Texas Lawmaker Proposes Renaming I-35 in Austin to "President Donald J. Trump Highway"

A Texas politician has introduced a bill to change the name of Interstate 35 in Travis County to the "President Donald J. Trump Highway." People in Austin have strong feelings about this idea.

If the bill passes, Rep. Joanne Shofner (R-Nacogdoches) will put signs at both ends of the highway that say the new name. If passed by the lawmakers, the law will go into effect on September 1.

People who want to change the name say it respects a leader who they think was one of the best presidents in modern times. Shofner wrote, "Texas needs to lead in naming a major interstate, traversing through the greatest capital of a former republic, after the greatest president of our time."

However, people who live in Austin and drive along I-35 have mixed views.

"If it's not broken, don't fix it," said Daniel Baladez, who lives in Austin and was against the change.Fran Rush was angry and said, "I-35 is already bad enough." I believe this would make things worse.

A representative for Rethink I-35, Miriam Schoenfield, said that ongoing safety issues on the highway were more important than its name, citing recent fatal crashes.

Since Austin has always been a liberal city, it has often had political problems with the state government, which is run by Republicans. The bill shows that there are still problems between state lawmakers and city people, as similar plans to change the name of streets have caused trouble in the past.

The bill's fate is still unknown as the legislature continues to discuss it.

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