Austin volunteers relocate Food Forest plants as I-35 project requires temporary wastewater line trenching
A rescue effort accelerates ahead of scheduled excavation
Volunteers at Festival Beach Food Forest spent Feb. 14, 2026, digging up and preparing to relocate dozens of plants after learning that a temporary wastewater line associated with Austin’s I-35 construction program is planned to be installed through a portion of the site within days. Organizers said the work is intended to prevent mature and newly planted vegetation from being destroyed when crews begin trenching.
The planned line is tied to the I-35 Capital Express Central project’s Lady Bird Lake segment, a long-duration construction package that is scheduled to remain active for years. Transportation officials have described the corridor work as involving sustained impacts through 2033, including periodic day, night, and weekend activity, and increases in dust, noise, lighting, and detours in areas adjacent to the lake.
What is being built and why it affects the Food Forest
The temporary line is a wastewater utility relocation on city-owned property. Under existing interagency arrangements for the I-35 program, transportation crews are performing some utility work on behalf of the city as the highway and bridge reconstruction advances near Lady Bird Lake.
Food Forest stewards said they were notified in early January that the trenching would cut through recently expanded plantings, prompting an urgent effort to move plants that sit in the planned alignment. The relocation includes a mix of trees and other plantings, with organizers describing the scope as more than 90 plants. They also said a large volunteer turnout allowed teams to dig, stage, and transport plants to temporary holding locations.
Site background: a decade-old public foraging space
Festival Beach Food Forest is an edible forest garden on public parkland near I-35 and Lady Bird Lake, adjacent to the Festival Beach Community Garden and near the RBJ Residential Center. The project began in 2014 and has operated as an open-foraging site where the public can harvest permitted produce and herbs. The group describes the initial approved footprint as roughly two-thirds of an acre, within a broader multi-acre site area associated with the parkland.
Communication, coordination, and mitigation issues
Organizers characterized the short notice as a major operational disruption and said they had participated in recurring discussions related to the broader I-35 program over multiple years. They also pointed to prior project presentations in which the utility alignment was discussed, but said the on-the-ground impact now appears to intersect with plantings established during more recent expansion.
Separately, the highway program has already been associated with extended closures and reroutes around Lady Bird Lake, including changes affecting trails, parking areas under and near I-35, and nearby park access. Transportation planning materials for the Lady Bird Lake segment describe construction impacts lasting for years and outline expected increases in noise, vibration, dust, and nighttime lighting during active work.
What happens next
Food Forest organizers said excavation is expected to begin in mid-February, with volunteers continuing plant relocations up to the start of trenching. They also said they are seeking additional coordination mechanisms across city departments and project teams to reduce the likelihood that community-managed agricultural sites face similar last-minute conflicts during future phases of utility and roadway work.
- Location: Festival Beach area near Lady Bird Lake and I-35 in East Austin
- Immediate issue: temporary wastewater line trenching aligned with I-35 construction activities
- Response: volunteer-led relocation of plants in the anticipated trench path
The case highlights how utility relocations—often prerequisites for large transportation rebuilds—can create acute conflicts with community-managed green spaces when schedules and site boundaries are not aligned in time.