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A 77-year-old man was pushing a bicycle on Interstate 14 in Killeen Friday morning when he was hit and killed by several vehicles, according to police. Some cars that hit him didn’t even stop, police said. “Several vehicles that struck the male did not stop and the Traffic Unit would like to speak with the operators of those vehicles, or any other witnesses, about the accident,” the Killeen Police Department said in a news release. Police have not named the man, pending notification of next of kin. He was pushing the purple, BMX-style bicycle shortly before 7 a.m. when he...

After years of work, the Interstate 35 reconstruction project in Bell County is pretty much done, while a similar project to widen Interstate 14 still has years of work ahead. “Overall, the I-35 Reconstruction Project ... particularly in Waco, is continuing at an aggressive pace, well on track for a 2023 completion. Bell County work remains substantially complete with minor ‘punch list’ items such as completion of the Temple Welcome Monument and the standard establishment of vegetation along the corridor within the Temple/Troy area remaining, prior to final acceptance of the project,” Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Ken Roberts said...

In central Texas, a portion of U.S. 190 near Killeen has been designated as Interstate 14. But the Youth Infrastructure Coalition would like to see a complete I-14 corridor from eastern Georgia to west Texas. Under their proposal, I-14 would create an alternate east-west highway that would be located midway between I-10 and I-20.The coalition’s founder is Frank Lumpkin, a student at the University of Georgia. He said he and other students started the group to inspire young people to get involved in infrastructure projects that can benefit the area.“If you look at a map and take the demographics of...

Plans for Interstate 14 have been expanded, and the Texas Department of Transportation will have a say in how a portion of the project is executed. Rep. Brian Babin of Beaumont, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently submitted a bill that would extend I-14 to Mississippi and effectively would bring two brand new interstates to West Texas. Under the already-approved plan known as Ports to Forts, I-14’s western terminus would be at I-10 and U.S. Route 190, near Iraan. US 190 would be converted to I-14 to Brady, and the project would continue eastward. The Midland-Odessa...

A group of college students is working together with lawmakers and communities to try to make the route to locations throughout the southeast a little shorter by using Interstate 14 to connect Killeen, Texas, with Columbus, Georgia. The idea started when Frank Lumpkin was in high school, taking part in Youth Leadership Columbus. While taking part in the class, he said he realized that the city needed more infrastructure to succeed, and he said he has been working on the project ever since. “From the moment I saw this robust transportation network that linked the southern military instillations, would address...

Most of you will be surprised to learn that this spring, while we were all fretting about what the Legislature or Jared Kushner’s father-in-law will do next, Texas got itself a new interstate highway: Interstate 14. Yup. Fourteen. Odd number for an interstate, given that most of them end in a zero or a five. The story behind that number, which I’ll get to shortly, is even odder. But, yes, in April, a couple of congressmen and other dignitaries gathered in Bell County to celebrate the opening of I-14 from Belton through Killeen and on to Fort Hood. Well, more...

Imagine a major interstate running through Columbus, spurring economic development, prosperity and connecting military installations along the way. That’s the scenario that 19-year-old Frank Lumpkin IV presented to Columbus Council Tuesday, while making a pitch for Columbus to be connected to a major interstate that will run from Meridian, Texas, to Augusta. Lumpkin, a 2017 Columbus High School graduate now enrolled at the University of Georgia, said I-14 Texas already has been designated by Congress and is currently being built in segments. The first 25-mile stretch officially opened on January 26, 2017 near Killeen, Texas and Fort Hood. If built...

Talks have been bubbling in recent months about making major route changes to Interstate 14, but the primary organization behind the push says it’s facing resistance from a West Texas representative and the state’s senior senator. Regional transportation lobby group Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance (MOTRAN) has pushed to change the congressionally approved western route of I-14, also known as the Forts to Ports Highway and the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System. Forts to Ports aims to connect Fort Bliss in El Paso with Fort Hood in Central Texas and Fort Polk in Louisiana. The plan also connects to military deployment ports...

In what is being projected as an economic boom for the East Texas region (if it comes to fruition), the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) will soon begin work on a feasibility study for an East-West corridor. The announcement was made last week as the TxDOT Commission voted to move forward with the study that will cost an estimated $2 million. The corridor is the brainchild of the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition. "If we had a major four-lane, east-west highway through Jasper it would mean to us what I-10 means to Beaumont and I-20 means to Shreveport," said Jasper...