Texas Considering a $70.2 Billion Highway Spending Program

Dug Begley reports: "Texas' 10-year plan for transportation, which reflects the state's traditional mindset centered on road building rather than greater investment in alternative forms of commuter travel, is expected to send billions of dollars more to expand Houston-area highways, including some of the region's most sought-after freeway projects."

Contrast that statement with the recent CityMap report produced by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), which considered ideas for removing and rerouting some of the urban highways located around Dallas.

The plan under consideration in Begley's article, however, is called the Unified Transportation Program—"a blueprint for non-maintenance work on Texas roadways using state dollars via the Texas Department of Transportation." According to Begley, the "Texas Transportation Commission is scheduled to approve the long-term program on Aug. 25. Texans have until Aug. 22 to comment on the plan before it is approved."