The Texas Department of Public Transportation is once again considering whether to extend Interstate 27 northward from Amarillo and southward from Lubbock down to the Mexican border.
I-27 currently stretches 117 miles from Amarillo to Lubbock.
As The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal notes, a previous bill to study the expansion idea never made it out of the committee stage last session. The notion has now been resurrected, however, due to a recommendation from the Texas Transportation Commission.
Michael Reeves, President of the Ports-to-Plains Alliance, noted the heavy flow of freight heading north from Mexico. He also pointed out that there is not currently a major north-south corridor west of I-35. The project would bring a good deal of new money into the High Plains region.
A 2015 iteration of the study found that the extension project would cost around $7 billion.