Texas
The Hilarious 1960s Vision for the Underbelly of a Houston Highway
Ah, the best laid plans. As Texas DOT considers tearing down the Pierce Elevated Freeway on the east side of downtown Houston, it's instructive to look back at what people were thinking when they made this eyesore.
June 30, 2016
Texas DOT Seems Open to a Downtown Dallas Highway Removal
Will Texas embrace a model of mobility that works well for cities, instead of tearing them up with wider highways?
June 13, 2016
Highway Boondoggles: Texas State Highway 249 Extension
In a new report, Highway Boondoggles 2, U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group profile the most wasteful highway projects that state DOTs are building. Today we highlight the proposed 30-mile extension of State Highway 249 in Texas, which the state DOT wants to gouge through communities that already suffer from too much air pollution.
February 1, 2016
Houston Mayor Calls for “Paradigm Shift” Away From Highway Widening
Newly elected Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner gave a remarkable speech yesterday in Austin [PDF], calling on the state to change its transportation priorities and stop pouring billions into widening highways.
January 29, 2016
Caption Contest: TxDOT’s Shiny Happy People Sucking in Highway Exhaust
This rendering of State Highway 45 Southwest in Austin -- one of 12 highway boondoggles singled out by U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group this year -- inspired some mockery on Twitter:
January 22, 2016
Highway Boondoggles: Texas State Highway 45 Southwest
In a new report, Highway Boondoggles 2 (the original came out in 2014), U.S. PIRG and the Frontier Group teamed up to profile the most wasteful highway projects that state DOTs are building. Streetsblog will be serializing the case studies in the report. Today, we focus on a road project that risks contaminating the water supply in and around Austin, Texas.
January 21, 2016
Texas DOT Isn’t Learning From Its Horrific Road Fatalities Calendar
This calendar is published by the Texas Department of Transportation as part of its traffic safety efforts. It shows how many fatal collisions and traffic deaths happened every day of the year. On average, someone is killed every two and a half hours on Texas streets, and someone is injured every two minutes, according to TxDOT [PDF].
January 8, 2016
Lobbyist Holds Up Spectacular Example of the Futility of Widening Highways
Crossposted from City Observatory.
December 16, 2015
Transit vs. Highways: Which Came Out on Top in Local Elections?
There were several local ballot measures with big implications for streets and transportation yesterday, and results were all over the map. Here's how three of the most notable votes turned out.
November 4, 2015
Dallas Council Member: Texas Poised to “Compound Errors of the Past”
The entire Texas highway machine -- suburban real estate moguls, the construction industry, the governor, and the legislature -- is pushing voters to approve Prop 7, a constitutional amendment that would mandate spending $2.5 billion in state sales tax revenue on un-tolled roads. The highway interests are telling Texas voters in unison that this measure, if approved in November, will fix congestion and not cost them any extra money -- claims that don't stand up to the slightest scrutiny.
October 21, 2015