Transportation & Aviation

As state lawmakers meet in a third special session to consider new road funding North Texas planners are staring at some sobering facts. 

The population of the DFW region is expected to grow almost 50% in the next two decades.  But planners say the new money would only pay for one fifth of what’s needed to eliminate the gridlock.

It’s why they’re encouraging drivers to park their cars and change their lifestyles.

The two-year state budget deal that appears to be coming together in Austin would restore $3.93 billion of the $5.4 billion in public education money cut last session. 

It would also take $2 billion in Rainy Day savings money to create a loan fund to build water projects. 

It’s unclear whether another proposed loan fund of up to $2.7 billion to build new roads will be part of the new budget.  

Just about every four minutes there’s someone new coming to the Dallas-Fort Worth area. That’s according to a new analysis of Census Bureau Data which shows DFW is the fastest-growing metropolitan area in the Nation. The new numbers are a cause for celebration; they’re also a call for preparation.

The new managed toll lanes that are part of highway improvements in North Texas now have a name. Those are the new toll lanes that charge different rates at different times. And existing HOV lanes also have some changes ahead.  

The Dallas City Council is ready to spell out the rules of the road for the city’s new bike lanes. One of the shared lanes is on Main Street downtown. 

School buses delivering students to the first day of classes in the city of Dallas are equipped with an extra safety feature. They now have cameras that will catch and ticket cars that run the “stop arm” and drive past the bus unloading students.

In two weeks the Dallas Area Rapid Transit System will for the first time provide service for Mesquite. 

Mesquite is not part of DART, but the city has agreed to pay the transit agency $303,000 a year in exchange for Mesquite riders having access toDART’s buses and trains.

For seven dollars a day riders will be able to take an express bus from Mesquite’s Hanby Stadium to DART’s green line at the Lawnview station. 

From there Mesquite passengers can use the entire DART system.

Fort Worth Mayor Betsy Price had a lot of positive things to say during her “State of the City” address.  But she’s also calling Fort Worth citizens to action.