Group Launches PR Effort for Transportation Needs
A new advocacy group is hoping to get lawmakers and the public as worked up about transportation funding this session as they are about water. Full Story
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Straus on Priorities; More Campaign Woes for Dewhurst
The speaker of the House dampens expectations for vouchers, tax breaks and transportation without ruling any of those things out. And the lieutenant governor unpeels another layer of problems he says arose from a campaign manager's embezzling. Full Story
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DPS Centers Aim to Keep Customer Traffic Flowing
Texas Department of Public Safety driver's license offices have a reputation for long lines and exhausting wait times for customers. But new mega centers are drastically cutting the wait time for license renewals and replacements. Full Story
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Perry Calls for More Funds for I-69 Project
A planned interstate highway stretching from South Texas to Michigan remains decades away, but Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday that lawmakers should find more money for the project and ones like it. Full Story
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![Traffic along US 77 between Driscoll and Kingsville, Texas. A 10-mile stretch of this road from Kingsville to Driscoll is right now a simple state highway with cross-traffic and stop lights. About $50 million is going to be used to upgrade it to interstate highway standards. 6/4/12]()
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TxDOT Tells Lawmakers Funding Crisis Around the Corner
The Texas Department of Transportation is two years away from a severe drop in funding unless lawmakers find more cash, agency officials said at a budget hearing Monday. Full Story
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TxDOT Considers Outsourcing IT
The Texas Department of Transportation is taking proposals for privatizing its information technology system, part of a larger movement by the agency toward outsourcing many of its functions. Full Story
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Pitts and Williams Say School Funding Debate Can Wait
Ongoing school finance litigation will likely prevent the Legislature from discussing education funding issues this session, two Republican budget leaders said at a TribLive event Thursday. Full Story
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Lawmakers Seek Cash to Fix Roads Hit by Drilling
As lawmakers look for a way to fix infrastructure crumbling under the weight of a drilling boom, talk of reducing the tax money that feeds the state's Rainy Day Fund is drawing attention. Full Story
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Lawmakers Renew Push to Ban Texting While Driving
At a briefing Tuesday, lawmakers and relatives of people killed while texting and driving renewed a push to make the practice illegal. A proposal passed during the last session but was vetoed by Gov. Rick Perry. Full Story
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![Jeanne Brown, whose daughter Alex Brown died in a 2009 accident while texting and driving, spoke Jan. 29, 2013, in support of a bill making texting and driving illegal. Texas is one of 11 states without a state-wide ban on texting while driving, though multiple cities have passed ordinances making it illegal.]()
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Lawmakers Considering Fees on Electric Cars
In search of new revenue for road construction and maintenance, Texas lawmakers are weighing whether to raise fees on electric cars, a move that is gaining ground in some other states. Full Story
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Lawmakers Talk of Bold Measures This Session
Momentum is growing for Texas lawmakers to commit large amounts of money to address the state's long-term infrastructure needs, particularly water and transportation. Full Story
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Dewhurst: Set Money Aside for School Lawsuits
In a wide-ranging interview, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst talked about the state budget, education, immigration, water, transportation, and his hopes and plans for the legislative session that began this week. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst on opening day of 83rd Legislative Session, Jan. 8, 2013]()
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Panama Canal Expansion Will Be Boon for Texas Exports, Report Says
An upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal will boost Texas exports but not do as much for imports, according to a report commissioned by the Texas Department of Transportation. Full Story
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Year in Review: Energy, the Environment and Transportation
Drought, oil and gas production, fast lanes and toll lanes made headlines in 2012 in the Tribune. Here's a look back at the year's biggest stories on energy and the environment and transportation. Full Story
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School Finance Lawsuits Give Lawmakers an Out
The courts aren't expected to finish their work on school finance until after the regular legislative session, giving lawmakers an excuse for leaving some expensive work incomplete for now. Full Story
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Feds May Offer New Credit Line for Texas Toll Projects
TIFIA, a popular transportation-focused federal loan program, has $17 billion ready to dole out and Texas is jumping at the chance to tap billions of dollars in credit. Full Story
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Inside Intelligence: About the Infrastructure...
For this week's nonscientific survey of insiders in government and politics, we asked about big-ticket infrastructure issues — whether lawmakers will approve any of them and where they might look for money. Full Story
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Tolling Texans: Impact of Trans-Texas Corridor Seen in Road Projects
Though the controversial proposal to build a 4,000-mile network of highways and rail lines across Texas never came to fruition, the Trans-Texas Corridor proposal helped usher a change in how the state builds roads. Full Story
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![Caleb Ging and Libby Fischer stand near the Ging family's home in Coupland in front of signs protesting the Trans-Texas Corridor in 2007. The signs were made by Caleb and his parents, Scott and JoAnn Ging.]()
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Tolling Texans: More Cities Planning Toll Lanes
Already a fixture in Houston, toll lane projects are set to spread to cities across Texas. Officials in urban areas say the lanes are a key way to address congestion, but some deride the projects as "Lexus lanes." Full Story
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Tolling Texans: Toll Projects Proliferate as State Coffers Fall Short
Amid a lack of public financing to meet the state's transportation needs, Texas officials are increasingly looking to toll projects, some boosted by investments by private firms. Full Story
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![Cars passing through the toll turnstiles at the Dallas-Fort Worth Turnpike, which is now Interstate 30.]()
Credit: NTTA / Todd Wiseman
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