State Sen. Kirk Watson will reveal several ambitious proposals for infrastructure investments in Interstate 35 on Thursday, and none of them involve asking Austin voters for permission this November. Watson, former mayor of Austin, is set to deliver his suite of ideas at a Downtown Austin Alliance-sponsored luncheon at a hotel on the south shore […]
Kirk Watson
Former State Senator Kirk Watson represented District 14 and was first elected to the Texas Senate in 2006, as a Democrat. He served as mayor of Austin from 1997 to 2001.
Posted inRoads
East Austin superhighway breaks ground
Scores of people gathered on the northern banks of the Colorado River in East Austin on Wednesday morning to watch the ceremonial birth of a massive new roadway expansion effort. Through the distant white noise of fast-moving traffic zipping along on three overhead bridges, the crowd heard Central Texas Regional Mobility Authority officials lavish praise […]
Posted inRoads
Discount program aims to detour truckers around Austin
The Texas Transportation Commission voted on Thursday to give cross-state truckers extra incentive to avoid Austin’s notoriously congested stretch of Interstate 35. With only one dissenting voice, the five-person commission – a board of gubernatorial appointees that oversees the Texas Department of Transportation – gave the green light to a temporary discount program to lure […]
Posted inEnvironment, Resources
New ozone standards may be challenge for Austin
The Austin area has a strong track record for meeting federal ground-level ozone standards, but a proposal to tighten regulations means that the region will likely have to work harder to stay in attainment. Failing to do so could make it more difficult for the city and its neighbors to achieve common transportation goals. That’s […]
Posted inAISD, Education, Texas State Legislature
Why Texas isn’t paying for what it wants from Austin’s classrooms
Travis County and the City of Austin take part in a regular fiscal dance with the State of Texas over who pays the costs of government. Over the next three days, KUT News and the Austin Monitor will look at key examples of that interaction in our series, “The Buck Starts Here.” Today, we take […]
Posted inDevelopment, Local Government, Transportation
Watson: Shorting Texas transportation needs hurts state’s future
State Senator Kirk Watson offered attendees at Wednesday’s Austin Chamber of Commerce’s State of Transportation lunch a steady diet of road talk. Though Watson did briefly mention the importance of other regional transportation modes during the course of a roughly 30-minute speech, his focus stayed firmly on pavement. Watson framed the issue in terms […]