The latest transportation news from The Texas Tribune.
It's a transportation funding crisis: Congestion on Texas highways is only going to get worse with our population growing, but the state lacks the billions needed to combat it. Lawmakers trying to find a way to break through the gridlock are issuing a stern warning: There's no something-for-nothing solution. Full Story
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Leaders in Austin are hoping the next big thing in transportation comes in a tiny Smart car. Watch as an Austin Car2Go user demonstrates how the program works. Full Story
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Austin is hoping the next big thing comes in a tiny car: It's the first North American city to pilot a car-sharing program promising the possibility of less congestion and lower emissions. Full Story
Grissom on the 1.2 million Texans who've lost their licenses under the Driver Responsibility Act and the impenetrable black box that is the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles, Ramshaw and Kraft on nurses with substance abuse problems and rehabilitation that can get them back to work, M. Smith finds it's not easy being Rick Green, Stiles on counting Texans (and everybody else), Rapoport on the State Board of Education's war with itself and the runoff in SBOE District 10, Thevenot's revealing interview with a big-city superintendent on closing bad schools, Aguilar on the tensions over water on the Texas-Mexico border, Hamilton on the new Coffee Party, Hu on Kesha Rogers and why her party doesn't want her, Philpott on the runoff in HD-47, Ramsey on Bill White and the politics of taxes, and E. Smith's conversation with Game Change authors Mark Halperin and John Heleimann: The best of our best from March 15 to 19. Full Story
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Ramshaw on the state's quiet sharing of infant blood samples with the military and on the things Rick Perry's opponents aren't saying about him, Grissom on Farouk Shami's surprising popularity in El Paso, Philpott on the political advantages of a job creation fund and how Debra Medina's supporters are reacting to her "truther" comments, Hu on Debra Medina in the latest installment of Stump Interrupted, Thevenot on how the kids feel about the federal option of closing bad high schools, Rapoport on the newest mutation of the state's pay-as-you-go transportation philosophy, and our roundup of party primaries in the last week before the election: Rapoport on HD-7, Ramsey on HD-11, Aguilar on HD-36 and HD-43, Philpott on HD-47, Thevenot on HD-52 and SD-5, Kreighbaum on HD-105 and one Supreme Court race, M. Smith on another, and Hamilton on the colorful Democratic candidates for Agriculture Commissioner. The best of our best from February 22 to 26, 2010. Full Story
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The North Texas Tollway Authority board just accepted the Transportation Commission's deal for building State Highway 161 by a vote of eight to one. The state commissioners offered the deal on Wednesday that allows NTTA to effectively borrow TXDOT's credit rating in making deals. Full Story
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Sensible people in the Metroplex may have given up long ago on Southwest Parkway and State Highway 161, two huge projects first proposed back in the 1960s. Now they're toll roads — one incomplete, one not yet started — and the money to build them may finally be available. There is, of course, a catch. Full Story
Introducing the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding. Full Story
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A gasoline tax robocall from May 2009. Full Story
State Rep. Vicki Truitt, R-Southlake, has won and won easily since wresting the district from a GOP incumbent in a 1998 runoff. But this year is different. She'll face three opponents and voters who might be in an anti-incumbent mood. Full Story
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A robocall message attacking Truitt for supporting a local option gasoline tax. Full Story
Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows talks about what the Texas Department of Transportation needs to do to repair relations with the State Legislature. Full Story
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Lawmakers are still perturbed at TxDOT, but the state's transportation agency is trying to do better. The first step, says one commissioner: Figure out how to meet the transportation needs of Texas citizens — which it's not doing. Full Story
Feeling blue over paltry federal funding for high-speed rail? Forget about it. Two Austin visionaries are already looking ahead to the next transportation innovations. Full Story
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Kay and Rick both have some ’splaining to do. Full Story
Is Texas building a highway to nowhere? No. But Texas legislators like their pork barrel transportation spending just as much as their Alaskan counterparts, apparently. Full Story
This week, The Daily Beast released its list of the 75 worst commutes in the country. Is yours on it? Full Story
It's the first TribCast of the new year. Evan, Ross, Elise and Ben discuss the finalized ballots for statewide races, whether the transportation issue will drive voters and the possibility of making this red state's blue dot less blue. Full Story
An analysis of the claims in Team Kay's latest television ad includes a true claim and a distortion, according to Dallas television station WFAA-TV. Full Story
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A burnt-orange view of "Roads." Full Story