Sunday, July 28, 1996

Speed Limit Increase Soothes Some Highway Expansion Demands

By MARK BABINECK
Associated Press

WALL - The statewide increase in speed limits has acted as a stopgap salve for the many Texas cities and towns seeking improved highways.

Some communities lobbying for wider roads, however, still aren't satisfied with the same skinny thoroughfares, no matter how fast traffic is allowed to move.

"It was a big boost and did really help a lot of areas that would never see enough traffic that would justify improvement," said Peggy Thurin, who oversees expansion plans for the Texas Department of Transportation.

The only way into and out of many small Texas towns is via more than 40,000 miles of farm-to-market roads. The top legal speed on the roads was 55 mph until President Clinton signed a bill ending national speed limits.

About half of those roads now sport 70-mph signs. Another 8,900 miles got bumped up to 65 mph, though highway officials say the pace of traffic doesn't necessarily pick up just because it's legal.
"Lots of farmers in the areas move equipment along U.S. highways, and they're usually wide, big and slow moving," said Mark Tomlinson, a transportation and planning director at the Transportation Department's San Angelo office.

Also, tractor-trailers play by a different set of rules on Texas highways now. While passenger cars can travel up to 70 mph during the day and 65 mph at night on some state roads, the big rigs are held to 60 mph, and many drivers of all kinds of vehicles choose to drive more leisurely.

The higher speed limits haven't increased business at the WC's Convenience Store near Wall, located just southeast of San Angelo along U.S. 87. Owner Benson Wilde says tractor-trailer traffic appears stable, though factors such as the drought and closure of many parks in New Mexico have eaten into profits.

"If it's any consolation, we are selling more gas," he said. "But for some reason, inside sales are down a little bit."

A widened north-south corridor running past his business from I-10 northward would mean a tremendous boost to business, Wilde said.

Different vehicles moving at different speeds on two-lane roads spells trouble, said Pam Welch, vice president of Moore Development for Big Spring, an economic booster group in the area.
"If you've got a two-lane road, you're still backed up," said Welch, whose city is served by Interstate 20 but is vying for improvements to its access to Interstate 27 at Lubbock and Interstate 10 at Sonora or Junction.

State transportation officials next month will begin the second phase of a study focusing on north-south transportation through West Texas. Thurin said the idea of an expanded Interstate 27, which connects Lubbock to Amarillo, is all but dead.

Any roadwork that emits from the study won't begin anytime soon, Thurin said.
"Assuming we had money sitting in the bank, it would probably take five to seven years before they could go out to bid for a contract," she said.

She added that such an assumption of funding would be faulty because the state has funded only 40 percent of approved projects in recent years.