Officials estimate that about 1,200 people a day move into Texas, creating more of a demand on the system that will end up costing $315 billion over the next 20 years to repair or improve.
"Fuel tax receipts are going down. More and more people are driving more fuel-efficient vehicles as time goes by, which is good for the environment, but it creates a funding crunch," said Chris Lippincott, spokesman for the Texas Department of Transportation.
"So you have more people using the road, but they are paying less to put wear and tear on that road per mile, per gallon," he said. "In the absence of new revenue, Texas will be a state that only has money available to maintain the roads that we have."
About 100 people attended the town hall meeting, held at the Frank W. Mayborn Civic and Convention Center in Temple, with representatives from TxDOT, the Killeen-Temple Urban Transportation Study and the Waco Metropolitan Planning Organization on hand to answer questions.
