There's no way to build an apartment in that part of Austin that you'd consider "affordable", because the demand is so high. Anything larger than a closet would have very high rent. That doesn't mean that those developments do not help with affordability, though! And no, these units would not just be empty.
Land used by freeways is hardly a difference-maker for housing affordability. The Austin region has all kinds of land through and around it where more modest priced housing could have been built. Zoning policies, politics and just plain greed have most real estate development nation-wide very biased toward high income customers. If the developers can't build living spaces for people with deeper pockets they're not going to bother at all. And they're sure not going to put up with anyone building lower cost properties near any of their stuff. These bad practices have been shored up by a great deal of money coming from global investors.
Down-grading I-35 to a city street pigged with traffic signals isn't going to change any of that situation with housing affordability.
As for getting groceries... you do realize that in a dense area, it wouldn't be a chore? Like this does exist in other cities.
American cities aren't built in a manner where everyone can live right around the corner from a grocery store. Even if all the freeways were torn down this would not change. We live in a very economically segregated society. The New Urbanist downtown utopias where somebody's condo is within a short walk of
everything are priced out of reach for most people. Most of us would still need a vehicle to take us to all the places we need to go.
We need more freeways in Austin with a population almost a 1 million, not tear down the precious few we have.
The city limits population of Austin is on the verge of passing 1 million (if it hasn't actually done so by now). The metro population of Austin is roughly 2 million. San Antonio is a short drive to the Southwest -all with rapidly growing suburbs (New Braunfels, San Marcos, etc) in between.
and f&%k those loosers who would have to move out!
That's pretty much the attitude for lower and lower-middle income people who get displaced by gentrification. In the same breath the douchebags complain
"nobody wants to work" when they can't staff up a restaurant, grocery store or whatever in that gentrified location with low wage workers. The douches demand those "losers" commute in from a considerable distance to work those low wage jobs. They don't seem to realize low wage jobs can be found anywhere. And the low income from a shit job goes farther when it's away from a major city center.