Stalled road projects will get cash infusion

State officials are allocating an extra $163.8 million to highway projects in Tarrant County, money freed up last year when legislators stopped diverting $1.3 billion in highway fund money to non-road spending.

It’s hard to argue with extra money for roads, and in this case the targeted projects are particularly worthy. Those projects have long been planned, but they’ve been on hold for lack of funding.

One is the Texas 121/360 intersection in southern Grapevine. Northbound and southbound drivers must merge and change lanes in sometimes hazardous ways as these two heavily traveled highways converge.

The Texas 121/Loop 820 interchange where Fort Worth, Hurst and Richland Hills come together was left out of the recent North Tarrant Express freeway/tollway expansion project, and now it’s a bottleneck where traffic exiting the North Tarrant Express comes to a standstill. Funding to ease congestion is welcome.

Finally, speeded-up funding is scheduled for Texas 199 in the Azle area.

The Legislature was wise to end diversions of highway fund money, and transportation officials are wise to quickly target the money where it will ease traffic congestion.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Stalled road projects will get cash infusion."