Of the many things unique to Texas, there’s a north-south interstate which does not terminate into another interstate. Interstate 27 starts in Amarillo and goes south, but when you get to Lubbock, it abruptly changes into U.S. Highway 87. I-27 isn’t finished yet and the effort to extend it down to Laredo has stalled.
Rep. Dustin Burrows (R-Lubbock) filed a bill this legislative session requesting a feasibility study that would look at what would happen if the highway construction resumed, taking it all the way down to the Texas-Mexico border.
Jon Rutter, with the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, says there’s already been a feasibility study about the interstate, and the plan to continue it has been floated before, but the big idea hasn’t changed much.
“The big picture is that they are looking for a multi-state extension of the highway going from Texas through west Texas to Denver and points north,” he says. “This is no different than some of the early 20th-century highway organizations that looked for multi-state highway corridors prior to the creation of the interstate highway.”
What you’ll hear in this segment:
– Whether this highway will help alleviate traffic congestion on other highways
– Will this highway get built?
