WACO, TX — Suiting up in a bright orange construction vest and a blinding white hard hat, Senator John Cornyn was in Waco on Monday to experience the I-35 construction first hand.
“It's great to be back in Central Texas in McLennan County, Waco, Texas,” said Senator Cornyn. “This is ground zero, when it comes to keeping our traffic moving.”
The interstate practically splits the state in half, which is why The Texas Department of Transportation Chairman Bruce Bugg explained that renovating key sections of the interstate will benefit all Texans.
“We catalog what projects we need to advance so that I-35 Mainstreet Texas continues to be of service not only to Texans, but also the Texas economy,” Bugg said. “So much right, goes up and down 35.”
The project is fully funded, all $341 million of it, but that doesn’t stop txdot from looking toward the future.
“We're all working together to do things like bring more infrastructure to Waco,” Stan Swaitek, the district engineer for the Waco division of TxDOT said. “The list is a lot farther than we have money for, but you know, we all have wish lists.”
If you’re sick of sitting in traffic, good news is on the horizon.
“The hard part of this job is done, which is the underground,” Swaitek said. “We don't have a lot of unknowns out there that we may have had when we first started.”
The project is expected to be completed by late 2022, as Senator Cornyn said he hopes it will improve all aspects of life.
“Infrastructure is important to our state and to our nation,” he explained. “This is where we improve public safety, we make sure our roads are safe, we improve air quality.”
Senator Cornyn explained that federal funding is vital for projects like this, but believes some infrastructure plans from the Biden administration would hurt local economies.
