Texas’ future prosperity depends on present-day investments to keep congestion from worsening without stifling growth, Texas transportation commissioner Bruce Bugg said on a Tuesday swing through the Houston area.

Bugg, a San Antonio banker and member of the five-member commission that oversees the Texas Department of Transportation, toured construction along Interstate 45 with others to tout Texas Clear Lanes, a state program aimed at relieving some of Texas’ most troublesome traffic spots.

“It’s some big projects, we’re a big state and we need big money,” Bugg said, noting $1.3 billion officials have already committed, including $447.4 million aimed at three Houston area projects, including further widening of I-45.

Two other long-sought freeway projects in Houston – a redesign of some of the Loop 610 interchange with U.S. 59 near The Galleria and widening Interstate 10 from Brookshire to Sealy -also received funding.

The I-45 widening, which officials eventually hope to complete to Galveston, is broken into numerous pieces, with crews slowly making their way south. Work at Bay Area, where the freeway was adjusted to go over Bay Area as opposed to the road overlooking I-45, is winding down as crews turn their attention to the segments from NASA 1 to FM 518.

The upcoming work will make the freeway five lanes in each direction with three lane frontage roads on each side. HOV lanes will be extended to Galveston County, and possibly farther south.

Work on the upcoming segments was accelerated by the Texas Clear Lanes program, Bugg said, through coordination with local TxDOT districts who identified it as a high-priority need.

“All of the districts had a number of projects that were sitting in the shelf with a funding gap,” he said.

Growth in southern Harris and northern Galveston County has stretched resources and lengthened commutes, making I-45 increasingly congested. Expected development in the coming years will only exacerbate that and increase demand, TxDOT district engineer Quincy Allen said.

If growth comes as predicted, I-45 will be able to carry 100,000 more vehicles each work day, about 240,000, than it does today. The expected total is about what I-10 carries near it’s interchange with I-45 north of Houston’s central business district.

“This work couldn't be more timely,” he said, noting crews are making I-45 five lanes in each direction with three lane frontage roads on both sides.

When completed in the coming years, the first round of projects in the clear lanes program, Bugg said, will “earn the continuing trust of the taxpayer and voter” so congestion relief can continue to be a focus of state transportation officials. Though maintenance remains a focus, Bugg said congestion relief and using dollars wisely in metro areas must be measured, and money aimed where it can do the most good.

“We call it Texas Clear Lanes so people can get a sense of where the focus is,” Bugg said, noting congestion relief will come with all sorts of highway improvements. “We're going to have to be focusing on Texas Clear Lanes as a long-term program.”

Where the clear lanes program isn’t likely to focus, at least directly, is transit or alternative options to driving, Bugg said. State transportation officials control few of the dollars used for transit, he said.

“It all comes down to funding streams,” he said, noting that the last two times voters approved additional transportation money in 2014 and 2015, they did so after lawmakers said the money would only go to highways and not toll or transit projects.

A recent poll showed the vast majority of Texans, more than nine out of 10, rely on an automobile as their primary transportation option. Despite more people riding transit buses or trains and cycling in some areas – increases likely caused by growth – an increasingly larger share of Texans are choosing to drive.

Instead, Bugg – who recently visited Washington to meeting with Texas’ federal delegation – said he’d like to see federal transit money redistributed to reflect population. That, he said, would send money away from the Northeast and toward growing areas such as Texas.

“If you look at metrics of where people are and congestion, I think that is where the opportunity (for more transit spending) lies,” he said.

Still, regional transit is poised to benefit somewhat from congestion improvements along freeways, said Tom Lambert, CEO of Metropolitan Transit Authority. Agencies along I-45, Lambert said, could partner to provide better park-and-ride service, which will benefit along with carpoolers as the I-45 widening extends HOV lanes father south.