TxDOT has money, but wants to hear from you

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports it is an overused and oft-abused phrase that millions of Texans are sick of hearing, but when it comes to Texas transportation, everything is bigger – and growing. Just how much it might grow over the next quarter century is something today’s Texans are about to have a say in. Texas Department of Transportation’s proposed long-range transportation plan, called Connecting Texas 2050 and updated every four years, opens for public comment on May 10 and closes June 9. A public hearing is scheduled for May 28. Texas has more miles of road than any other state – 701,000 miles. That’s 1.5 times the next road-laden state, California. Simply maintaining the 201,000 miles managed by the TxDOT is nearing an annual cost of $2 billion.

Collectively, Texans drive an estimated 540 million miles per day, something TxDOT notes is “enough to circle the earth nearly 100 times every minute.” Now, add more people who want to go to more places and try to plan out 25 years. The numbers get big, very big. As TxDOT works on its long-range plan, taking into account construction, maintenance and development of transportation projects, the total cost estimated from 2025 to 2046 could reach $740 billion. That figure is more than the gross domestic product of Belgium, simply so Texans can drive, fly, bike, walk, float or ride around. To put that some other ways, over the next quarter century, Texas could spend enough on transportation to: Fund the Space Shuttle program three times over. Not the Space Shuttle, but the entire 30-year Space Shuttle program – research, construction, launches, commemorative pins, etc. Then it would still have money left over for three B-2 stealth bomber programs. Buy almost half the state – 14 million people – this model white Toyota Tundra 4X4 crew cab with a 6.5-foot bed. Sail for 23.2 million years aboard the Mariner of the Seas in an ocean view cabin, based on current November prices for a five-day stay from Galveston to the Caribbean. Where, and on what, that money gets spent is likely to be a long-simmering discussion for politicians, planners and advocates, but it will start with a public component this month.