WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) issued the following statement after the Texas Transportation Commission designated a segment of the state highway system in Lubbock County as Interstate 27, officially bringing another portion of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor into the Interstate System. Sen. Cruz led legislation to formally name the Ports-to-Plains Corridor between Laredo, Texas, and Raton, New Mexico, as the future Interstate 27, which passed Congress and was signed into law earlier this year.
Following the announcement, Sen. Cruz said, “It has been a long and hard-fought effort to improve infrastructure for I-27, but this news is another tremendous step in boosting jobs, economic development, and better transportation for Texans in communities across the Lone Star State. The integration of this stretch of I-27 is a welcome sight for leaders and business owners along the I-27 corridor, who will greatly benefit from improved supply chains and safer highways. I was proud to author the bipartisan legislation designating I-27, which will produce thousands of high-paying jobs and billions in new investments in Texas. I will continue to advocate for more stretches of the famed “Ports-to-Plains” corridor to be swiftly incorporated into I-27 pursuant to the law I authored with my colleagues in Congress.”
BACKGROUND
In 2022, Sen. Cruz successfully included language in the fiscal year (FY) 2022 appropriations legislation to designate the portion of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor from Laredo, Texas, to Raton, New Mexico, as a future Interstate route. This was an important step toward adding the route to the U.S. Interstate System. Though the language passed into law in 2022 will add key parts of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor to the Interstate System, it did not give the route an official future Interstate route number. Sen. Cruz’s legislation, which was signed into law in March, names the Ports-to-Plains Corridor as the “future Interstate 27.”
The I-27 Numbering Act of 2023, was co-sponsored by Sens. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.). Reps. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), August Pfluger (R-Texas), and Ronny Jackson (R-Texas) introduced identical legislation in the House.
