Environment

A nearly 5 mile section of 1604 on the Northwest Side will be expanded to four lanes in the next several years through a TxDOT project that could include the 151/1604 interchange project that was stopped indefinitely last year.

4.7 miles of 1604 from Bandera to Culebra will be expanded to four lanes. At the moment, the Texas Department of Transportation is deciding between four different construction companies who will design and build the project.

Plastic bags are as much a part of the retail and grocery store experience as the milk and bread they carry, but recently, cities across Texas have been taking a journey down the road less traveled.

Brownsville, Laguna Vista, South Padre Island and now Austin are part of a growing movement to ban plastic bags.

Local shoppers seem to agree with the sentiment.

"I wouldn't mind banning something as long as there's an alternate to it," said H-E-B shopper John Saldaña.

  As the Texas Drought continues, the Edwards Aquifer Authority has issued a new stage of pumping restrictions for entities like SAWS and others who draw from the aquifer.

The new Stage 5 restrictions will control how much water is pumped from the Edwards Aquifer during times of extreme drought.

San Antonio is now the hub for providing resources to the Eagle Ford Shale Project. The South Texas Energy and Economic Roundtable opened its doors at the Pearl Brewery this week.

It’s been in existence for about five months, created by the 11 major oil and gas operators working on the shale project including Conoco Phillips and Lewis Energy.