Honkin' Mad

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Avoid Texas 360 Thursday night in Grapevine

Southbound Texas 360 will be closed at the intersection with Texas 121, from 8 p.m. Thursday to 6 a.m. Friday. Workers will repair pavement.
A detour will be available -- take Texas 121 southbound to Hall-Johnson Road to get back to 360.
More: TxDot

Free bus rides for voters

Voters can ride T buses for free on election day. Wanna give it a try on Tuesday? Just show the driver your voter registration card. Schedules and more info: www.the-t.com

Do drivers know their way around school buses?

Check out the results of this survey.
Pic: res.rushville.k12.in.us

Politics Over Easy

HONKIN' MAD! takes a break from the transportation grind and stops off at Waffle Way for a steaming plate of biscuits and hot political opinions.

Americans driving less despite lower gas prices

DALLAS — Americans are still driving less, despite falling gas prices, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said. Drivers logged 15 billion fewer miles in the U.S. during August, a 5.6 percent decrease compared to the same month a year earlier, Peters said Friday during a brief tour of a Dallas Area Rapid Transit station under construction at Deep Ellum.
Peters touted her agency’s reform plan, which would relax restrictions on funding and make it easier for metro areas such as North Texas to use more federal dollars not just for highways, but for public transportation. “As Cowboys fans know, the key to any game plan is establishing a good ground game,” Peter told gatherers at a news conference on the Deep Ellum platform. “That’s exactly why we need projects like this DART expansion.” Meanwhile, use of public transit has increased 6.2 percent nationwide — and 15 percent in Texas. DART is in the midst of a massive expansion, partly paid for with a $700 million federal transit grant.
Pic: Peters greets construction workers at the DART Deep Ellum station, as chronicled by Gordon's trusty cellphone camera.

Avoid Collins north of I-30 for the next 2 weekends

ARLINGTON -- Farm Road 157, aka Collins Street, will be closed north of Interstate 30 from 7:30 p.m. Friday to 2 p.m. Sunday.

The closure from the I-30/Collins bridge to Lamar Boulevard is necessary for installation of box culverts, Texas Department of Transportation officials say.

• Northbound drivers will detour to the eastbound I-30 frontage road (Copeland Road) and Ballpark Way.

•   Southbound drivers will detour at Lamar and will have access to I-30 at Cooper Street and Ballpark Way.
• FM 157/Collins on- and off-ramps will be open for southbound traffic.
• The same area will be closed again the following weekend, Oct. 31-Nov. 1.
• More: www.keep30moving.org   

One way to spot a speedtrap

The folks at speedtrap.org have updated their web site, making it easier to search your commuting route for speedtraps and potentially avoid a ticket.
Click on "find speed traps" and punch in your city and state. There are 18 listings for Arlington speedtraps alone.
Note of caution: Drivers aren't always sure what city they're passing through when they see a cop runnin' radar -- and the speedtrap listing operates on the honor system -- so the system is subject to error. But a quick check of several North Texas cities indicates the info is mostly reliable.

Toll roads: Still think they're a good idea?

One North Texas Tollway Authority board member has serious concerns. Read what Victor Vandergriff has to say here.

Oops. Don't put diesel in a gas tank!

When filling up, be sure to save the receipt ... in case the wrong fuel winds up in your tank. Read reporter Bryon Okada's story.