By Shapleigh S.C.R. No. 50
76R8687 RVH-D
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
1-1 WHEREAS, The National Highway System was established by the
1-2 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to
1-3 focus federal resources on a collection of interconnected roadways
1-4 that are most important to interstate travel and national defense,
1-5 and that connect with other modes of transportation and are
1-6 essential for international commerce; and
1-7 WHEREAS, ISTEA designated 21 highways in the National Highway
1-8 System as "high priority corridors" to receive priority funding for
1-9 the development of major transportation corridors; the U.S. Route
1-10 59 Corridor from Laredo through Houston to the vicinity of
1-11 Texarkana was Texas' first corridor; and
1-12 WHEREAS, The National Highway System Designation Act of 1995
1-13 and the new six-year federal transportation spending bill, the
1-14 Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21),
1-15 established four additional high priority corridors in Texas; the
1-16 El Paso area received its first high priority corridor, the Camino
1-17 Real Corridor, under the 1995 act; and
1-18 WHEREAS, El Paso is favorably positioned for international
1-19 trading: it is located in the heart of the three North American
1-20 Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries and at the center of the
1-21 United States-Mexico border; El Paso has a population of more than
1-22 600,000 and the combined population of the El Paso-Juarez
1-23 metropolitan area totals more than 1.8 million people, making it
1-24 the largest international border community in the world; and
2-1 WHEREAS, Between 1993 and 1997, the dollar value of El Paso's
2-2 exports increased by $2.8 billion or 96.6 percent; it exported $5.8
2-3 billion in 1997, ranking the metropolitan area 21st in the nation;
2-4 since 1992 the annual number of truck crossings in El Paso has
2-5 consistently surpassed one million; and
2-6 WHEREAS, Since 80 percent of all U.S. trade with Mexico is
2-7 moved by truck the increase in truck traffic brought about by NAFTA
2-8 has strained the capacity of El Paso's and other border
2-9 communities' transportation infrastructure and resources to keep
2-10 commercial truck traffic flowing; and
2-11 WHEREAS, The already heavy pressures on the existing
2-12 infrastructure will increase significantly when Mexican trucks gain
2-13 full access to our state and federal highways and when intelligent
2-14 transportation system technologies are uniformly used to expedite
2-15 customs processing, rendering some of that infrastructure
2-16 inadequate to handle the expected increases in volume of
2-17 international trade; an alternate trade corridor, such as U.S.
2-18 Highway 54, is needed to move commerce in the El Paso area; and
2-19 WHEREAS, U.S. Highway 54 is one of the nation's busiest
2-20 two-lane highways for transporting commerce and provides a vital
2-21 commercial link with Mexico; in its entirety, U.S. Highway 54
2-22 traverses the state of Illinois and continues southwest through the
2-23 states of Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, New
2-24 Mexico, and continues in Texas through the city of El Paso,
2-25 terminating at the Texas-Mexico border; and
2-26 WHEREAS, From El Paso through New Mexico to the
2-27 Texas-Oklahoma border, a U.S. Highway 54 Corridor could reduce the
3-1 pressures of traffic congestion on the Camino Real Corridor and
3-2 serve as a more direct connection to the central and eastbound
3-3 trade corridors; now, therefore, be it
3-4 RESOLVED, That the 76th Legislature of the State of Texas
3-5 hereby urge the United States Department of Transportation to
3-6 designate U.S. Highway 54 as a high priority corridor pursuant to
3-7 the National Highway System Designation Act of 1995; and, be it
3-8 further
3-9 RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official
3-10 copy of this resolution to the secretary of the United States
3-11 Department of Transportation.