Amid Financial Woes, Texas Ponders 'Unpaving' Roads

摘要

Thanks to the energy boom in central and west Texas, heavy trucks carrying oil and natural gas are tearing up rural farm-to-market roadways that were never intended to bear such 100,000-lb loads. Since the Texas Dept. of Transportation doesn't have the funding to maintain more than 80,000 miles of roads across the Lone Star State, it plans to "unpave" 83 miles of damaged roads. For now, TxDOT plans to convert its damaged road surfaces in central and west Texas. Only two roads-a three-mile stretch of I-37 frontage road in Live Oak County and a portion of Farm-to-Market Road 1916 in Dimmit County-have been converted to "high-end unpaved roads."