In order to improve driving conditions across the state, Texas highway officials are planning an $85 billion investment that could take over 10 years to finish.
Announced Friday, The Unified Transportation Plan directs federal and state funding to highway, bridge, transit, airport, ferry, bike, and pedestrian projects that the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) plans to start over the next 10 years. The plan divides the money TxDOT expects to have in coming years among maintenance, aviation, rural connectivity, and major projects in Texas’ urban areas.
The priorities build on the record $3 billion already under construction statewide, officials said, following increased spending directed to TxDOT starting in 2014.
“We have dirt flying all over the state of Texas,” said chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, J. Bruce Bugg.
The commission will consider the proposal after it goes through the month-long public comment period, which opened Friday and closes at 4 p.m. Aug. 8. A virtual public hearing is scheduled July 26. Approval is set for Aug. 30.
Work is underway on some of the Houston region’s most notorious bottlenecks, including the Interstate 69 and Loop 610 interchange near The Galleria; Texas 288 and Loop 610 near NRG Park; and western portions of Interstate 10 to the Brazos River.
The proposal also includes, $340 million to build new bridges to carry I-10 over the San Jacinto River, replacing aging spans where barge collisions have closed lanes and snarled traffic, $184 million to rebuild and expand the Loop 610 interchange with Texas 35, a key piece of a new planned freeway south from Houston toward Pearland, and $92 million to widen Texas 105 to Grimes County from FM 149 in Montgomery County.
Of the $12.5 billion destined for the Houston region in the plan, nearly half of it, $6.13 billion, is dedicated to the rebuild of Interstate 45 from downtown Houston north to Beltway 8 near Greenspoint.
The project remains paused by a federal review and pending lawsuit by Harris County. Officials have said they are hopeful of a resolution allowing the project to proceed, but only if it is palatable to state and local leaders.
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Source: TxDOT
