By:  Cain                                             S.C.R. No. 80

         97S1096/1                           

                            SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

 1-1           WHEREAS, On April 4, 1917, the 35th Legislature passed an act

 1-2     to create the first Texas Highway Department; and

 1-3           WHEREAS, Today the Texas Department of Transportation

 1-4     continues the agency's 80-year history of service to the citizens

 1-5     of Texas by building and maintaining the state's vast

 1-6     transportation network that is considered the best system in the

 1-7     nation; and

 1-8           WHEREAS, The Texas Highway Department and the Public

 1-9     Transportation Commission merged into the State Department of

1-10     Highways and Public Transportation in 1975, and in 1991 the

1-11     Department of Aviation and the Motor Vehicle Commission joined the

1-12     agency to form the Texas Department of Transportation; and

1-13           WHEREAS, The state's primary transportation agency has been

1-14     responsible for construction and maintenance of a 41,000-mile

1-15     system of farm-to-market roads that "got the farmer out of the mud"

1-16     in the 1930s and 1940s; built the 3,200 mile interstate system in

1-17     the 1950s and 1960s and today oversees a total of 77,000 miles of

1-18     highways; provides for development of a public transportation

1-19     system that served more than 200 million passengers in 1995;

1-20     registered more than 14 million motor vehicles in 1996; and

1-21     facilitates development of more that 300 aircraft landing

1-22     facilities serving the state's growing general aviation industry;

1-23     and

 2-1           WHEREAS, The Texas Department of Transportation is the state

 2-2     sponsor of the 423-mile Gulf Intracoastal Waterway which carries an

 2-3     average of more than 75 million tons of cargo annually and oversees

 2-4     more than 1.3 million acres of state right-of-way; and

 2-5           WHEREAS, The Texas Department of Transportation employs more

 2-6     than 14,000 dedicated men and women whose presence in every

 2-7     community throughout the state ensures personal service, an

 2-8     enhanced quality of life, and an integrated transportation system

 2-9     second to none; now, therefore, be it

2-10           RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas

2-11     hereby recognize the exceptional accomplishments by all employees,

2-12     past and present, of the Texas Highway Department and Texas

2-13     Department of Transportation; and, be it further

2-14           RESOLVED, That the 75th Legislature of the State of Texas

2-15     recognize the existence of the Texas Department of Transportation

2-16     as the state's transportation agency and an integral part of Texas

2-17     state government for the last eight decades; and, be it further

2-18           RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be prepared for the

2-19     department as an expression of the high regard of the Texas

2-20     Legislature.