High-speed Hopes

This high-speed system could get you from Houston to San Antonio in just 20 minutes

Travel across Texas in a flash.

A Star Wars-esque innovation promises to put at least some of the nightmarish traffic on Texas’ most clogged roadways — I-10, I-45, and I-35— in our rearview mirrors.

On Thursday, a company called Hyperloop One named a proposed high-speed, L-shaped route linking Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Laredo as one of 11 U.S. finalists in a contest to develop a futuristic tube-based system for shuttling passengers and cargo. Hyperloop One says it’ll give three U.S. proposals the green light to proceed.

The 640-mile Hyperloop in Texas would stretch south from Dallas-Fort Worth to Austin, San Antonio, and Laredo, and would stretch east from San Antonio to Houston. Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston would not be connected, as the state’s two largest metro areas tentatively are in line for a much-debated, high-speed bullet train.

Organizers of the Texas proposal say a trip from Dallas to Austin would take 19.5 minutes — a far cry from the current three-hour drive (if you’re lucky) between the two cities. It would take about the same amount of time to get from Houston to San Antonio. Top speeds would reach 700 mph, which is faster than a commercial airliner travels.

Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One explains that “passengers and cargo are loaded into a pod, and accelerate gradually via electric propulsion through a low-pressure tube. The pod quickly lifts above the track using magnetic levitation and glides at airline speeds for long distances due to ultra-low aerodynamic drag.”

Tesla and SpaceX mastermind Elon Musk introduced the tube-based transportation concept in 2013. (Last summer, Transonic Transportation announced plans for a similar Hyperloop connecting San Antonio and Austin.)

“The U.S. has always been a global innovation vanguard — driving advancements in computing, communication and media to rail, automobiles and aeronautics,” says Shervin Pishevar, executive chairman of Hyperloop One. “Now, with Hyperloop One, we are on the brink of the first great breakthrough in transportation technology of the 21st century, eliminating the barriers of time and distance and unlocking vast economic opportunities.”

Even if the Texas plan gets the go-ahead, a Hyperloop system wouldn’t be operating here for a number of years. And there’s no guarantee that the Texas system, or any other proposed tube-based transportation system, will ever be up and running. Hyperloop One is testing a 2-mile track in the desert north of Las Vegas.

A Dallas-based team from construction and engineering giant AECOM is overseeing the Texas proposal. AECOM built Hyperloop One’s test track in Nevada. In 2015, Musk had indicated Texas most likely would host the test track, but that idea didn’t pan out.

Backers of the Texas Hyperloop plan include the University of Texas at Arlington, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), the City of Dallas, Austin’s Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Cap Metro), and the U.S.-Mexico Chamber of Commerce.

Pishevar, the Hyperloop One executive chairman, says his company “is at the forefront of a movement to solve one of the planet’s most pressing problems. The brightest minds are coming together at the right time to eliminate the distances and borders that separate economies and cultures.”

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beyond the stacks

Texas public libraries generate billions in economic impact, report finds

Houston Public Library/Facebook

Houston shines brighter with its public library system.

A new statewide study examining the economic impacts of public libraries has revealed they have generated over $3.8 billion in value to local communities — a return of $4.74 for every $1 invested.

The report, "Beyond the Stacks: Measuring the Economic and Community Value of Texas Public Libraries" was conducted by third-party consultancy JBK Economics Group in partnership with the Texas Library Association. About 300 of the total 513 public libraries in Texas participated in a survey for the report.

A major finding from the survey revealed that public libraries create billions in economic value for the communities they serve at a fraction of what it costs to pay employee wages and benefits, operating expenditures, and capital expenditures. About 11,200 jobs were directly and indirectly supported by public libraries, the report found.

The report found its $4.74 to $1 ratio by adding up the total value of the services provided by these institutions (an estimated $2.48 billion), and comparing it to total expenditures ($808.6 million).

"Public libraries had about the same economic footprint as the Texas motion picture and sound recording industry ($2.9 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024) or the Texas paper manufacturing industry ($4.0 billion in Gross Domestic Product in 2024)," the report said.

Many Houstonians are already familiar with Houston Public Library's expansive catalog and programming, but there are many more services the library provides that might fly under the radar. A few examples include access to subscription-based research databases and news outlets, and the Library of Things, a collection of cookware and bake ware, musical instruments, craft kits, and other tools or activity materials that are available for cardholders to borrow. Individual branches also provide free Wi-Fi, computer access, and meeting spaces.

Houston-area residents also have access to services at several other local libraries depending on their address, such as the Harris County Public Library, Montgomery County Memorial Library System, or Fort Bend County Libraries, just to name a few.

These are additional services and partnerships that Texas public libraries commonly provide, per the survey results:

93 percent provide voter registration and/or serve as voting locations
84 percent provide partnerships with local social services agencies
82 percent provide job application assistance
68 percent facilitate applications for government benefits
38 percent provide on-site social services
30 percent provide telehealth rooms and/or resources

"Public libraries are practical, welcoming and rooted in the communities they serve — they are unmistakably Texan," said Texas Library Association executive director Shirley Robinson in a press release. "This study puts a dollar value on the opportunities libraries create every day. Whether someone visits a library to apply for a job, access the internet, learn a new skill or simply find a new favorite book, those services create real value for Texans and their communities."

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