Photo courtesy of TxDOT
A key element of the I-35 Statewide Corridor Plan is to have six or more lanes from the Red River to Rio Grande.
Interstate 35, with more than 588 mi. of highway, passes through seven Texas Department of Transportation districts from the Rio Grande in the south to Red River.
The state is continuing to make considerable investments for contractors to repair, rebuild and upgrade roads and bridges to reduce congestion, improve safety and ensure it meets the needs of a rapidly growing population and surging economy.
Along I-35, 19 of the top 100 most congested roadway segments in the state are along this corridor, according to TxDOT.
Photo courtesy of TxDOT
Construction crews will remain busy on this corridor for the next handful of years, excavating areas, extending highways, building bridges and much more.
Currently, 32 projects worth $4.8 billion are under way, 34 projects ($7.8 billion) are fully funded in the 2024 UTP and 47 potential projects (unfunded/partially funded) worth $14.8 billion are being considered.
Since 2015, 111 highway projects have been completed, at a cost of $7.1 billion.
This has resulted in many contracts being awarded to general contractors, along with the subcontractors they hired.
"Our seven TxDOT districts [along the I-35 corridor] continue to work together and are committed to strategically delivering needed transportation improvement, effectively and efficiently," said Carl Johnson, TxDOT's director of district operations.
To build upon that project delivery success, the DOT has issued an additional $837 million in new projects that are currently under construction.
Between March 2023 and last February 2024 projects worth $2.75 billion have been completed and four projects worth $837 million are under way.
A key element of the I-35 Statewide Corridor Plan is to have six or more lanes from the Red River to Rio Grande.
The investments in the seven districts include:
- Wichita Falls District has one $208.4 million of project under way, with $738 million of fully funded projects (six) in the 2024 UTP;
- Dallas District has $2.779 billion of completed projects (22) since 2015, $998 million in projects (nine) under construction, $1.783 billion in fully funded projects in the 2024 UTC and $74 million for future projects (22);
- Fort Worth District has $1.997 billion in projects (five) completed, one $13.4 million project under construction and two $38 million fully funded projects in the 2024 UTP;
- Waco District has $1.1783 billion in completed projects (32), $261 million in one fully-funded project in the 2024 UT and $102 million in potential future projects;
- Austin District has $374 million in completed projects (26), $2,282 million in 12 projects under construction, $4.567 billion in 10 fully-funded projects in the 2024 UTP and $371 million in two potential future projects;
- San Antonio has $205 million in 19 completed projects, $2.282 billion in five projects under way, $361 million in two fully-funded projects in the 2024 UTP and $344 million in four potential future projects;
- Laredo has $9 million in completed projects (7), $15 million for four projects under way, $29 million in two fully-funded projects in the 2024 UTP and $20 million in potential future projects.
The I-35 corridor is vital to Texas's economy and is responsible for $1.2 trillion — or 49 percent — of the state's GDP.
"If it were a country, Texas would be the 8th largest economy in the world, ahead of Australia, Italy, Mexico, Russia and Spain," wrote Ryan Lafontaine, a TxDOT media relations specialist. "That sort of success can be attributed to many factors, but perhaps none more vital than the 588 miles of Interstate 35 stretching from the Rio Grande to the Red River."
Photo courtesy of TxDOT
"The purpose of the I-35 initiative is to develop a coordinated strategic plan among the seven TxDOT districts to address one of the most significant corridors from the state, national and international standpoint," said Johnson. "TxDOT remains more focused than ever on developing funding and constructing projects that will enhance the safety and efficiency of the I-35 corridor.
"The corridor directly supports many of the key economic sectors in the state," he added. "It includes a supply chain network valued at more than $300 billion in trade, 1.6 million jobs associated with more than 52,000 establishments in the manufacturing, transportation and warehousing sectors."
He added that the corridor supports 72 higher education institutes and nearly 400,000 jobs in the national security sector.
Corridor By the Numbers
The I-35 supports the state's growing population and employment, key economic sectors, the Bi-National Automotive Manufacturing Cluster and growing cross-border truck trade freight tonnage. This is supported by the fact the corridor represents 17 percent of Texas interstate mileage, 24 percent of Texas daily interstate miles driven, 7 percent of all daily vehicle miles driven in Texas, 24 percent of Texas daily interstate truck miles driven, 11 percent of all daily truck vehicle miles driven in Texas and 256 mi. (43 percent) is less than six lanes.
Congestion is a given in the 1-35 corridor as the population within it rose from 9.8 million in 2002 to 14.6 million in 2022. The number of jobs also increased by 49.5 percent in the same period, going from 4.5 million to 6.7 million. The jobs require an effective highway to handle the 9.4 billion lbs. of landed weight at six cargo airports; 1.6 million jobs at 52,800 businesses ($356 billion of the GDP) in the manufacturing, transportation, and warehousing sector; and 390,000 jobs at military bases worth $42 billion of the GDP. In addition, 72 (39 percent) of the state's colleges and universities are in the corridor.
Photo courtesy of TxDOT
"Sixty-two percent of trade value moving by trucks between Texas and Mexico," states the report, "crossed through the Laredo and Eagle Pass points of entry in 2022."
This translated to a significant increase in the value of goods moved by trucks — $165 billion in 2016 to $248 billion in 2022. The state plans to build bridges to handle this trade at the Puerto Verde Global Trade, Eagle Pass — Piedras Negras II Rail Bridge, the International Bridge 4/5 and an expansion of the Camino Real International Bridge.
Increased traffic volumes will pose serious challenges, including "growing daily traffic volumes, high annual average daily tuck volumes, growing cross-border truck traffic, ‘top 100' congested roadway segments [and] safety hotspots."
A 64 percent increase in projected daily vehicle miles traveled is expected, going from 49.6 million to 81.3 million miles in 2050.
Daily vehicle miles travelled increased by 17 percent from 42 million in 2015 to 50 million in 2022; and daily truck vehicle miles travelled increased by 25 percent from eight million to 10 million. The report notes, that due to the new construction, annual congestion costs in the "Top 100" segments had decreased by 1.3 percent from $897 million in 2019 to $886 million in 2022. CEG
Irwin Rapoport
A journalist who started his career at a weekly community newspaper, Irwin Rapoport has written about construction and architecture for more than 15 years, as well as a variety of other subjects, such as recycling, environmental issues, business supply chains, property development, pulp and paper, agriculture, solar power and energy, and education. Getting the story right and illustrating the hard work and professionalism that goes into completing road, bridge, and building projects is important to him. A key element of his construction articles is to provide readers with an opportunity to see how general contractors and departments of transportation complete their projects and address challenges so that lessons learned can be shared with a wider audience.
Rapoport has a BA in History and a Minor in Political Science from Concordia University. His hobbies include hiking, birding, cycling, reading, going to concerts and plays, hanging out with friends and family, and architecture. He is keen to one day write an MA thesis on military and economic planning by the Great Powers prior to the start of the First World War.
Read more from Irwin Rapoport here.
Today's top stories
