CAPITOL COMMENTS
Federal support helps Texas handle growth
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON

As the New Year begins, the U.S. Census Bureau projected that our nation's population has soared to 303.1 million, up 2.8 million from its estimate in early 2007. From July 2006 to July 2007, Texas gained almost 500,000 new residents.

Former Texas demographer Dr. Steven Murdock, who was recently approved by Congress to head the Census Bureau, quipped, "Growth is a doubleedged sword. With challenges come opportunities. The key is to have the opportunities be greater than the challenges."

In Texas, a rapid and widespread growth trend continues to gain momentum.

Since 1994 Texas has been the second most populous state in the country, surpassing New York. The Census Bureau estimates place three Texas cities among the top ten numeric gainers between 2000 and 2006, with Houston showing the third largest increase in population, San Antonio the fifth, and Fort Worth the sixth. Among cities with a population of more than 100,000, McKinney was the fastest growing community in the country, with a 97.6 percent population growth rate between April 2000 and July 2006.

Such growth creates opportunities for increased state revenue and economic advancement.

It is critical that our state's education, transportation, infrastructure, and social services keep pace. We do not want to see our state become overburdened by the challenges that accompany accelerated growth.

Across the state, communities are grappling with growing pains, but we have seen a wide range of successful public/private partnerships and local projects to directly address local problems.

In Houston, now the fourth largest city in the U.S., traffic congestion remains a top growth-related challenge. A holistic approach is needed to improve transportation infrastructure. This includes continued efforts to lighten traffic by widening major arteries like I-10 and Highway 59. In 2001, the Houston Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County developed METRO solutions, a comprehensive transit system plan to solve the region's traffic congestion and air quality problems.

The plan was approved by voters in 2003 and to date provides 7.5 miles of rail service, curb to curb transportation for people with disabilities, 113 miles of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, and 25 Park-and-Ride lots with over 30,000 available parking spaces. The $2 billion Phase 2 expansion is currently underway and will expand these capabilities.

Tremendous growth in the Dallas- Fort Worth area has also posed transportation challenges. Texans living in Central Dallas have come to rely on Dallas Area Rapid Transit.

DART is currently moving more than 200,000 passengers per day across a 700 square mile service area, and it has unquestionably eased the growing pains of the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

In Austin, city officials have responded to rapid growth by proposing a light rail plan for Central Texas which was recently approved by the voters.

The Capitol MetroRail will transport urban commuters in the fall of 2008 and is currently undergoing testing for safety. This system is one part of a three-step strategy to reduce congestion on IH-35, improve freight mobility, speed NAFTA trade between Laredo and Dallas and spur economic development in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor.

San Antonio, now the second largest city in Texas, has become widely known as "Military City, USA" for being home to more active duty military personnel than any other city.

Since the Base Realignment and Closure process ended, we have worked very closely to ensure San Antonio's future role in our military and have established it as one of the great places in America for veterans' health care. In September, I joined with local officials to announce that a new $67 million Level One Polytrauma Center will be built at the Audie Murphy VA Hospital campus, the fifth of its kind in the country. It will be one of the most advanced hospitals for veterans, charged with addressing the specific needs of service members returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

El Paso has been working for many years to address a critical water shortage that could have threatened its future.

In August, I attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a state-of-the-art desalination plant that will supply 27.5 million gallons of water, part of an aggressive 50-year conservation plan. The success of this facility, the largest inland desalination plant in the world, played a major role in creating the environment necessary for El Paso's Fort Bliss to increase its size with over 9,000 new troops as part of the "Grow the Army" initiative.

These examples represent only some of the best ideas, born at the local level, carried out through the cooperation of city, county, state, and federal officials, and in many cases funded in large part by the federal government.

The federal government should support the most effective, proven local solutions and I will continue working with local officials to deliver federal funding for the projects that are the most critical for the future of Texas.