Texas Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==Transportation== {{main|Transportation in Texas}} [[File:High Five.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|The [[High Five Interchange]] in [[Dallas]]]] The state's large size and rough terrain have historically complicated transportation. Texas has compensated by building the nation's largest highway and railway systems. The [[regulatory authority]], the [[Texas Department of Transportation]] (TxDOT), maintains the state's highway system, regulates aviation,<ref name="texdotaviation">{{cite web |title=Aviation Division |publisher=Texas Department of Transportation |url=http://www.txdot.gov/business/aviation/default.htm |access-date=July 22, 2009 |archive-date=July 10, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090710134535/http://www.txdot.gov/business/aviation/default.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[public transportation]] systems.<ref name="texdottransport">{{cite web|title=Transportation Division |publisher=Texas Department of Transportation |url=http://www.dot.state.tx.us/services/public_transportation/default.htm |access-date=April 29, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080501171426/http://www.dot.state.tx.us/services/public_transportation/default.htm |archive-date=May 1, 2008 }}</ref> The state is an important [[transportation hub]]. From the Dallas/Fort Worth area, trucks can reach 93 percent of the nation's population within 48 hours, and 37 percent within 24 hours.<ref name="JDFTransport">{{cite web|title=5 Reasons To Choose the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex As A Distribution Hub |publisher=JDF Distribution |url=http://jdfdistribution.com/pdf/dallas-for-distribution.pdf?doc=dfd.pdf |access-date=October 14, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081028193024/http://jdfdistribution.com/pdf/dallas-for-distribution.pdf?doc=dfd.pdf |archive-date=October 28, 2008 }}</ref> Texas has 33 [[Special Economic Zone|foreign trade zones]] (FTZ), the most in the nation.<ref name="FTZ1">{{cite web|date=August 2007 |title=Texas and General Foreign Trade Zones Information |publisher=Office of the Governor of Texas |url=http://www.texasone.us/site/DocServer/Texas_FTZs_Document_2007.pdf?docID=2221 |access-date=June 21, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150214163035/http://www.texasone.us/site/DocServer/Texas_FTZs_Document_2007.pdf?docID=2221 |archive-date=February 14, 2015}}</ref> In 2004, a combined total of $298 billion of goods passed through Texas FTZs.<ref name="FTZ1" /> ===Highways=== {{main|Texas state highways}} [[File:Welcome to Texas sign, 2008.jpg|thumb|"Welcome to Texas" sign, entering the state from Arkansas on [[Interstate 30]]]] The first Texas freeway was the [[Gulf Freeway]] opened in 1948 in Houston.<ref name="txfwy">{{cite web |title=Interstate 45 South, the Gulf Freeway |website=TexasFreeway.com |date=May 28, 2001 |url=http://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston/photos/45s/i45s.shtml |access-date=October 15, 2008}}</ref> As of 2005, {{convert|79535|mi|km|0}} of public highway crisscrossed Texas (up from {{convert|71000|mi|km|-3|disp=or|abbr=out}} in 1984).<ref name="highwaymiles">{{cite web |title=LoneStarRoads—Highways of Texas |publisher=AARoads |date=February 9, 2008 |url=http://www.aaroads.com/texas/ |access-date=April 20, 2008}}</ref> To fund recent growth in the state highways, Texas has [[List of Toll Roads in the United States#Texas|17 toll roads]] with several additional [[tollway]]s proposed.<ref name="tollways2">{{cite web|title=Global List of Toll Facilities—United States |publisher=International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association |year=2005 |url=http://www.ibtta.org/Information/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2530 |access-date=April 20, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090113051058/http://www.ibtta.org/Information/content.cfm?ItemNumber=2530 |archive-date=January 13, 2009 }}</ref> In [[Central Texas]], the southern section of the [[Texas State Highway 130|State Highway 130]] toll road has a speed limit of {{convert|85|mph|km/h}}, the highest in the nation.<ref name="abcnews-130open">{{cite news |last1=Owens |first1=Owens |last2=Sunseri |first2=Gina |title=Speeding Through Texas: Going 85 MPH on the Nation's Fastest Highway |publisher=[[ABC News]] |date=October 24, 2012 |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/speeding-texas-85-mph-highway-opens/story?id=17549839 |access-date=October 28, 2012}}</ref> All federal and state highways in Texas are paved. ===Airports=== {{See also|List of airports in Texas}}[[File:20110123 DFW terminal D.jpg|thumb|Terminal D at [[Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport]]]] [[File:Bush terminal E.jpg|thumb|Terminal E at [[George Bush Intercontinental Airport]] in Houston]]Texas has 730 airports, second-most of any state in the nation. Largest in Texas by size and passengers served, [[Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport]] (DFW) is the second-largest by area in the United States, and fourth in the world with {{convert|18076|acre|km2}}.<ref name="DFWAir">{{cite web|url=http://www.dfwairport.com/visitor/index.php?ctnid=24254 |title=Facts about DFW |access-date=October 14, 2008 |website=Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080912234631/http://www.dfwairport.com/visitor/index.php?ctnid=24254 |archive-date=September 12, 2008}}</ref> In traffic, DFW airport is the busiest in the state, the fourth busiest in the United States,<ref name="GreatPlacesAvi">{{cite web |title=10 Great Places for Aviation and Aerospace |author=Jennifer LeClaire |website=Southern Business and Development |url=http://www.sb-d.com/archivesite/www.sb-d.com/issues/spring2007/features/10GreatPlacesForAviationAndAerospace.html |access-date=April 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716012226/http://www.sb-d.com/archivesite/www.sb-d.com/issues/spring2007/features/10GreatPlacesForAviationAndAerospace.html |archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref> and sixth worldwide.<ref name="DFWAir2">{{cite news |title=Dallas–Fort Worth International Airport |work=[[USA Today]]|url=http://destinations.usatoday.com/dallas/ |access-date=April 28, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630002132/http://destinations.usatoday.com/dallas/ |archive-date=June 30, 2007}}</ref> [[Southwest Airlines]], headquartered in Dallas, has its operations at [[Dallas Love Field]].<ref name="SW1">{{cite web |url=http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/airborne.html |title=We Weren't Just Airborne Yesterday |date=May 2, 2007 |publisher=Southwest Airlines |access-date=June 9, 2007}}</ref> [[American Airlines Group]]'s [[American Airlines|American]] / [[American Eagle Airlines|American Eagle]], the world's largest airline in total passengers-miles transported and passenger fleet size,<ref>{{cite web |author=Investor Relations |url=http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=117098&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1921786&highlight== |title=American Airlines | Investor Relations | News Release |website=Phx.corporate-ir.net |access-date=August 2, 2014}}</ref> uses DFW as its largest and main [[Airline hub|hub]]. Texas's second-largest air facility is Houston's [[George Bush Intercontinental Airport]] (IAH). It serves as the largest hub for [[United Airlines]], the world's third-largest airline, by passenger-miles flown.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ir.unitedcontinentalholdings.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-newsArticle&id=1889262 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20140318221457/http://ir.unitedcontinentalholdings.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=83680&p=irol-newsArticle&id=1889262 |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 18, 2014 |title=United Continental Holdings, Inc.—Investor Relations—News |website=Ir.unitedcontinentalholdings.com |date=January 8, 2014 |access-date=August 2, 2014 }}</ref>{{efn|Based on the industry-standard measure of revenue passenger-kilometers/miles flown.}} IAH offers service to the most Mexican destinations of any U.S. airport.<ref name="GBAir1">{{cite web |title=About George Bush Intercontinental Airport |publisher=Houston Airport System |url=http://www.houstonairportsystem.org/iahAbout |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071013160110/http://www.houstonairportsystem.org/iahAbout |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 13, 2007 |access-date=June 28, 2008 }}</ref><ref name="GBAir2">{{cite press release|title=Houston Emerges As The Premier Gateway In The U.S. For Travelers To Mexico |publisher=Houston Airport System |date=April 12, 2005 |url=http://www.fly2houston.com/0/8178/0/1906D1940/ |access-date=December 30, 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928091617/http://www.fly2houston.com/0/8178/0/1906D1940/ |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref> The next five largest airports in the state all serve more than three million passengers annually; they include [[Austin-Bergstrom International Airport]], [[William P. Hobby Airport]], [[San Antonio International Airport]], [[Dallas Love Field]] and [[El Paso International Airport]]. The smallest airport in the state to be designated an international airport is [[Del Rio International Airport]]. ===Ports=== {{main|List of ports in the United States}} [[File:Houston Ship Channel.jpg|thumb|[[Port of Houston]] along the [[Houston Ship Channel]]|left]] Around 1,150 [[seaports]] dot Texas's coast with over {{convert|1000|mi|km}} of [[channel (geography)|channels]].<ref name="ports1">{{cite web |title=About Texas Ports |publisher=Texas Ports Association |url=http://www.texasports.org/ |access-date=May 7, 2008}}</ref> Ports employ nearly one-million people and handle an average of 317 million [[metric tons]].<ref name="portbenefits">{{cite web |title=Benefits of Texas Ports |publisher=Texas Ports Association |url=http://www.texasports.org/benefits/ |access-date=May 7, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728092744/http://www.texasports.org/benefits/ |archive-date=July 28, 2011 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Texas ports connect with the rest of the U.S. Atlantic seaboard with the [[Gulf Intracoastal Waterway|Gulf]] section of the [[Intracoastal Waterway]].<ref name="ports1" /> The [[Port of Houston]] today is the busiest port in the United States in foreign tonnage, second in overall tonnage, and [[List of world's busiest ports by cargo tonnage|tenth]] worldwide in tonnage.<ref name="porthouston">{{cite web|date=March 31, 2008 |title=General Information |publisher=The Port of Houston Authority |url=http://www.portofhouston.com/geninfo/overview1.html |access-date=May 7, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509141210/http://www.portofhouston.com/geninfo/overview1.html |archive-date=May 9, 2008 }}</ref> The [[Houston Ship Channel]] spans {{convert|530|ft|m}} wide by {{convert|45|ft|m}} deep by {{convert|50|mi|km}} long.<ref name="HGnav">"Welcome to the Houston-Galveston Navigation Channel Project Online Resource Center" (description), [[United States Army Corps of Engineers]], December 2005, [http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/items/hgnc/ United States Army Corps of Engineers] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109052637/http://www.swg.usace.army.mil/items/hgnc/ |date=January 9, 2009 }}</ref> ===Railroads=== [[File:Westmoreland Station August 2019 5.jpg|thumb|[[DART Light Rail]] in Dallas]] [[File:METRO Light Rail3.jpg|thumb|[[METRORail]] in Houston]] {{See also|List of Texas railroads}}Part of the state's [[Cowboy#Texas tradition|tradition]] of cowboys is derived from the massive [[Cattle drives in the United States|cattle drives]] which its ranchers organized in the nineteenth century to [[Cattle drives in the United States|drive]] livestock to railroads and markets. The first railroad to operate in Texas was the [[Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway]], opening in August 1853.<ref>{{cite Handbook of Texas |first=George C. |last=Werner |id=eqb16 |title=Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway |date=June 12, 2010}}</ref> The first railroad to enter Texas from the north, completed in 1872, was the {{nowrap|[[Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad]]}}.<ref>{{cite Handbook of Texas |first=Donovan L. |last=Hofsommer |id=eqm08 |title=Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad |date=June 15, 2010}}</ref> With increasing railroad access, the ranchers did not have to take their livestock up to the Midwest and shipped beef out from Texas. This caused a decline in the economies of the cow towns.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Western Economic Expansion: Railroads and Cattle |work=US History II (American Yawp)|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/ushistory2ay/chapter/western-economic-expansion-railroads-and-cattle-2/|accessdate=December 28, 2020|publisher=Lumen Learning}}</ref> Since 1911, Texas has led the nation in length of railroad miles within the state. Texas railway length peaked in 1932 at {{convert|17078|mi|km}}, but declined to {{convert|14006|mi|km}} by 2000. While the [[Railroad Commission of Texas]] originally regulated state railroads, in 2005 the state reassigned these duties to TxDOT.<ref name="RRCMove">{{cite web|title=Former Rail Division |publisher=Texas Railroad Commission |date=October 1, 2005 |url=http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/divisions/rail_moved/index.html?/rail.html |access-date=May 4, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080506073304/http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/divisions/rail_moved/index.html?%2Frail.html |archive-date=May 6, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the Dallas–Fort Worth area, three public transit agencies provide rail service: [[Dallas Area Rapid Transit]] (DART), [[Denton County Transportation Authority]] (DCTA), and [[Trinity Metro]]. DART began operating the first light rail system in the Southwest United States in 1996.<ref name="DARTLightRail">{{cite news |last=Myerson |first=Allen R. |date=June 14, 1996 |title=Dallas Opening Southwest's First Rail Transit |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01EFD81739F937A25755C0A960958260 |access-date=May 11, 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919043630/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D01EFD81739F937A25755C0A960958260 |archive-date=September 19, 2008}}</ref> The [[Trinity Railway Express]] (TRE) [[commuter rail]] service, which connects Fort Worth and Dallas, is provided by [[Trinity Metro]] and DART.<ref name="TRE">{{cite web |title=Trinity Railroad Express |url=http://www.trinityrailwayexpress.org/ |access-date=June 11, 2008}}</ref> Trinity Metro also operates the [[TEXRail]] commuter rail line, connecting downtown Fort Worth and Northeast Tarrant County to DFW Airport.<ref>{{cite news|date=January 4, 2019|title=TEXRail to begin service Thursday after delay due to government shutdown|work=WFAA|url=https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/local/tarrant-county/texrail-to-begin-service-thursday-after-delay-due-to-government-shutdown/287-626199928|access-date=April 10, 2019}}</ref> The [[A-train (Denton County)|A-train]] commuter rail line, operated by DCTA, acts as an extension of the DART Green line into Denton County.<ref>{{cite web |title=DART inMotion 2011 |url=https://www.dart.org/about/inmotion/fall11/4.htm |access-date=April 10, 2019}}</ref> In the Austin area, [[Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority]] operates a commuter rail service known as [[Capital MetroRail]] to the northwestern suburbs. The [[Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas]] (METRO) operates light rail lines called [[METRORail]] in the Houston area.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About METRO|url=https://www.ridemetro.org:443/Pages/AboutMetro.aspx|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=ridemetro.org|language=en-US}}</ref> [[Amtrak]] provides Texas with limited intercity passenger rail service. Three scheduled routes serve the state: the daily ''[[Texas Eagle]]'' {{nowrap|(Chicago–San Antonio)}}; the tri-weekly ''[[Sunset Limited]]'' {{nowrap|(New Orleans–Los Angeles)}}, with stops in Texas; and the daily ''[[Heartland Flyer]]'' {{nowrap|(Fort Worth–Oklahoma City)}}. Texas may get one of the nation's first [[high-speed rail]] line. Plans for a privately funded high-speed rail line between Dallas and Houston have been planned by the [[Texas Central Railway]] company.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Garnham|first=Juan Pablo|date=September 21, 2020|title=High-speed train between Dallas and Houston gets federal approval|url=https://www.texastribune.org/2020/09/21/dallas-houston-high-speed-train/|access-date=December 28, 2020|website=The Texas Tribune}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page