October 5, 2015 4:27 PM

Transportation Commission rolls out multi-modal freight plan

Harris County Judge Ed Emmett lays out a plan for the state’s long term freight needs: $44.8 billion across 1,225 projects. "You have to define Texas as a freight network.”

The concept of a “multimodal transportation system” is back on the table at the Texas Transportation Commission, but without the baggage of the long-vilified and much-maligned Trans-Texas Corridor.

The Texas Department of Transportation convened a freight mobility plan committee back in 2013, helmed by Harris County Judge Ed Emmett. Last week, Emmett and staff presented the numbers needed to address the state’s long-term freight needs, and the numbers are big: $44.8 billion across 1,225 projects.

“The reality is moving freight is critical to the economy,” said Emmett, who admitted the pending report was one of the hardest tasks of his career. “The quickest way to have stagnation of the economy is to fail to move freight.”

By Kimberly Reeves