Houston to receive $124 million for highways under stimulus

State total tops $2.25 billion

Steve Hawley, Feb 20, 09.

Houston will receive just under $124 million for highways, to be allocated by the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), while the state as a whole will receive $2.25 billion for roads and $372 million for transit, according to figures provided by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). Texas will also receive $2.6 million for rail modernization. The numbers were prepared by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure majority staff, with assistance provided by the Federal Transit Administration.

Of the transit funding, $321 million will go to urban areas and $51 million to rural communities. Yesterday, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) announced that it would receive $92 million from the stimulus, or about 29 percent of the urban transit money.

According to the article, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) expects to receive about $1.5 billion for highways. Its governing commission will meet next week to decide which projects to pursue with stimulus funds. After TxDOT has chosen its projects, H-GAC will review the remaining projects and determine how to allocate its portion of the stimulus money. TxDOT may choose to build projects within the Houston region, so total highway spending in the region will exceed $124 million.

The figures provided by AASHTO are below:

Texas highways (total): $2,250,015,146
   Houston: $123,740,323
Texas transit (total): $371,915,095
   Urban: 321,327,693
   Rural: $50,587,402
Texas rail modernization (total): $2,609,607