The Texas Transportation Commission just approved billions in highway expansion spending for the state, setting a new record. If you’re Texan and had any hope of major transit infrastructure expansions, you’re sadly out of luck.
First reported by The Houston Chronicle, the commission just approved a record $104.17 billion for construction and maintenance of roads and highways across the state; Houston alone is getting $9.9 billion for modernization of local roads. Billions of those dollars are going to highways, specifically in the Houston region as The Chronicle detailed.
The region’s two major freeways, however, get the most attention. The first half of projects planned as part of the $11.1 billion rebuild of Interstate 45 are included. More than $2.6 billion in work is also planned along Interstate 10, including:
$1.17 billion in planned freeway widening along I-10 to extend the Katy managed lanes inside Loop 610 to east of Studemont Street.
$985 million to widen or extend managed lanes along Interstate 10 in Fort Bend and Waller counties.
$555.7 million to rebuild the bridges that carry eastbound and westbound I-10 over the San Jacinto River.
Mind you, Houston already has the widest freeway in the country, the 26-lane Katy Freeway. Of the billions set aside for highways, just $45.2 million is being given to public transportation for the whole state. While some of the projects that are getting funded are good, like expanding bus access for disabled seniors and rural transit assistance programs, the plans for these programs aren’t as detailed as the highway plans are. Bicycle and public transit plans are merely mentioned in the budget, even with things like bicycling and walking activity increasing in Texas 33 percent from 2019 to 2022.
Texas Transportation Commission officials also seem to be clueless about what matters. Despite opposition for some of the highway expansion projections, Transportation Commissioner Steven Alvis still thinks what they’re doing is good. “We are the envy of every state in America with the money we have got in this,” he told Texas’ Chron. Texas is one of a few states with officials who still seem to think that bigger highways help improve traffic despite data showing that it solves it nothing.
