Travis County DUI Guide

Fifteen days. That's how long a Travis County driver has after a DWI arrest to request a hearing that can stop an automatic license suspension. Miss it, and the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) suspends the license on the 40th day after arrest, whether or not the criminal case has even been filed yet. Two separate clocks start running the moment handcuffs go on, one for the criminal charge and one for the license, and Travis County's size and infrastructure make both of them harder to navigate than in a smaller county.

Booking, Magistration, and Bail

Arrests typically come from the Austin Police Department, the Travis County Sheriff's Office, or Texas DPS troopers, and arrestees are booked at Central Booking in the basement of the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center at 509 W. 11th Street. A magistrate judge typically sees the arrestee within 24 hours to read the charges and set bail. Travis County runs a Counsel at First Appearance (CAFA) program, so a defense attorney is often present at magistration to argue for release, which is how many first-time arrestees end up on a personal recognizance bond instead of a cash bond.

Standard bond conditions bar new law violations and alcohol use. For "high risk" cases, generally a BAC over 0.15 or a repeat arrest, the magistrate must order an ignition interlock device installed on the defendant's vehicle as a release condition. If you need a bondsman, this site's directory lists licensed bail bondsmen serving Travis County.

One persistent myth: a mandatory 12-hour "cooling off" period before a released driver can legally drive again. There isn't one baked into the license itself. What actually happens is that magistrates sometimes attach a no-driving condition to the bond for a set number of hours after release, purely to keep someone from getting behind the wheel while still impaired. Violating that is a bond violation, not a license violation, but it can still get you re-arrested.

Getting Your Car Out of Impound

Travis County has no single county impound lot. Where your car ends up depends on who towed it. If Austin Police ordered the tow, the city's contracted dispatch system, AutoReturn, sends it to whichever private storage facility is next on a rotation list; search search.autoreturn.com using your VIN or plate, or call 311 (512-974-2000). If the Sheriff's Office towed it, the Wrecker Enforcement & Impound Unit (512-854-7430) can tell you which private lot is holding it, though its Manor Road address is an administrative office, not where your car actually sits.

Expect the tow itself to run $272 for an Austin Police tow or $275 for a Sheriff's Office tow on a standard passenger vehicle, plus roughly $22.85 a day in storage, a one-time impound processing fee around the same amount, and a $50 notification fee once the car has sat 24 hours. None of it is negotiable at the counter. To get the car back you'll need a photo ID issued by the government, proof of ownership, and payment; facilities are legally required to accept debit and credit cards, not just cash. Without insurance, you can still pay and reclaim the car, but state law won't let you drive it off the lot uninsured under Transportation Code §601.051; you'd need a second tow to somewhere off public roads.

If you think the tow itself was improper, Texas law gives you a narrow window to contest it. Under Occupations Code Chapter 2308, Sections 2308.454–2308.456, you have to request a tow hearing before the 14th day after the vehicle was placed in storage, and that clock generally counts business days rather than calendar days. The hearing happens in the Justice of the Peace precinct where the storage facility sits; Precinct 5, covering downtown Austin, handles a large share of these because so many tows originate there. Filing runs roughly $54 to $85 including service on the towing company (see the Travis County Clerk's civil fee schedule for current amounts), and if you can't afford it, you can file a sworn Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court Costs to get the fee waived.

The 15-Day Countdown: License Suspension and the ALR Hearing

The Administrative License Revocation (ALR) process runs on its own track, separate from the criminal case, and it trips people up because two different state agencies are involved. DPS acts as the prosecutor trying to suspend the license. The hearing itself is held by the State Office of Administrative Hearings (SOAH), an independent body of administrative law judges, not by DPS and not at the Travis County courthouse. Since the pandemic, SOAH's default for these hearings is a Zoom videoconference; the meeting link comes through in a scheduling order mailed or emailed to whatever address you put on your hearing request, so if you move afterward, update it or risk a default judgment for a hearing you never knew was scheduled.

The paperwork issued at arrest, form DIC-25, works as a temporary driving permit valid for 40 days. Requesting an ALR hearing within 15 calendar days of arrest automatically extends that permit's validity until the case is resolved, sometimes for months. Miss the 15 days, and the suspension takes effect automatically on day 40, regardless of the criminal case's status.

You can request the hearing online through the DPS hearing request portal, by certified mail, by fax, or hand-delivered to the Director of Hearings, Building A, 5805 North Lamar Boulevard, during business hours only; there's no after-hours drop box. Under SOAH's discovery rule, you're entitled to the police report and statutory warning paperwork without a filing fee, though subpoenaing the arresting officer costs a $10 witness fee, and body-camera footage from the arresting agency typically runs about $10 per recording plus roughly $1 per minute.

Occupational License and Reinstatement

If the ALR hearing goes against you, or you're convicted, an Occupational Driver's License (ODL) is the path back to legal driving for essential needs like work, school, or household errands. Travis County courts typically combine a fixed weekly driving schedule with a mandatory logbook: the default limit is 4 hours of driving in any 24-hour period, extendable to 12 hours with a specific justification in the petition, and every trip has to be logged with date, time, destination, and reason. An officer who pulls you over will check the logbook against the schedule, and a mismatch is a violation of the court order.

Once a judge signs the ODL order, that order functions as your license for 45 days while you send it, an SR-22 certificate, and reinstatement fees to DPS. If the plastic ODL card doesn't arrive within 45 days, the order expires and you're unlicensed again until the card shows up. Straight reinstatement, without an ODL, costs a $125 fee paid to DPS, payable through the state's eligibility portal or by mail.

How the Case Moves Through Court

Misdemeanor DWI cases (first and second offense) go through the County Clerk's office; felony cases, meaning third offense or more, DWI with a child passenger, or intoxication assault or manslaughter, go through the District Clerk. Confusing the two is a common way to get bad information about your own case. Cases often sit "unfiled" for weeks or months while the County or District Attorney's office reviews the file, and a first court date, the announcement docket where counsel is identified, usually lands 20 to 45 days out.

The slow part is what follows. Pre-trial can stretch 6 to 12 months, largely because blood samples, increasingly common due to no-refusal weekends, go to a crime lab with a toxicology backlog running 3 to 10 months. A typical first-time DWI case in Travis County takes around a year to resolve. Court security at the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center is airport-style, with a strict no-return policy on confiscated items, so budget extra time, especially for morning dockets between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.; arriving after the docket is called can trigger a bond forfeiture and a warrant. Parking is limited; the Central Parking System lot at 510 West 11th Street is the option most often recommended, or Capital Metro into downtown. If you don't have an attorney handling the appearance for you, you need to personally check in with the court coordinator, or the court has no record you showed up.

Diversion Programs

Travis County runs two specialty tracks aimed at opposite ends of the DWI caseload. Pre-Trial Diversion, supervised through County Court #3, is open to first-time offenders with a BAC under 0.20, no prior criminal history, and no collision with another occupied vehicle. Applicants must apply within six months of arrest; the 12-month program requires an ignition interlock device or SCRAM alcohol monitor for at least six months, counseling classes, a MADD Victim Impact Panel, and 25 hours of community service, all paid for by the participant. Completion gets the DWI charge dismissed and opens the door to expunction.

DWI Court, in County Court #7, is a post-adjudication track for second-or-later offenders who plead guilty and enter as a condition of probation. It runs at least 12 months across three phases of decreasing supervision, with weekly check-ins early on, mandatory intensive outpatient treatment, and a team of judge, prosecutor, defense counsel, and probation officer reviewing progress together. This site's directory lists licensed treatment providers if outpatient treatment is part of your case.

IID, SCRAM, and SR-22

An ignition interlock device (IID) is a breath-testing unit wired into the ignition that prevents the car from starting above a set blood alcohol reading; Travis County magistrates order one as a bond condition in high-BAC or repeat cases, and it's also a Pre-Trial Diversion requirement. A SCRAM device is worn on the ankle and continuously monitors alcohol through the skin rather than gating the ignition; it shows up as an alternative or companion requirement in diversion conditions. SR-22 is not insurance itself but a certificate your insurer files with the state proving you carry the minimum coverage the state requires; it's required to get an Occupational License or to reinstate a suspended license, and it has to stay continuously in force or the state gets notified of the lapse.