Texas Goes Perpetual on I-35

摘要

The Texas Department of Transportation has wasted no time implementing perpetual pavement materials and specifications for major reconstruction projects in its federal aid highways. One of the first such projects undertaken in 2002 is an 8-mile, two-lane section of Interstate 35 in Cotulla, about 60 miles north of Laredo on the Mexican border. In 2001, average daily traffic for this section was 12,400 vehicles, with trucks comprising about 36% of the traffic. However, traffic volume is picking up every year, partly because of the NAFTA-inspired cross-border trade, and DOT projections call for average daily traffic counts of 23,100 vehicles by 2021.