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Texas Population Booming
One of the most consistent messages coming out of the Texas Department of Transportation is the strain Texas’ surging population will place on the state’s existing infrastructure.
That message was reinforced recently by the U.S. Census Bureau report on the country's most populous cities, which stated that between 2005 and 2006, Texas has undergone the biggest increase in population, with Florida and California second and third, respectively.
In fact, Texas cities dominated the list of the 10 highest numerical gainers, with San Antonio, Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and Dallas each making the top 10. Overall, Texas leads all states in numerical gains, with eight Texas cities among the top 25.
Additionally, on the list of the 10 fastest-growing cities, three were from the D/FW Metroplex: McKinney, Grand Prairie, and Denton. Fort Worth just missed the list, ranking at number 11.
TxDOT has been analyzing this growth trend and is applying it to transportation, estimating that while use of the roads will go up 214 percent over the next 25 years, without new funding sources, road capacity is estimated to increase only 6 percent. While this growth is good news for economic development, the demand on the state’s infrastructure will be great.
