By Oliveira H.C.R. No. 89 77R1518 RVH-D HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 1-1 WHEREAS, Transportation legislation enacted by Congress over 1-2 the last decade has identified 43 highway corridors as being 1-3 nationally significant for moving people and commerce; designated 1-4 as "high priority corridors," they include five that are located 1-5 wholly or in part in Texas and are eligible for priority 1-6 construction and increased funding for their Texas segments; and 1-7 WHEREAS, The various Texas segments of High Priority Corridor 1-8 18 and High Priority Corridor 20 are part of a proposed multistate 1-9 highway that has been officially designated as Interstate Route 1-10 I-69; altogether, the Texas portion of I-69 is more than 950 miles 1-11 long, and the entire roadway has been federally certified as a 1-12 natural route for the trade that is flourishing under the North 1-13 American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA); and 1-14 WHEREAS, In its entirety, Interstate Route I-69 is an 1,800 1-15 mile corridor that will connect the Rio Grande Valley to the Great 1-16 Lakes region; the Texas segment of Corridor 18 will extend I-69 1-17 along north-south oriented U.S. Highways 281 and 77 in the lower 1-18 Rio Grande Valley and connect to U.S. Highway 59 east to Houston 1-19 and north to Texarkana; the Corridor 20 segment will extend I-69 1-20 along U.S. 59 from its starting point at Laredo to Houston and 1-21 thence northward; and 1-22 WHEREAS, A Texas Senate interim committee on NAFTA in 1998 1-23 estimated that the region surrounding U.S. Highways 281 and 77 1-24 generates $41.6 billion in economic activity per year and that 2-1 approximately 5.5 million people live in the 34 counties directly 2-2 on the I-69 route; this transportation corridor is vital to Texas' 2-3 and the United States' burgeoning interstate and international 2-4 trade, given that Texas border crossings account for 80 percent of 2-5 all U.S.-Mexico truck traffic; and 2-6 WHEREAS, The expansion of the 146 miles of U.S. Highway 281 2-7 and the 199 miles of U.S. Highway 77 that would become part of I-69 2-8 is estimated to cost $257 million and $336 million, respectively; 2-9 however, the Texas Transportation Commission states that it can 2-10 fund just 33 percent of all needed road improvements; and 2-11 WHEREAS, While Texas can draw from its federal apportionment 2-12 of interstate highway maintenance funds, National Highway System 2-13 funds, and the maximum discretionary funds conceivably available 2-14 from the National Corridor Planning and Development and Coordinated 2-15 Border Infrastructure Programs for these projects, an infusion of 2-16 additional federal funds is needed to move forward the corridor's 2-17 date of completion; and 2-18 WHEREAS, The development of the Texas portion of Interstate 2-19 Route I-69 cannot begin until the environmental study is completed 2-20 in 2007; this time frame is not expedient enough for the Valley's 2-21 increasingly stressed transportation infrastructure to continue to 2-22 accommodate the significant freight traffic arising from NAFTA; 2-23 piecemeal funding of the corridor should be replaced by funds that 2-24 are substantial enough to complete its construction years ahead of 2-25 schedule; now, therefore, be it 2-26 RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas 2-27 hereby urge the Congress of the United States and the United States 3-1 Department of Transportation to give priority funding to the 3-2 construction of the Rio Grande Valley segment of Interstate Route 3-3 I-69; and, be it further 3-4 RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 3-5 copies of this resolution to the secretary of the Department of 3-6 Transportation, to the president of the United States, to the 3-7 speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the 3-8 senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 3-9 Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 3-10 resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 3-11 memorial to the Congress of the United States of America.