Political Updates
Chapter Ten: Revenues, Expenditures, and Fiscal Policy

Highway Demands, pg. 420

During the 1990s, highway usage increased 4.1 percent per year; however, highway capacity grew only 0.25 percent annually. Every day Texans travel almost 560 million miles on the state's roads. Increased truck traffic has further damaged Texas's highways. There is no disagreement about the need to build and repair state roadways. Elected officials continue to debate how to finance the construction. Proposals by the 77th Legislature ranged from borrowing against future federal highway grants to constructing more toll roads. In the end, the legislature decided to ask citizens of the Lone Star State to approve a constitutional amendment creating a highway bond fund and allowing state spending on toll roads.