May 2025 Vol 23 Issue 5 - Ports to Plains

April 2025 Volume 23 Issue 4

We are a voice for our small town, grassroots members who may otherwise not have access to the right audiences, as well as a conduit for industry to come together in support and promotion of transportation improvements.

We are committed to working as an Alliance to improve transportation infrastructure and business networks opportunities, by advocating for appropriate funding levels, so business and industry can thrive.

We are focused on the economic and business interests that are the lifeblood of the region.

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PRESIDENT'S CORNER

This last month I have had the opportunity to make several speaking engagements updating everyone about the Ports-to-Plains Trade Alliance and the High Priority Corridors that make up our route. One question that seems to be in the front of everyone’s minds is concerning the impact that our current tariff wars will have on the necessity of upgrading this route through the central United States. Before I discuss the tariff and trade debate with you, please allow me to remind everyone that the purpose and need to upgrade our three corridors also includes things like securing our food and energy resources, providing access to places of interest, as well as providing a strategic north-south route for rapid deployment of the defense of our nation. By definition, the creation of an interstate highway system included a military strategic defense initiative. In fact, in some later articles I will devote some time to that topic. But for now, let’s go back to the tariff war discussion and the impact on our corridor.

For a more detailed information on this trade debate, I invite you to follow the discussions that our partners at North American Strategy for Competitiveness (NASCO) are currently having. When we focus on our corridor, I draw your attention to the commodities that we are expecting to increase as we continue to upgrade this highway network. We have been promoting a food, fiber, and energy corridor, and with that promotion, clues surface as to what commodities the current trade environment might have an impact on. This is not an exhaustive list, but you can name items like cattle, corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, dairy, oil and gas as a start. There will be other commodities like automobile parts for example, but if their final destination is not on our route, they would not be inclined to use it even if there was no tariff war.

I will also point out that that route is also about connecting North America, which supports the current free trade agreement. Focusing on the trade relationship with Mexico, the United States, and Canada, you can further reduce the confusion that is currently dominating the trade discussions like trade with China. Yes, we need to quit referring to Canada as the 51st state, and I sure am not going to lose any sleep if we call it the Gulf of Mexico or America. At this point I want to reference a report that was produced by McKinsey in 2021 titled “The Complication of Concentration in Global Trade.” The first point they made was that no region in the world is close to being self-sufficient. That includes the United States. We get closer if we include Mexico and Canada, but still not completely self-sufficient. They went on to say that about 40% of global trade is concentrated (importing economies rely on 3 or fewer nations). Three quarters of that concentration comes from economy-specific choices. Listen to this list: natural gas, airplanes, memory chips, diamonds, vaccines, and maize (corn). The other quarter of that 40% global concentration, is in iron ore, laptops and soybeans. In fact, if we are discussing soybeans, only the United States and Brazil will be your sources. And, if you are a farmer or rancher in the United States, 85% of our nation’s potash used for fertilizer comes from Canada and specifically Saskatchewan which connects directly into our Theodore Roosevelt Expressway. When comparing these lists to the previous one that I gave, you begin to see that tariff war or no tariff war the commodities that will need to move on our corridor will indeed move on our corridor.

As I close this newsletter, I will mention the Eagle Pass Trade Summit that occurred this month. According to WorldCity, approximately 59% of all US trade goes through 20 ports. Eagle Pass is number 34 at $37 billion which is a very healthy number and expected to grow significantly. Laredo Texas where our corridor starts, is the number 1 port in the nation at $320 billion. Add to these two Houston (No. 5) at $226 billion and Beaumont (No. 46) at $24.2 billion and the volume of commodities that need to move from the gulf and Mexico into and out of the United States is impressive. That is why we need more than one north-south route through the midwestern United States, and the Ports-to-Plains looks forward to being that route.

more to come …

Lauren D. Garduño

Future Interstate Highway Formula Program

The U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure requested Highways and Transit Stakeholder Proposals for Surface Transportation Reauthorization Bill which expires on September 30, 2026. On Wednesday, April 30, 2025, the Ports-to-Plains Alliance, along with the I-69 Coalition and I-14 Coalition submitted proposals designed to benefit Future Interstate Highways. We saw opportunities to advance Future Interstates in the next federal surface transportation authorization bill. Five proposals were submitted.

Each of these proposals is based on the need to return to having a National Transportation Vision that existed in 1956 when the Interstate Highway Program was initialed. This proposal would be a step in creating a Federal Compact with the American people. This New Beginning is the dawn of the third era in the modern history of the Federal surface transportation program.

The first era began 70 years ago with construction of the Interstate highway system, which served as the unifying principle of Federal effort for three decades.
While it was an immense undertaking, the basic purpose of the Interstate enterprise was to convert lines on a highway map into miles of concrete, asphalt, and steel. The completed system connected the Nation as President Eisenhower envisioned, and it still stands as one of the engineering marvels of the world.
The second era was ushered in with the passage of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). The “TEA” era has been characterized by the unprecedented flexibility afforded to State and local officials to invest Federal highway dollars in new modes and approaches. Overall, State and local transportation officials invested heavily in their systems, matching Federal funds with State and local funds.

Future Interstate Highway Formula Program

Proposed a Formula-based Program to develop existing Future Interstate Highways which were designed for the purpose to expand and enhance the national transportation network by identifying and developing key corridors that will eventually meet full Interstate Highway standards. The Formula Funding would be distributed to each State DOT based on unconstructed, multi-state, designated Future Interstate Highway miles within each state. It would also establish a guaranteed level of federal commitment to the completion of congressionally authorized Future Interstates. Funding from the Future Interstate Formula Program will not be counted as part of a state’s guaranteed Rate of Return from the Highway Trust Fund. Instead, the funding will be above the line. Formula Funding to each State DOT based on unconstructed, multi-state, designated Future Interstate Highway miles within each state. Where designated Future Interstate Highway corridors within a state overlap (e.g. portions of I-27 and I-14), the mileage shall be counted only one time. Once State DOT’s received Future Interstate Highway Formula Funds, they may determine how funding is distributed on Future Interstate Development each year.

Significantly Reduce or Eliminate Federal Competitive Grants and Instead, Allocate Funding Through Formula to States

Formula funding is more predictable and facilitates better planning by state and local governments. Competitive grants are highly oversubscribed and serve to geopolitically distribute funding which ultimately dilutes the level of progress made on large-scale infrastructure projects. Out of 39 Surface Transportation Discretionary Grants, TxDOT received only 3.45% of available funds in 2024 and 1.62% in 2023.

Eliminate All Public Sector Local Match Requirement for Rural Areas on Future Interstate Corridor Projects

By nature, interstate highways are designed to serve national benefit. Rural communities should not be required to fund the project development. Funding for all costs to develop and build Future Interstates should be provided by the federal and state governments. Establish Future Interstate Reinvestment Zones to provide a funding stream to provide state repayment of the non-federal share.

Allow Federal Freight Infrastructure Funding to Be Utilized by State Dots for All Projects in a USDOT Approved State Freight Plan

The National Primary Highway Freight Network is artificially constrained and largely includes the existing interstate system. As of the 2022 Congressional re-designation of the PHFS, this network consists of about 41,799 centerlines miles, including 38,014 centerline miles of Interstate and 3,785 centerline miles of non-Interstate roads. The program needs to address needs of added capacity and not just support of the existing interstate system.

Two additional Proposals for Transportation Reauthorization are being finalized:

Future Interstate Feasibility Study
- Relating to an Interstate Feasibility Study by the departments of transportation of a portion of the Ports-to-Plains corridor in Oklahoma and Colorado; the Heartland Expressway corridor in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota; and the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana.
Future Interstate Highway Designation and Route Numbering
- Relating designation as Future Interstate Highways for a portion of the Ports-to-Plains corridor in Oklahoma and Colorado; the Heartland Expressway corridor in Colorado, Nebraska, Wyoming and South Dakota; and the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway in South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana.
- Designates the future interstate highway system portions of the Ports-to-Plains Corridor within the states of Oklahoma and Colorado as Interstate Route I–27; the future interstate highway system portions of the Heartland Expressway Corridor within the states of Colorado, Nebraska and South Dakota as Interstate Route I–27; the future interstate highway system portions of the Heartland Expressway Corridor within the state of Nebraska and Wyoming as Interstate Route I–27W; the future interstate highway system portions of the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway Corridor within the states of South Dakota, North Dakota and Montana as Interstate Route I–27.

ND Legislature Supports TRE Construction and Planning

The biennial Legislative Session for 2026 and 2027 was completed on May 3, 2025. SB 2012, an Act to provide an appropriation for defraying the expenses of the department of transportation, was passed and it included Construction and Planning funds specifically designated for the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway in North Dakota.

$155 million was appropriated for Construction on U.S. 85. $55 million was provided as match to a federal Rural Transportation Grant of $55 million to four-lane about 13 miles of U.S. 85 from a point six miles south of the Long X Bridge to the junction with Highway 200 (Jct. ND 200 to RP120). An additional $100 million was funded to complete the 6.5 mile stretch from the Long X Bridge to RP120 (the top of the breaks). This construction in the rough terrain of the Little Missouri breaks (Badlands). NDDOT is planning to bid the projects this fall or early next year to start construction in 2026 and continuing into 2027 for completion.

In addition, the North Dakota Legislature directed NDDOT, that when the request for bids for construction on the last segment of the United States Highway 85 project between Interstate Highway 94 and North Dakota Highway 200 commences, to prepare and complete an environmental impact statement to construct a four-lane highway for the remaining sections of the Theodore Roosevelt Expressway which do not have four-lanes on U.S. 85 from the South Dakota border to interstate highway 94 and U.S. 2 from Williston to the Montana border.

Big Spring breaks ground on Crossroads Business Park on June 9
Project will be key driver of local economy

A ground-breaking ceremony for Crossroads Business Park will be held June 9 at 4 p.m. The event will be held on Fraizer Road, off the east side of Highway 87 near the future intersection of I-27. The ground-breaking will mark the start of a $5.6 million infrastructure project that will open over 550 acres to business development in Big Spring.

An investment of over $22 million has already been made by the City of Big Spring, Big Spring Economic Development Corporation and the McMahon-Wrinkle Airport and Industrial Park to develop the region for business.

This first phase of the park’s development will encompass approximately 550 acres with an additional 2,000 acres included in the master plan to fully leverage the benefits associated with the development of the Ports to Plains initiative.

It is the first business park in the region directly tied to the development of I-27 and the Ports to Plains initiative and represents a major opportunity for Big Spring and is expected to help drive the economy in Howard County for decades to come. This represents the next step in the ongoing effort to redevelop the Big Spring economy since the closure of Webb Airforce Base in 1977.

The project is a result of investment by several entities, both public and private, working in partnership to fund and facilitate the construction. A collaboration with the Frazier family via Cross Ell Ranch Corporation, involving their land holdings in the park, has also been critical in the development of the project. Additionally, managerial support from the Permian Basin Regional Planning Commission and Texas Department of Transportation have been key.

The Ports to Plains Trade Corridor will ultimately be a 2,300-plus mile highway system stretching through Texas from Laredo through Big Spring, into the Texas Panhandle, on to Denver, Colorado, and ending in Alberta, Canada.

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Centrally located between Lubbock, San Angelo, Midland and Abilene, Big Spring is the “Heart of the West Texas Diamond in Transportation.” Crossroads Business Park offers businesses a strategic location, with air and rail services available to complement interstate access. Being at the epicenter of West Texas, considered the United States’ Food, Fuel, and Fiber Capital, Big Spring offers unique opportunities for many different types of industry.