As the Interstate 35 expansion gets ready to rip up roads through Central Austin, a local photographer is bringing the human impact of the highway project into focus.
The Texas Department of Transportation will add 32 miles of narrowed lanes from Ben White Boulevard to U.S. 290 East, including a pair of high-occupancy vehicle lanes in each direction. The project requires expropriating 54 acres of land, which is forcing more than 100 homes and business to relocate.
Photographer Liz Moskowitz — whose work has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian and NBC News — spent months capturing the faces and stories behind the numbers.
"The businesses that I focused on were really small, local businesses. Many of them have been around for decades, and they really have a cultural impact," Moskowitz said.
Among the vanishing locations where she interviewed business-owners, employees and customers: Cafe Hornitos, Taqueria Los Altos, Nature's Treasures, West China Tea House and Stars Cafe — which has been in Austin for decades but announced this month it will close Nov. 10.
In accordance with state and federal laws, Texas is compensating people being displaced, but the complexities of such upheaval can't be measured in dollars alone. Some find opportunity in the expansion, securing funds for a fresh start. Others struggle with losses that can't be made whole.
"Some people got enough money from TxDOT to be able to buy a piece of property, and they're excited that they'll hopefully never have to move again. Some places don't have to move ... but they might be impacted by the construction and feel a little uncertain," she said. "Some places are still in limbo."
Moskowitz's photo exhibit, captured on analog film, will be on display from Oct. 19 to Oct. 29 at East Austin's Future Front House.
Saturday night's opening reception from 6 to 9 p.m. will include a panel discussion with displaced business-owners from from West China Tea House, the Spanish-immersion daycare Escuelita Del Alma and Cafe Hornitos.
After the exhibit ends, Moskowitz will donate a catalog of her materials to the Austin History Center. She decided to contribute to the archive after struggling to find stories of Austinites affected by construction of the original interstate that opened in March 1962.
"I noticed what a lot of what existed was either just documentation of the buildings that were going to be relocated or torn down, or the end result: the fancy ribbon cutting," Moskowitz said. "What I felt was missing was really portraits and testimonies of the people that were being impacted by a change outside of their control."
