TxDOT 2030 Committee Told Texas Must Plan for Military Growth
October 30, 2008
CORPUS CHRISTI - The Department of Defense and its contractors are by far the largest employer in Texas and this growing sector must be served by efficient transportation.
That was among the points made by a spokesman for the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition (GCSHC) during a public hearing held here by the 2030 Committee. The committee is charged with overseeing an independent assessment of Texas mobility and highway maintenance needs through the year 2030.
Dick Messbarger, executive director of the Kingsville Economic Development Council, said the transportation system in Texas has a major impact on the efficiency of DOD and its contractors. The most obvious is the need to deploy forces to foreign wars and for state-side training.
Messbarger presented the commission with maps depicting the proposed Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System in Texas. He noted that the system is supported in South Texas by the Coastal Bend Council of Governments, the City of Corpus Christi, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority and San Patricio County. He told the commission that the coalition also supports the proposed Universal Freight Shuttle being developed by the Texas Transportation Institute.
He pointed out that Fort Hood in Central Texas has long been the only two division Army fort in the country and is adding personnel. Fort Bliss at El Paso is in the process of growing to be the second two division fort. Both are served by the proposed Gulf Coast transportation improvements.
Other testimony was presented by Judy Hawley, a Corpus Christi port commission member, who represents the port as a GCSHC partner. She is also chairman of the TxDOT I-69 Corridor Advisory Committee. She said it is important that the state make economic commerce a high priority when planning transportation project.