Posted on 09/16/2018 10:46:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Plans for Interstate 14 have been expanded, and the Texas Department of Transportation will have a say in how a portion of the project is executed.
Rep. Brian Babin of Beaumont, who sits on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently submitted a bill that would extend I-14 to Mississippi and effectively would bring two brand new interstates to West Texas.
Under the already-approved plan known as Ports to Forts, I-14’s western terminus would be at I-10 and U.S. Route 190, near Iraan. US 190 would be converted to I-14 to Brady, and the project would continue eastward.
The Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance in recent years has lobbied to move the western terminus to the Midland-Odessa area. I-14 would start at West Loop 338 in Odessa and would be in dual-designation with I-20 until it reaches State Highway 158 in Midland, which along with U.S. 87 would be converted to interstate until it meets Brady.
Babin’s plan proposes converting both routes into interstates, with the northern route dubbed I-14 North and the southern route named I-14 South.
Rep. Mike Conaway of Midland cosigned the legislation, even though his own bill filed in January calls for changing the I-14 route to Midland-Odessa. However, the congressman isn’t entirely keen on turning the southern route into an interstate.
“Having it go through a more populated area makes a lot more sense,” he said Wednesday during a press call with Babin. “The leg between Brady and I-10 has some 600 cars per day on it, and that’s not enough traffic to warrant interstate classification, particularly when you have U.S. Highway 87 up from San Angelo to Sterling City on over to Midland, that’s really high traffic.”
The southern route will serve 33,907 people each year, according to 2016 Texas Demographic Center data. The northern route in the Midland-Odessa and San Angelo regions will serve 463,873 people, nearly 430,000 more people than the current designation.
Under Babin’s bill, determining which route should be converted first — if at all — would be up to TxDOT. “TxDOT has a business case to make anytime it builds something,” Conaway said. “I think the business case for Brady to San Angelo to Midland-Odessa is a much better business case for that than Brady to I-10.”
The southern route runs through the district of Rep. Will Hurd, a Republican who is in a tough re-election campaign.
While some portions of I-14 have been designated along existing roadways, funding hasn’t yet been earmarked. “We’re so many years in advance of getting this done,” Conaway said. “Any construction, no matter the cost, doesn’t have the kind of flexibility from General Revenue to underwrite the Highway Trust Fund to make this happen.”
“Let’s take this in bite-size pieces and do the work that you can do moving forward,” the congressman added. “As each opportunity comes to build a leg of it, you go with the resources you have at that point in time. It’s a little premature to set aside those kinds of dollars.”
Hell they want to run 14 from Killeen to Columbus Ga
New interstate thru sparse country....makes no sense
Hell drive 10 or 20 west of Hill country and its sparse
Better cheaper options for east Texas and the Deep South
I can’t speak for Midland Odessa to be honest
Run 190/79 from Austin to Marshall as controled access ....interstate more or less
165 from lake Charles to Monroe ditto
80 from near York Alabama to Montgomery ditto
Do those three things and it opens up the mid Deep South. Versus a brand new interstate 14 from Killeen to Auburn Opelika Columbus
I'm a ridin' fool who is up to date I know every trail in the Lone Star State Cause I ride the range in a Ford V8 Oh, yippie yi yo kayah— Johnny Mercer
Iraan is a horrible place. A nice lunch out is a frozen burrito from the Chevron station. It is an old oilfield camp.
I was stationed at Ft. Hood for five years. Going east or west from there is a painful drive. Pushing I-14 west to San Angelo and I-10 would open up a lot of country economically.
Militarily, the route east it would ease movement of troops and equipment from Hood to Ft. Polk, and southeast to the port of Beaumont. A lot of stuff goes by rail, but a lot of stuff goes by truck, and a more direct route would have value to the DoD.
Well I don’t know about a horrible place but it is what it is. My Mom was born there in 1921 when it was nothing more than a tent city full of workers in the oilfields. I’ve put in a ton of wells in that area and all through the Trans Pecos. I must admit I haven’t been in that area in the last 20 years other than hunting (We haul our own food), but back when I did go there some of the finest little Mom and Pop Mexican food restaurants in the area were located there. My cousin has a place on the Pecos River there and it’s quite nice, he raises sheep and goats. Used to do it for a living but now it’s more of a hobby since they started drilling wells on the place about 40 years ago. He owns the surface but both our families hold the minerals. It’s 21 sections with 4 miles of river front and some great fishing. I love that area down there, it’s just what people expect when they think of west Texas. Arid, sparse and rough country that was once a major travel way for native Americans and early settlers, the river is cover with ancient camp sites. I’ve got an old cigar box full of flint arrowheads my Mom and her siblings found when they were children running those mountains along the river. Our place up here in Howard County is much the same way, rough country but we do have a few springs that were major stopping places for the early travelers, ours is 42 sections total. I just have a love for this rough old west Texas Country.
The Texas Legislature couldn’t pass the Trans Texas Corridor Bill on a legitimate much needed expansion of roadway. This proposed east/west interstate expansion will be dead on arrival, at least in Texas. Ranching and agriculture lobby is very powerful in Texas and these folks have zero interest in these new interstate proposals. Texas Eminent Domain Law favors property rights and land owners. Like I said, DOA......
NO MAP??
What the hell......................
Best post on thread!
I posit that the main benefit will be to bikers and Mexicans transporting meth.
Aw hell no...I see a couple of Bucee's opening on that route within two years. lol
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