LAREDO, Texas - W. Alvin New is a member of the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the statewide activities of the Texas Department of Transportation.
On Aug. 3, New spoke at an appreciation luncheon that celebrated the congressional work of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar. The event was hosted by LJA Engineering, the Ports to Plains Alliance, and the Alliance for I-69 Texas. They said Cuellar was “unwavering” in the support he has shown to advance transportation projects across Texas and the United States. The event was held at La Posada Hotel in Laredo.
In his remarks, New noted the rapid growth of the Texas population and how the State of Texas was having to respond, transportation-wise. He cited a lot of statistics.
“I am excited about what's going on right now because Texas is at roughly 30 million people currently. It has has been growing. I'll give you some information about that in a second, the history, from 2010 to 2020,” New said.
“But the expectation, according to the State Demographer is somewhere around 44 to 47 million people around the year 2050. So if you have your eye on the future, we have to have more interstate infrastructure to move the goods, to move the people, to take care of 45 or 50 million folks, whatever the number turns out to be. We're still bringing a lot of folks into Texas.”
More and better interstates are needed, New explained.
“With one interstate, I-35, headed north and south we simply are not going to get this taken care of and meet the needs of 45 million people. So, I-27, I-69, I-35, in combination. And then, when you're going east and west, you have 10 and 20 and you have 40 up in the Panhandle and 14 on the horizon. The state is really being put together at the congressional level, at the state level and at the local level, because that's frankly the way this works,” New said.
“It takes pushing on the wheel at all the levels. You have to have the mayors, you have to have the councils, you have to have the county commissions, you have to have the statewide level folks. It just takes everybody pushing on the wheel to make this happen. But, we don't get designated and we don't get federal recognition as an interstate without a congressman. So thank you so much for what you (Congressman Cuellar) are doing.”
Here is a video recording of Commissioner New's remarks at the LJA Engineering/Ports to Plains Alliance/Alliance for I-69 Texas luncheon:
https://youtu.be/CGpXCO805T4
