbook of Texas: Treaty Oak | Checked |
| Texas State Cemetery: 18 acres, about a mile east of the Capitol; Stephen F. Austin, governors, legislators and judges | State Preservation Board: Texas State Cemetery | Checked |
| Reinterments of revolutionary-era figures chiefly through the effort of Louis Wiltz Kemp | Handbook of Texas: State Cemetery | Checked |
| Grounds open daily from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. unless a burial is scheduled; 909 Navasota Street | Texas State Cemetery: Contact Us | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Mayfield Park peacocks, ponds and stone walls; open daily 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. | Austin Parks and Recreation: Mayfield Park | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Matt's El Rancho: pushcart by the Capitol; opened 1952 on East 1st Street with 10 tables; South Lamar since 1986; family run; Lyndon Johnson story; Bob Armstrong Dip | Matt's El Rancho: About | Checked |
| Franklin Barbecue: trailer beside an Austin interstate in 2009; crowds in line for hours; James Beard Award for Best Chef | Franklin Barbecue: About | Checked |
| Q2 Stadium privately financed; Austin FC's first home match June 19, 2021 against San Jose | Austin FC: Attendance guidelines for first MLS match at Q2 Stadium | Checked |
| Q2 Stadium described by the club as a 20,500-seat venue | Austin FC: Q2 Stadium to host 2021 Gold Cup semifinal | Checked |
| Attendance 20,738 on October 28, 2026 | Austin FC: Match report, October 28, 2026 | Checked |
| Home of University of Texas football since 1924; about 10,000 donors; 27,000 seats; eastern edge of campus | Handbook of Texas: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium | Checked |
| Texas House Resolution 1024 (1999) recognizes Lockhart as Barbecue Capital of Texas; Kreuz Market first fired its pits in 1900; Black's owned by the same family since 1932 | Texas Legislature: H.R. 1024, 76th Legislature | Checked |
| Hamilton Pool: reservations required every day; $12 per vehicle online; $8 per adult, cash at the preserve; swimming not guaranteed; collapsed grotto, waterfall and pool; 80-foot descent; trail under the overhang closed | Travis County Parks: Hamilton Pool Preserve | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| No entrance pass required at Lyndon B. Johnson National Historical Park | National Park Service: LBJ NHP Fees and Passes | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Texas White House complex closed for rehabilitation; driving tour open; free driving permit issued at the state park visitor center in Stonewall | National Park Service: Visiting the LBJ Ranch | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Inner Space Cavern: found in spring 1963 by a core drilling crew from the Texas Highway Department; opened summer 1966; constant 72 degrees | Inner Space Cavern: home page | Checked |
| Boreholes were being drilled to test for a highway overpass on I-35 when the cave was found | Texas Speleological Survey: Inner Space Cavern | Checked |
| Adventure Tour runs 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, every 15 to 25 minutes, no reservation; strollers and wheelchairs not allowed in the cave | Inner Space Cavern: Adventure Tour | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Lost Pines, loblolly pines regrowing after wildfire | Texas Parks and Wildlife: Bastrop State Park | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Bastrop State Park entrance fee of $5 daily for ages 13 and older | Texas Parks and Wildlife: Bastrop State Park Entrance Fees | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| The Civilian Conservation Corps built the park's cabins in the 1930s | Texas Parks and Wildlife: Bastrop State Park Lodging | Checked |
| Barton Springs Pool: hours, Thursday cleaning closure, adult $5 resident and $9 non-resident, weekend and holiday parking $3 per hour March 1 to Labor Day, three acres, 68-70 degrees | City of Austin: Visit Barton Springs Pool | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Barton Springs among the pools with an entry fee March through October | Austin Parks and Recreation: Pools and Splash Pads | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Camp Mabry September 2026: average maximum 99.7 F against a normal of 91.4 F (preliminary monthly report issued October 2, 2026; this URL rolls forward each month) | National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio: Monthly Climate Report, Camp Mabry | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Capital Express Central: U.S. 290 East to Ben White; upper decks removed, main lanes lowered; city and UT caps | TxDOT: I-35 Capital Express Central Project | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| At least $4.5 billion; largest expansion since the highway opened in 1962; 8 miles; two managed lanes each way; 54 acres and more than 100 homes and businesses | KUT: Your ultimate guide to the I-35 expansion through Central Austin | Checked |
| Groundbreaking October 2024; Rethink35's argument that widening draws more driving; lawsuit and civil rights complaint | KUT: Largest I-35 expansion kicks off amid protests | Checked |
| Fifteen plaintiffs sued in January 2024; completion expected in 2033. Tried for the lawsuit's current status: this article, KUT, Austin Monitor and CBS Austin's Rethink35 topic page; no ruling found, so the article says so | Austin American-Statesman: I-35 expansion breaks ground, with a 9-year timeline | Checked |
| $104 million committed in May 2025; bare caps $346 million; $604 million with amenities; staff caution in March 2026; completion estimate 2033 | KUT: Austin City Council urged to pause plan for parks over I-35 | Checked |
| TxDOT wanted an estimate by May and a formal council vote in November. No report of the November 2026 outcome found | KUT: Austin faces new decision on paying for parks over I-35 | Checked |
| July 2026 status: downtown construction anticipated in 2027; Congress Avenue work block by block from Cesar Chavez, Phase 1 by summer 2027 | Community Impact: Congress Avenue redesign underway, I-35 work advances | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Austin Nature & Science Center free for individuals and families; hours; Trade Counter | Austin Parks and Recreation: Plan Your Visit to the Austin Nature & Science Center | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
| Dino Pit is an outdoor paleontology exhibit at the center | City of Austin: Austin Nature & Science Center Exhibits | Checked |
| Thinkery's own home page describes it as the city's only museum of its kind | Thinkery: home page | Checked |
| Thinkery general admission $19.95 for ages 1 and up; Mueller location; closed Mondays | Thinkery: Visit | Checked monitored · 2026-11-01 |
Road Trippin’ with the Harts
The Highway Heads books turn the miles between stops into a game the whole car can play.
See the booksLive Conditions
Wildlife Spotted Nearby
Nearest Airports
Straight-line distance from Austin, not drive time.
- Austin Bergstrom International (AUS) — 7 miles
- Austin Executive — 14 miles
- Killeen Regional Airport / Robert Gray Army Airfield (GRK) — 56 miles
Explore the Full Road Trip
Return to the Highway Heads map and discover the next family-ready stop.
Explore the Map