Texas is flush with tons of transportation cash

In the last decade, there has been a highway construction boom in Texas. On the other hand, lawmakers in Olympia still scramble to fund road maintenance.

Texas, a state with a population of 27 million, is flush with cash thanks partly to a 10-year voter approved initiative which will pump $2 billion a year into highways. Then recently, that state’s legislature added $9 billion to further help relieve traffic congestion.

What’s Texas doing that we aren’t? The answer is private-public partnerships.

Since 2011, the state’s transportation department (TxDOT) has been allowed to enter into agreement...