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Gov. Perry Adds Highway Funding To Special Session

Todd Dwyer
/
Texas Tribune

With only two weeks left, Gov. Rick Perry has added funding for transportation to the special session which until now has been devoted solely to redistricting.

In a statement released Monday, Perry said the state's growing economy and population made additional spending on roads and bridges necessary.

 
In January, Perry asked the legislature to use  money from the state's rainy day fund to build new  highways, but lawmakers  failed to pass the legislation. 

 
State transportation leaders say Texas needs to spend about $4 billion more per year on roads.

 
The Texas Department of Transportation manages nearly 200 million miles of roads and more than 50,000 bridges. The agency largely relies on a 20-cents-a-gallon fuel tax that hasn't been raised since 1991.
 

Former KERA staffer Shelley Kofler was news director, managing editor and senior reporter. She is an award-winning reporter and television producer who previously served as the Austin bureau chief and legislative reporter for North Texas ABC affiliate WFAA-TV.