Free Republic

AUSTIN — Maybe Texas’ transportation problems are a lot simpler to understand than recent fights over toll roads make it seem, North Texas leaders told state senators Wednesday. “My first recommendation: You need to provide a lot more revenue for transportation,” Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, told the Texas Senate transportation committee. That was hardly the only suggestion from Mr. Morris or the many others who spoke to the committee, which is seeking input as it readies an approach on toll roads, TxDOT and more for the next legislative session. But it might...

Local residents who want to add their two cents about the proposed Interstate 69 construction won't have to fill their tanks to do it. TxDOT is coming to Longview. The Texas Department of Transportation is holding 46 public hearings this month in East and South Texas along the planned corridor, including Tuesday's meeting in Longview. The hearings will give Texans a chance to comment and ask questions about the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a collection of passenger and freight roadways, utility and rail lines from Texarkana to the Rio Grande Valley. A draft environmental impact statement released in November suggests...

Excerpt - DELHI, La. (AP) - Interstate 20, a major east-west route across north Louisiana was shut down Friday afternoon after a nearby oil pipeline erupted in flames. Sgt. Markus Smith of the Louisiana State police says the explosion happened about 1 pm. Details were sketchy, but Smith says the pipeline was burning just east of Delhi, a small town about 200 miles northwest of New Orleans. The dispatcher for the Richland Parish Sheriff's Department, who would not give his name, says the oil line is about 50 yards from the interstate. He says the four-mile stretch from Delhi to...