A proposal to endorse routes drafted by the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, for the Denton County Outer Loop freeway failed after the Denton City Council deadlocked in a 3-3 vote during an Oct. 27 meeting.

The details: The proposed Outer Loop is a 20-mile, six-lane freeway designed to connect Interstate 35 in Denton County to the Dallas North Tollway in Collin County.

The routes of the Outer Loop under consideration, Alignments B and B2, touch Denton's municipal boundaries. City staff chose to recommend the two options with these alignments over the two without.

Their recommendation is based on:

• Lack of contiguous, major east-west roads that Denton has access to

• Projections showing Denton's population and employment doubling by 2050

• Need to expand road network capacity to reduce congestion

• Alignments B and B2 posing lower floodplain and environmental risks than alternatives

What's next: TxDOT plans to formally recommend its preferred alternative alignment by the end of 2026, then announce the preferred route, issue a final Environmental Impact Statement and officially select the route in 2027.

Stay updated on six road projects in Denton as detailed in recent Friday staff reports and by city officials. This list is not comprehensive.

Ongoing

1. Highland Street reconstruction

Project: Crews are working at the Bernard Street and Welch Street intersections with Highland Street. The project includes the milling and paving of the two intersections.

Update: Final pavement is being completed and sod placement is underway. The portion of Highland Street has been closed since Aug. 3.

• Timeline: expected completion by Dec. 1

• Cost: $588,000

• Funding source: city of Denton

Storage 365 is opening a location in south Denton by the end of November.

Learn more: The self-storage facility provider will offer temperature-controlled units with month-to-month rentals and security measures such as gated entry, on-site management and security cameras and pest management, according to its website.

The units are advertised as storage for anything from musical instruments to business inventory.

• 740 Hobson Lane, Denton

Texas' first female lieutenant governor, Austin state Rep. Vikki Goodwin, held her first news conference since the election on Nov. 10 in Austin.

What happened: Goodwin, a Democrat, also announced her political transition team, which is led by lobbyist Angela Hale and outgoing state Rep. Chris Turner, D-Grand Prairie.

The team, which includes four former state senators—two Democrats and two Republicans—will help prepare Goodwin to take over as lieutenant governor in January and work with state senators.

"My focus right now is sitting down with each senator, many of whom I worked with while in the House, to talk about their individual priorities and how we can work together so they can represent their districts," Goodwin told reporters Nov. 10.

More context: Goodwin will preside over the Republican-majority Texas Senate. How much power she will have over the chamber is largely up to senators, who will approve new Senate rules when the legislature convenes Jan. 12.