(The Center Square) – The state of Texas is advancing an $85 billion, 10-year roadway construction plan to improve transportation safety, address congestion and rural connectivity, and preserve roadways for Texas drivers.
The plan is being launched through the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) 2023 Unified Transportation Program, which authorizes highway projects for development and construction for public transportation, maritime, aviation, and rail investments.
TxDOT is responsible for maintaining more than 80,000 miles of roads, 6,500 traffic signals, 264 general aviation airports, and 78 million tons of cargo moved through seaports, among other transportation infrastructure.
According to a 2020 TxDOT Annual Report, Texans traveled 711 million vehicle miles every day in the Lone Star State on 686,658 lane miles.
The UTP funds will coincide with an additional $32 billion over the life of the program for routine maintenance contracts and project development, including planning, professional engineering, and right-of-way acquisition for more than 7,000 transportation projects with a total investment of $117 billion statewide.
“The State of Texas is working to ensure the transportation needs of our fast-growing state are met and that the safety of Texans on the roadways is protected,” Gov. Greg Abbott said. “TxDOT’s 2023 Unified Transportation Program is a critical step toward addressing the diverse needs of Texans in rural, urban, and metropolitan communities. As more people move to Texas and businesses grow across the state, we are working together to make sure Texans’ transportation safety and mobility are secured and businesses can flourish for generations to come.”
The UTP plan will improve transportation safety, maintain the current system, address traffic congestion, and improve statewide connectivity over the next decade, TxDOT Commission Chairman J. Bruce Bugg, Jr., said. It will also make “significant progress in addressing congestion in our busiest parts of the state through our Texas Clear Lanes initiative, which improves top chokepoints in our largest metro areas.”
Many projects in the UTP plan are roadway segments identified on Texas’ 100 Most Congested Roadways list and critical connectivity corridors. They will be funded through legislative and voter-approved initiatives that allocate portions of oil and gas taxes, sales taxes, and other money to the state highway fund.
The initiatives already have increased the UTP by over $50 billion over a 10-year period, TxDOT says, with $34.3 billion in projects approved in the 2014 UTP in August 2013. This also includes an historic increase in funding of $14 billion for projects in rural areas.
The proposed spending is also expected to have a return on investment.
For example, the $8.5 billion of average annual investment programmed in the UTP over the next 10 years is expected to yield an estimated $15.5 billion per year in economic benefits, according to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. The benefit is expected to come from increased labor income and business output, in addition to creating 58,500 direct and indirect jobs.
TxDOT has published the projects online and expanded transparency, enabling Texans to view projects online, learn how much they cost and how long it will take to complete them, and track their progress.