RESOLUTION SUPPORTING IH-14 CORRIDOR

WHEREAS, the Port of Corpus Christi Authority of Nueces County, Texas (PCCA), is the second-largest U.S. produced crude export port in the United States, and

WHEREAS, the I-14 Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System will provide a needed link between the Permian Basin, the world’s most prolific oil and gas producing region, and PCCA via a proposed interstate highway connection following US Highway 83 between Eden and Junction, and then linking to the Texas Coast via I-10 and I-37; and

WHEREAS, the I-14 Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System will provide significant additional transportation capacity to accommodate the growing oil and natural gas production in the United States creating economic development opportunities in South Texas; and

WHEREAS, the I-14 Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System will provide a safe and efficient transportation artery between our state’s military facilities, and those of neighboring states, and PCCA, a Military Strategic Deployment Port; and

WHEREAS, the I-14 corridor across Texas, , and will provide a needed future alternative to and for freight traffic transported across state lines, which in Texas is projected to double by 2040; and

WHEREAS, the I-14 Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System will provide improved means of evacuating coastal areas and will provide a high elevation alternative to periodic closures of sections of Interstate 10 due to high water; and

WHEREAS, H.R. 2220 by United States Representative and 10 other Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana co-sponsors have introduced legislation to accomplish an expanded I-14 designation; and

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Port Commission submit this Resolution in support of expanding the congressionally designated Interstate 14 Corridor to three states; and

THEREFORE, BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Port Commission further supports the incremental development of the elements of the I-14 Gulf Coast Strategic Highway System and congressional legislative action, as defined in H.R. 2220, expanding the Corridor and establishing a Central Louisiana Corridor and a Central Mississippi Corridor, and that each expanded segment of these corridors be designated as a part of the future I-14 Route.

ADOPTED this the 17th day of September 2019 by the Port Commission of the Port of Corpus Christi Authority of Nueces County, Texas.

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Charles W. Zahn, Jr. Port Commission Chairman