Appendix C: Regional Economic Freight Profiles Table of Contents A: Central Texas ............................................................................................................................. 1 B: North Coastal Texas ................................................................................................................. 17 C: North IH 35 Corridor ............................................................................................................... 47 D: Panhandle ............................................................................................................................... 115 E: Piney Woods........................................................................................................................... 133 F: South Coastal Texas ............................................................................................................... 153 G: South IH 35 Corridor ............................................................................................................. 183 H: West Texas ............................................................................................................................. 217 A: Central Texas Introduction The Central Texas economic region, whose population is just over a half million (2.2% of the state), is widely dispersed, and its population has declined by 0.6% in the past 10 years. The major metropolitan area in the region is Abilene with a population of 247,1141. It is located about one-third the distance from Dallas to El Paso and is within a major east-west interregional, intercoastal commercial corridor containing IH 20, Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF), and numerous pipeline and communication lines (Abilene MPO, 2010). The next major metropolitan area is San Angelo, perhaps the only major city in Texas not located near an interstate highway. Located about 100 miles southwest of Abilene, its population is 154,7691. Brownwood, another metropolitan area in the region, has a population of 128,2291. Economic Profile and Freight Movements Changes come slowly to the central region of Texas, as can be demonstrated by the heavy reliance on the oil and gas industry throughout the region, particularly in small towns. Nonetheless, a number of important economic trends are clear throughout the region. Chief among these is the emergence of a new wind energy industry. As seen in Figure A1, many new wind farms have been constructed in recent years in the northern section of the region, approximately north of San Angelo and west of Abilene. Support services for wind energy have emerged in the neighboring cities of San Angelo and Abilene, with new steel fabrication plants opening, Source: Alternative Energy Institute, 2008 and a number of turbine Figure A1: Wind Energy in Texas engineering offices taking root in city business parks. One of the largest wind power facilities in the world, the Horse Hollow Wind Energy Center, is located 1 2008 Population Estimates 1 near Abilene. It currently produces 735 megawatts (MW) of electricity and helped Texas overtake California in total installed wind power capacity. The wind plant consists of 291 1.5- MW wind turbines from General Electric and 130 2.3-MW wind turbines from Siemens and is spread across about 47,000 acres in Taylor and Nolan counties (State Energy Conservation Office, 2006). Martifier-Hirschfeld Energy Corporation, a joint venture between the Martifer Group and Hirschfeld, plan to develop a factory in San Angelo, for the production of steel towers for wind turbine generators and create a total of 255 jobs. The factory is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2010, and to reach a capacity of 400 towers a year by 2013 (Concho Valley Business Resources, 2009; ReliablePlant.com, 2010). Reviews of the region’s employment by metropolitan statistical area show that the service-providing and private service-providing industries are the top employers in the area (Figures A2 and A4). A similar trend was recorded for all the other regions in Texas. When these two industries are purged from the graphs as in Figures A3 and A5, a much more detailed review of the other industries can be observed. In the Abilene MSA, the education and health services industry is the largest employer from 2000 to 2010, followed by local government, retail trade, and goods-producing industries. However, freight-related industries such as goods-producing, mining/logging/construction (including petroleum), and manufacturing industries experienced a sharp decline in their number of employees from 2008 to 2010, during the economic downturn. This trend is similar to the current trend in Texas. Unemployment in these industries in recent years can be said to account for the MSA’s unemployment rate increase from 2008 to 2009, despite the increase in the MSA’s labor force during the same period of time (see Figures A6 through A9). Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010 Figure A2: Abilene MSA Employment by Industry, 2000 to 2010 2 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010 Figure A3: Abilene MSA Employment by Industry less Service-providing, 2000 to 2010 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010 Figure A4: San Angelo MSA Employment by Industry, 2000 to 2010 3 Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2010 Figure A5: San Angelo MSA Employment by Industry less Service-providing, 2000 to 2010 Source: Texas Workforce Commission, 2010 Figure A6: Abilene MSA Labor Force, 2000 to 2009 4 Source: Texas Workforce Commission, 2010 Figure A7: Abilene MSA Unemployment Rate, 2000 to 2009 Source: Texas Workforce Commission, 2010 Figure A8: San Angelo MSA Labor Force, 2000 to 2009 5 Source: Texas Workforce Commission, 2010 Figure A9: San Angelo MSA Unemployment Rate, 2000 to 2009 In the San Angelo MSA, the education and health services industry remained the top employer from 2002 to 2010, similar to that of the Abilene MSA. However, the second largest industry in the area, the goods-producing industry, experienced a sharp decline in its number of employees in 2009 and 2010. As of the first quarter of 2010, the number of employees in this industry was almost equivalent to that of the retail trade and local government industries. Other industries that also experienced a decline in their number of employees during the same period of time are leisure/hospitality, manufacturing, professional/business services, mining/logging/ construction (including petroleum), and state government industries (see Figure A5). All of these industries experienced the increasing unemployment rate in the region from 2008 to 2009 (see Figures A7 and A9). Inventory of Freight Facilities Roadway Infrastructure Road transportation is the major freight transportation facility connecting various areas both inside and outside the region. There are nearly 9,685,032 centerline miles of state- maintained highways in the region. The major road utilized for freight traffic is primarily Interstate Highway 20, which branches from IH 10 about 100 miles east of El Paso, connecting the region’s major city of Abilene with the Dallas/Ft. Worth MSA. Currently IH 10 and IH 20 see major truck traffic particularly in response to the NAFTA. As of 2003, these corridors combined to carry nearly 20% of Texas NAFTA freight truck traffic (by vehicle miles traveled [VMT]). This amounts to more than 1,000 average annual daily traffic (AADT) along IH 10 east of El Paso, of which some 250 then veer off to utilize IH 20. Generally, both roadways see diminished NAFTA truck traffic heading eastbound across the region and the state (Cambridge Systematics, 2007b). 6 In San Angelo, major freight highways include US 87, US 67, US 277, and Loop 306. As illustrated in Figure A10, US 87 and US 277 form part of the Texas Trunk System Corridors, which are designated rural four-lane divided highways built to enhance mobility, complement the interstate system, and connect cities in the state with a population of more than 20,000 as well as major ports and points of entry (Texas Transportation Planning Manual, 2001). In 2004, commercial vehicles accounted for approximately 15% of vehicles traveling into and out of San Angelo daily (San Angelo MPO, 2010). The major freight highways in the Abilene area include IH 20, US 83, and Loop 322. Figure A10: Texas Trunk System Corridors in San Angelo Source: San Angelo MPO, 2010 Capacity of the road system in this region of Texas is generally greater than volume, with little or no congestion along a vast majority of these major routes. Most of the major truck routes in the region demonstrate movement at or near free-flow speed (greater than 55 mph). Minor congestion (volume to capacity ratios of .75–.95) exists in and around the major cities in the region, but does not spread much beyond city limits (Cambridge Systematics, 2007b). By most measurements, truck travel is expected to develop very rapidly over the coming decades. NAFTA truck traffic utilizing IH 10 and IH 20 as key routes is expected to increase more than 200% on both corridors by 2030 (Table A1), even if no improvements to these roadways take place (Cambridge Systematics, 2007b). While congestion in the area is certainly not widespread, pockets of delay affect the freight transportation system significantly. Many projects are underway or in the planning stages to reverse the trend of increasing congestion at these locations, and these are discussed later. The Texas Trunk System priority corridor connecting IH 44 at Wichita Falls with IH 20 at Abilene is