By:  Fraser, Ogden                                     S.C.R. No. 6
           Truan
 1-1                        SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
 1-2           WHEREAS, The III Armored Corps stationed at Fort Hood in
 1-3     Killeen, Texas, is the largest military force in the free world;
 1-4     the III Armored Corps forces have fought in and supported many
 1-5     operations worldwide, including Grenada, Panama, Honduras, Saudi
 1-6     Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq, and provided humanitarian support in
 1-7     Somalia and peace support in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and
 1-8           WHEREAS, Interstate 35 has long served as Fort Hood's major
 1-9     deployment route and is included in the U.S. military's 61,000-mile
1-10     network of highways that link military installations and facilities
1-11     that are critically important for mobilizing and deploying military
1-12     forces from U.S. bases to seaports, railheads, and airports; and
1-13           WHEREAS, The U.S. military's Defense Planning Guide 1999-2003
1-14     mandates that the deployment of forces from Fort Hood to any crisis
1-15     theater must be completed within 30 days; to meet these operational
1-16     requirements the III Armored Corps has identified State Highway 195
1-17     as the premier southern convoy route to the strategic ports of
1-18     Corpus Christi and Beaumont; and
1-19           WHEREAS, The area along the two-lane State Highway 195 has
1-20     experienced considerable growth in population and an increase in
1-21     traffic that has resulted in a degraded level of service and has
1-22     compromised the safety of its military and civilian users; future
1-23     traffic projections indicate that the capacity of State Highway 195
1-24     will be exceeded within the next 5 to 10 years; and
 2-1           WHEREAS, In April 1999 the Texas Department of Transportation
 2-2     began Phase I, a six-mile segment of the State Highway 195
 2-3     reconstruction project; the project as a whole expands State
 2-4     Highway 195 to a four-lane divided highway that extends from south
 2-5     of Killeen to Interstate 35; and
 2-6           WHEREAS, The Texas Transportation Commission in May 2000
 2-7     provided the project with a Priority 2 status to prepare plans,
 2-8     specifications, and estimates; subsequent phases of the 10-year,
 2-9     $100-million project should also be completed to enable the III
2-10     Armored Corps to deploy troops and equipment from Fort Hood to the
2-11     ports of Corpus Christi and Beaumont in the time frame required by
2-12     the U.S. Department of Defense; and
2-13           WHEREAS, The U.S. Department of Defense has determined that
2-14     the expansion of State Highway 195 is of strategic importance and
2-15     necessary for the deployment of forces from Fort Hood, the
2-16     department should therefore provide funding to support the
2-17     expansion; now, therefore, be it
2-18           RESOLVED, That the 77th Legislature of the State of Texas
2-19     hereby encourage the Texas Transportation Commission to support the
2-20     expansion of State Highway 195 to ensure its use by the III Armored
2-21     Corps as the southern convoy route to Texas' ports; and, be it
2-22     further
2-23           RESOLVED, That the secretary of state forward an official
2-24     copy of this resolution to the chair of the Texas Transportation
2-25     Commission and to all members of the Texas delegation to Congress.