Full video of my 10/23 TribLive conversation with state Rep. Travis Clardy, R-Nacogdoches, and state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State University. 

Attendees at the first public meeting on a proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston told federal officials they're for the project — so long as the stations are conveniently located downtown. 

It's one thing to say highway funds should go to highways. The problem is with all of the other programs those funds support, like the Department of Public Safety — and where to get the money to replace the highway funds when the budgets are straightened out.

If a statewide proposition on this year's ballot passes, the Texas Department of Transportation could pull in billions of dollars in additional funding for new highway projects. So what is Proposition 1, and how would it work? 

Over the next year, at least half a dozen other Texas cities are likely to tackle the same thorny debate that's under way in Austin over how to regulate vehicle-for-hire apps like Uber and Lyft while maintaining traditional taxi services.

At the Texas A&M Transportation Institute, researchers test steel barriers designed to guard federal embassies by crashing trucks into them. Watch video of a recent test.

A proposed high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston, already the subject of a federal environmental review, will soon be the focus of public meetings in Texas, according to the president of the firm looking to build the line.

Gov. Rick Perry spoke about the need to embrace every possible way to finance road construction — outside of raising taxes — in a speech to a toll road industry conference in Austin on Tuesday.

As the debate over rail projects takes place on state and local levels, Austin voters will weigh in this year on a ballot measure that would allow the city to borrow money toward expanding its light-rail network. But nobody is touting the plan as a clear solution to the city's congestion. Read the full story at KUT News.

Harris and Dallas counties have the dubious honor of claiming the most spots in the state's latest list of the 100 most congested roadways in Texas. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute has compiled the list annually for the Texas Department of Transportation since 2010. TTI officials said this report, released Friday, is the most accurate yet, incorporating more complete data on traffic and vehicle speeds across the state.

The Federal Railroad Administration is seeking public comment on a request by Union Pacific to transfer some train safety inspections away from a rail yard in El Paso due to border violence.

The Texas Department of Transportation plans to partner with universities to research futuristic technologies like self-driving cars, hover cars and embedding solar panels in roads.

At last month's Republican state convention, delegates approved a platform less amenable to toll roads, and Attorney General Greg Abbott vowed to build more roads "without raising a single penny in taxes, fees or tolls" if elected governor. The moves mark a striking shift from Gov. Rick Perry's efforts to promote tolling.

Many Texans have wondered why no application centers for the TSA’s PreCheck program exist within 100 miles of Austin or San Antonio. But the agency is now taking steps to change that: A center is slated to open at the Austin airport by the end of the year.

The company behind the 41-mile southern portion of State Highway 130 is low on cash and scrambling to get an upcoming payment deadline waived, according to a report released this week by Moody’s Investors Service.

The Texas Turnpike Corporation of Dallas wants to build a private toll road in an area northeast of Dallas. If built, the road would be the only private toll road in the state and one of the only such facilities in the country. Local transportation planners are keeping an open mind.

Funding for roads and other transportation projects could draw an unusual amount of sustained attention in the coming months as federal highway funds are on the verge of drying up and Texans prepare to vote in November on a measure to boost TxDOT's budget.

LaSalle County, which is in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale, has sued the Texas Department of Transportation over the administration of a $225 million grant program aimed at repairing roads damaged by oilfield traffic. TxDOT says the program is being handled properly.