Henry Cuellar for Congress | Proven Leadership for Texas

As a five-term member of the Texas House Appropriations Committee, Henry Cuellar championed getting more funding for TxDOT’s construction and maintenance expenditures in underserved areas--the rural and border areas while not forgetting urban areas.

Henry Cuellar believes Texas must have the best transportation infrastructure in the nation to take advantage of all the opportunities of NAFTA. With NAFTA and increased truck traffic there has been a need for increased planning and construction along the border.

As State Representative, Henry Cuellar led in funding border highways and bridges while in office. He was the first legislator to request that the Texas Department of Transportation adjust funding highways impacted by international trade.

During the 76th Legislative Session, Cuellar joined efforts with other border legislators and the Texas Department of Transportation to provide a historic funding package benefiting border infrastructure in the amount of $1.8 billion.

In 1998, Henry Cuellar supported the TxDot putting an additional $191 million in border district discretionary fund to move faster border construction. Cuellar has supported TxDOT on using Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to improve the movement of traffic at the border ports-of-entry.

Cuellar has supported the Automobile Theft Prevention Port Authority (ATPA) to combat motor vehicle theft. Millions of dollars have been awarded in grants for border and rural counties to fight motor vehicle theft. As a five-term member of House Appropriations Committee, Cuellar pushed to dramatically increase TxDOT’s combined construction and maintenance expenditures for the border areas from $142 million in 1990 to $475 million in 2000. Cuellar has strongly supported the objectives of the Texas Border Infrastructure Coalition.

In 1993, Henry Cuellar strongly supported legislation and funding that created a new Texas Department of Transportation District Office in Laredo that transformed Laredo and other border cities and counties by investing millions and millions of dollars in new highway construction.

Between 1993-2000, the state invested more than $388 million in Laredo and Webb County in construction projects. Between 2000 and 2005, the state projected to spend approximately $298 million in projects in the Laredo area. In 1998, Henry Cuellar worked with Laredo and TxDOT officials to put a historic finance package of almost $150 million to fund the construction of the World Trade Bridge in Laredo, including the extension of the Bob Bullock Loop and the Milo Interchange. The new bridge and connectors have directed tractor-trailer traffic away from downtown Laredo and residential areas, while maintaining Laredo as the number one inland port in the United States of America. As a Congressman Henry Cuellar will push for more funding for all the highway projects in the congressional district--urban, rural and border. Funding to meet infrastructure needs is very important to small and big communities.

For his strong advocacy for improving transportation, Henry Cuellar has been recognized by local and state chambers of commerce and has been supported by the Texas Good Roads Association.