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.