Study Looks to Future of I-35 Trade Corridor

IRVING, Texas (AP) — Transportation consultants have come up with three strategies for dealing with a possible trade traffic jam along Interstate 35.

Each of the plans outlined Wednesday would cost about $10 billion to implement and would provide needed mobility and safety improvements, maintain environmental quality and enhance economic development along the corridor, said professional engineer Joseph W. Guyton of Kansas City.

"We also checked for adequacy, asking, `Is this a good use of public money?"' Guyton said.

Since Congress approved the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994, I-35 has been considered a key artery, stretching 1,500 miles between Canada and Mexico. In the United States, the corridor traverses Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma and Texas.

Traffic on parts of the route is expected to increase 85 percent by the year 2025, according to a study prepared by The HNTB Cos., a consulting group of architects, engineers and planners.

The study, not directly linked to NAFTA, was federally funded and involved transportation officials from each state involved, Guyton said.

Interstate 35 carries a greater percentage of trade among NAFTA partners than any other U.S. interstate highway, the study found.

Most of the traffic was concentrated in Texas, with international truck traffic accounting for only 5 percent of truck traffic between Dallas and Duluth, Minn.

About 19,000 trucks per day use I-35 at Laredo on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Auto traffic also is heavy, with 230,000 private vehicles using the two legs of I-35 in Dallas-Fort Worth each day.

Average daily volumes of 200,000 vehicles have been recorded in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Austin and San Antonio.

Research and hearings to collect public comment culminated in the proposals discussed Monday in Laredo and Tuesday in San Antonio. A final hearing is scheduled for today in Oklahoma City.

Final recommendations were expected to be made by mid-summer, said Peggy Thurin, statewide planning coordinator for the Texas Department of Transportation.

The next steps would include identifying specific sectors requiring improvement, obtaining funding, assessing environmental impact, obtaining public comment, designing the improvements and actually doing the construction.

"If we started today in most states, it might take seven years if we had the funding lined up," Guyton said.

The three plans suggested:

The Urban Congestion Relief Strategy would add additional lanes in existing right-of-way to help prevent jams around major cities. The plan also would deal with improving local public

ransit in those cities and would feature so-called "intelligent transportation systems" using computers to assist routing.

The Trade Focus Strategy would include elements of the first plan plus add truck-only lanes in the southern third of the corridor.

The Combination Strategy would include acquiring additional right-of-way near cities to add additional lanes up to a total of 14. Rail service would also be added to relieve truck congestion.

All three plans came out "looking good" so far as cost benefits, Guyton said, "in that we get more back in savings than we spend on construction."

About half of the approximately $10 billion needed for any of the plans would be spent in Texas, Ms. Thurin said.