Economic Opportunities

The next generation of Texas work staff.

Texans are spending too much time in the slow lane – and we're paying for it in wasted time, increased business costs and at the pump. Essentially, it amounts to a hidden tax. Commutes are taking longer. Important transportation infrastructure can't be built fast enough to keep up with demand. And Texas must compete with the rest of the globe as trading activity increases across state lines and our international borders.

There's a lot to lose if Texas doesn't keep up. The Dallas Federal Reserve Bank puts Texas as the top growth economy in the country, and Texas is a top exporter of goods. ¹ A prosperous economy depends on a reliable transportation system, and at the Texas Department of Transportation, we're putting plans in place to keep Texas' top spot on the economic horizon, allowing Texans and Texas-made goods to stay at the top of the market.

Research

TxDOT has been investigating the effects added capacity has on mobility for individual travelers and freight transporters. What the department has found is that these studies show a high rate of return for the various types of road investments in Texas, whether in increased personal income, gross regional product, or employment.

Stated another way, this indicates the cost of doing nothing is lost economic opportunity due to inadequate investment in transportation.

Freight Movement

Without freight transportation, the jam you put on your toast this morning or the clothes you are wearing would never have gotten to you. Indeed, Americans depend on freight transportation to move raw materials like lumber, coal and petroleum that become finished goods like medical supplies, household furniture and computers that many of us depend on daily.

Freight transportation literally keeps America moving. In 2002, the most recent data available from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, more than 19 billion tons of freight, valued at $13 trillion, was carried over 4.4 trillion ton-miles in the United States. Texas exports for 2006 totaled $150.8 billion, which is $22.1 billion more than 2005 and represents a 17.2 percent increase; additionally, for the fifth year in a row, Texas ranked as number one in export revenues in 2006.²

In Texas, as well as the rest of the country, there is an increasing demand for moving people and goods. Companies are moving more toward "manufacturing to order" and "just in time" delivery, which puts more demand on an already strained transportation system.³ And absent new funding solutions, only about six percent of new road capacity is expected to be added in the next quarter century; fortunately, Texas has a plan to keep those goods going to market and getting supplies to factories.

The Trans-Texas Corridor

Most Texans have heard the predictions: the Texas of tomorrow will look substantially different than the Texas of today. Some demographers predict that the population of Texas could reach the 51 million mark by 2040. And it is a sure bet that those additional Texans will put a lot more miles on our roadways.

So how do we prepare for those residents who will expect and demand a transportation system that will accommodate their driving needs? It's called the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), and it is part of the Texas Department of Transportation's plan to keep Texas moving and growing. The TTC, once completed, is expected to reap big dividends for Texas.

The TTC, a statewide network of multiuse transportation routes, is expected to be built in stages, as warranted by traffic and financial availability. Two of the routes are currently under study: TTC-35, which could parallel Interstate 35; and TTC-69, which could correlate to the proposed Interstate 69 from Texarkana/Shreveport to the Rio Grande Valley or Laredo. Final routes have not been determined for either corridor.

According to a report commissioned by TxDOT and conducted by Texas economist Ray Perryman, Ph.D., the Trans-Texas Corridor has the potential to:

Contribute annual gains of $1.6 trillion in expenditures
Increase the gross state product by $665.9 billion
Boost personal income in Texas by $376 billion
Generate 3.7 million permanent jobs

Rural areas of Texas will also benefit from the TTC as the value of agricultural land is expected to increase.

Other ways we are working to expand economic opportunity:

Creating new trade and transport corridors
Adding capacity to reduce congestion
Empowering local and regional leaders to make local and regional transportation decisions
Providing tolled lanes that allow businesses to improve efficiency and get employees to work faster
Improving rail lines and crossings to move goods more quickly and attract trade

Winter 2007 Horizon article by Dr. Arthur Laffer, pages 2-3
Texas Business and Industry Data Center
Winter 2007 Horizon article by Neumann, Kaliski, Brogan and Hodge, pages 7-8 table and text on pages 38-29.