Overview
- Sen. John Cornyn, who introduced the I-47 Future Interstate Act on Tuesday, proposed redesignating U.S. Highway 287 as Interstate 47 named for President Trump.
- The measure lists Sen. Cynthia Lummis as co-sponsor and targets a nearly 1,800-mile corridor from Port Arthur, Texas, through Oklahoma, Colorado and Wyoming to Montana.
- Cornyn says the upgrade would save more than $5 billion in travel costs, and a 2025 Texas DOT study projected about $24.5 billion in Texas costs with roughly $11.6 billion in GDP gains and about 46,000 jobs by 2050.
- The proposal arrives during Cornyn’s tight May 26 runoff against Ken Paxton, Trump has not endorsed either candidate, and the plan faces long multistate, funding and standards hurdles that make quick passage unlikely.
- Oklahoma set a precedent in 2021 by naming a Panhandle stretch of U.S. 287 the Donald J. Trump Highway, which underscores how state-level renamings move faster than a full interstate redesignation across several states.