By Alvin New

The Texas Division of Transportation is making an historic funding in the way forward for our quickly rising state.

Throughout our August Texas Transportation Fee assembly, we authorized TxDOT’s 10-year transportation program that features greater than $85 billion devoted to enhancing security, addressing congestion and connectivity, and preserving roadways for Texas drivers.

Our state covers greater than 266,000 sq. miles and 1,000 new persons are added to the inhabitants in Texas each single day.  In response to current Census estimates, Texas grew by greater than 310,000 from July 2020 to July 2021, and we’re quick approaching a inhabitants of 30 million.

TxDOT has deliberate, and can proceed to plan, for this development and play a vital position in offering the wanted infrastructure to assist transfer folks and merchandise. That’s the place our Unified Transportation Program, or UTP, is available in.

Since our mission at TxDOT is “Connecting You With Texas,” we’re working exhausting to verify each area of the state stays related. That’s why we’re dedicating greater than $12.2 billion to statewide connectivity initiatives to improve interstates and different main rural highways over the following 10 years through the 2023 UTP. 

Since fiscal 12 months 2015, we’ve accomplished greater than 258 rural connectivity initiatives — an funding of $7.7 billion. And we have now one other 120 initiatives — $7 billion price — presently underneath development.

In reality, we’re planning to take a position an historic stage of roughly $14 billion in our rural areas over the following 10 years via our 2023 UTP. This represents a 600% improve in deliberate rural funding in comparison with deliberate funding from simply seven years in the past. It demonstrates TxDOT’s dedication to constructing and sustaining a protected and environment friendly transportation system, not solely in our most populous areas, but additionally in these rural areas which are so important to our state’s financial success.

This UTP additionally places us to work within the vitality producing areas of the state. Roads in our vitality sector are bearing the brunt of that business’s financial enhance to the state in put on and tear. That’s why we’re dedicating $2.5 billion to handle particular roadways impacted by site visitors in 5 vitality producing areas.

With this historic funding, we’re displaying our dedication to connecting each area and each Texan to the folks and locations that matter most.

Alvin New is a commissioner on the Texas Transportation Fee.