Interstate 14 - Image Courtesy of Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition
Image Courtesy of Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition
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US Highway 190 will soon become Interstate 14 thanks to an amendment to a new federal transportation bill approved on Friday, December 4.

The amendment was authored by Texas Congressman Brian Babin of Woodville with support from Congressman Blake Farenthold of Corpus Christi and sponsored in the U.S. Senate by Texas Senator John Cornyn. It designates a Central Texas Corridor beginning in West Texas and generally following 190 through Killeen, Belton, Bryan-College Station, Huntsville, Livingston, Woodville, and Japser before terminating on State Highway 63 at the Sabine River.

A 25-mile stretch of US 190 from Belton to Copperas Cove is already at interstate highway standards, and officials say improvements to bring the rest of 190 up to those standards will be made in increments as funding becomes available.

John Thompson with the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition said the organization has been working for over a decade in support of such improvements to provide faster, safer transportation between Fort Bliss, Fort Hood, and Fort Polk, as well as strategic deployment seaports in Corpus Christi and Beaumont. He also stressed the future importance of new interstate to provide more efficient connections between I-35 at Belton, I-45 at Huntsville, and future I-69 at Livingston.

Thompson added that I-14 will also help attract more economic development and jobs.

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