Texas commits $192M to widen the only highway to Starbase

The only highway connecting Brownsville to Starbase is a step closer to a major expansion, with $192.4 million now included in Texas’ newly approved 10-year transportation plan.

The State Highway 4 widening project is included in the Texas Department of Transportation’s 2027 Unified Transportation Program and is scheduled to go out for construction bids in fiscal year 2027, according to an announcement Wednesday from the city of Brownsville.

The funding puts a price tag behind a project the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal first reported on in December, when TxDOT was planning the expansion but had not yet released its cost.

The project would widen approximately 14 miles of State Highway 4, also known as Boca Chica Boulevard, from a two-lane roadway into a divided four-lane highway between Farm-to-Market Road 1419 and LBJ Boulevard in Starbase.

The highway is the only road connecting Brownsville to Starbase, SpaceX’s headquarters and Boca Chica Beach — and traffic has surged as SpaceX has expanded its operations.

About 645 vehicles traveled the roadway each day in 2019, according to TxDOT data previously analyzed by the Journal. By 2024, that had climbed to 6,743 vehicles per day, more than a tenfold increase in five years.

TxDOT projects traffic could reach about 19,700 vehicles per day by 2050.

The $192.4 million State Highway 4 widening is part of TxDOT’s newly approved $138 billion statewide transportation plan covering the next decade.

The Texas Transportation Commission approved the 2027 Unified Transportation Program during its August meeting. The statewide plan includes $95 billion for transportation projects and another $43 billion for project development and routine maintenance, according to the city.

The investment moves forward a major expansion of a roadway that has gone from carrying fewer than 700 vehicles a day in 2019 to serving as the main artery for the growing city of Starbase and SpaceX’s operations east of Brownsville.