Free Republic

Texas is spending record amounts on transportation, but lawmakers worried it is not enough are considering extending a controversial program that’s helped spread tollways through some of the state’s largest areas. A bill approved this week by a House committee would give the Texas Department of Transportation a chance to add six additional projects, including the widening of Interstate 45 north of I-10 and a long-planned Hempstead Tollway, meant to relieve traffic on U.S. 290 with the potential for a commuter rail corridor. The bill, by state Rep. Larry Phillips, R-Sherman, would also allow TxDOT or regional officials the chance...

The (two) e-mails poured into our various inboxes this afternoon from different groups — all (both) proclaiming, in one form or another that “the Trans-Texas Corridor is back from the dead.” One of those e-mails specifically cited House Bill 3789, which was introduced by House Transportation Committee chairman Larry Phillips, R-Sherman. Phillips’ bill would allow for the resumption of public/private partnerships to help finance the construction of transportation infrastructure such as roads and freeways. Such partnerships had been a key component of building the Trans-Texas Corridor — a highly controversial project that became so politically untenable even its most ardent...

House, Senate passage seem likely The careening vehicle that has been this legislative session's toll road overhaul appeared to pull into the garage about 4:35 p.m. Thursday. At that moment, Republican state Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville, after spending several moments huddling on the floor with Sen. Tommy Williams, sponsor of Senate Bill 792, affixed his signature to a compromise version of the bill, and the two shook hands. "We've got a deal now," Williams, R-The Woodlands, said about an hour later. "This is really going to move transportation issues forward, particularly in large metropolitan areas." The deal was among...