Tag: Texas highway funding

Roadbuilding

Texas DOT announces $1.3 billion plan for projects to improve traffic congestion

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has released a $1.3 billion plan for accelerated transportation project completion aimed at improving traffic congestion across the state. The Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) will need to approve the strategy. “The major metro areas of Texas – Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio – represent more than […]

February 1, 2016

Roadbuilding

Texas voters overwhelmingly approve $2.5 billion in funding for transportation projects

Texas voters gave a resounding ‘yes’ to new transportation funding Tuesday as they passed Proposition 7 with more than 80 percent of the votes. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, the new funding from Proposition 7 will give the state more money to spend on infrastructure projects without having to enact new taxes, tolls, fees […]

November 5, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas approves $45 million for October Proposition 1 projects

The Texas Transportation Commission (TTC) has approved three projects totaling roughly $45 million as part of the October round of the state’s Proposition 1 transportation funding program. The September round included 22 projects valued at roughly $304 million. The TTC has now approved final contract awards on 122 of the planned 200 projects. Proposition 1, approved […]

November 1, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas lawmakers cross the aisle on plan to raise the state’s road budget by $3 billion

The Texas House of Representatives Transportation chairman and his counterpart in the state’s Senate have reached a deal to inject the transportation budget with $3 billion more each year. The Dallas Morning News reports Rep. Joe Picket (D-El Paso) and Sen. Robert Nichols (R-Jacksonville) announced May 26 that they’d agreed upon a plan to fund […]

May 27, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas awards first batch of Prop 1 contracts totaling more than $52 million

The Texas Transportation Commission awarded contracts for nine projects in seven Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) districts, representing more than $52 million in road project work. The funding comes from the state’s Proposition 1 funding program, approved by Texas voters last year, and representing $1.74 billion available for transportation projects in 2015. The seven districts […]

March 30, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas toll road fight proves how badly we need a gas tax hike

When push comes to shove, Texans can get more than a little rowdy. Of late, their cantankerous streak has flared up in opposition to the state’s toll road programs. For those of you who are not familiar, the newest toll roads in Texas use license plate scanners and other technology to eliminate toll booths and […]

March 11, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas Senate passes highway funding bill

The Texas Senate passed a highway funding bill March 4 that will dedicate a portion of motor vehicle taxes to road and bridge construction, according to a report from the Associated Press. The Senate passed the bill on a 28-2 vote roughly a week after the Transportation Committee approved it. The bill, along with a constitutional amendment, […]

March 5, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas Senate will vote on using portion of vehicle taxes for highway funding

The Texas Senate Transportation Committee approved a bill that would dedicate a portion of motor vehicle taxes to road and bridge construction and maintenance. Senate Bill 5, one of two bills addressing the issue, will most likely come up for a vote next week, according to the state. Previously, these taxes have been used to “plug holes in […]

February 26, 2015

Roadbuilding

Texas DOT saves nearly $1 billion over next decade through historic bond deal

The Texas Department of Transportation recently announced that it had achieved the largest savings on a single bond deal in the state’s history through a $1.68 billion refinancing that priced Jan. 21. The bond issue refinanced almost all of the outstanding debt for the Central Texas Turnpike System (CTTS), first issued in 2002. The deal […]

February 9, 2015

Business

Dire States hits the road to drum up support for Texas highway construction initiative

Nearly 180 years ago the toughest hombres ever to ride a horse and carry a rifle blazed a trail across Texas, conquering impossible odds to turn that hardscrabble land into one of the country’s most prosperous states. Today, if there are any hombres left, they’re probably stuck in traffic. One person who is helping build […]

July 15, 2014