SRC-BWC S.C.R. 6 77(R)   BILL ANALYSIS


Senate Research Center   S.C.R. 6
77R1259 RVH-DBy: Fraser
Veteran Affairs & Military Installations
1/22/2001
As Filed


DIGEST

The III Armored Corps stationed at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, is the
largest military force in the free world and has fought in and supported
many operations worldwide, including those in Grenada, Panama, Honduras,
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq and has provided humanitarian support in
Somalia and peace-keeping support in Bosnia-Herzegovina.  Interstate 35 has
served as Fort Hood's major deployment route and is included in the U.S.
military's 61,000-mile network of highways that link military installations
and facilities that are critically important for mobilizing and deploying
military forces from U.S. bases to seaports, railheads, and airports. The
U.S. military's Defense Planning Guide 1999-2003 mandates that the
deployment of forces from Fort Hood to any crisis theater must be completed
within 30 days.  In order to meet these operational requirements, the III
Armored Corps has identified State Highway 195 as the premier southern
convoy route to the strategic ports of Corpus Christi and Beaumont.  The
area along the two-lane State Highway 195 has experienced considerable
growth in population and an increase in traffic that has resulted in a
degraded level of service that has compromised the safety of its military
and civilian users.  Future traffic projections indicate that the capacity
of State Highway 195 will be exceeded within the next 5 to 10 years.  In
April 1999 the Texas Department of Transportation began Phase I, a six-mile
segment of State Highway 195.  The project as a whole expands State Highway
195 to a four-lane divided highway that extends from south of Killeen to
Interstate 35 and will cost $100-million and take 10 years to complete .
The Texas Transportation Commission in May 2000 provided the project with a
Priority 2 status to prepare plans, specifications, and estimates.   

PURPOSE

As proposed, S.C.R. 6 submits the following resolutions:

Provides that the 77th Texas Legislature direct the Texas Transportation
Commission to prioritize the construction of State Highway 195 in its
entirety to ensure completion of its expansion by the spring of 2005 for
use by the III Armored Corps as the southern convoy route to Texas' ports.
Provides that the secretary of state forward an official copy of this
resolution to the chair of the Texas Transportation Commission.