2008R47-Texas Rail Relocation Improvement Fund
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RESOLUTION NO. 08-R-47
IN SUPPORT OF THE TEXAS RAIL RELOCATION AND IMPROVEMENT FUND
WHEREAS, freight and passenger mobility is critical to the economic prosperity and quality of
life in the state of Texas and the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, and
WHEREAS, population growth and increased international trade have combined to create both
freight movement and passenger vehicle congestion throughout the state of Texas and the
Austin-San Antonio Corridor, and
WHEREAS, the state's population has grown by 57% and the total passenger miles driven rose
by 95% over the past 25 years, but highway lane miles increased by just 8% over the same
period, and
WHEREAS, the Austin-San Antonio Corridor's population has doubled over the last 20 years
and is expected to double again over the next 20 years, and
WHEREAS, Interstate 35 has become the defacto NAFTA highway between the US, Mexico,
and Canada, used by over one million trucks per year involved in international trade, and
WHEREAS, a study by the Federal Highway Administration in 1999 found that over the entire
1700-mile length of Interstate 35 from Mexico to Canada the highest vehicle counts, the most
traffic fatalities, the worst congestion, the lowest levels of service, and the lowest average speed-
per-mile were to be found in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, and
WHEREAS, a freight rail line owned by Union Pacific directly parallels Interstate 35 through
the most congested portion of the Austin-San Antonio Corridor and was constructed over 120
years ago and currently has nearly 200 at-grade crossings through the Corridor that represent
congestion, public safety, and hazardous materials risks within heavily-populated areas of the
Corridor, and
WHEREAS, freight rail car traffic through the Corridor has doubled since the passage ofNAFTA, and
WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Transportation estimates that freight-movement trucking
is increasing nationwide by 2% per year, increasing by 6% per year statewide, but increasing
by15% per year in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, and
WHEREAS, many recent studies have shown that transporting goods by rail is more energy
efficient than transporting goods by truck, and creates fewer air quality-eroding carbon
emissions, and
WHEREAS, both Austin and San Antonio are in danger of becoming named as "non-
attainment" areas under the Federal air quality standards, and
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Page 2 Resolution No. 08-R-47
WHEREAS, both Austin and San Antonio have endorsed local policies directed at reducing
carbon emissions related to both air quality and global warming, and
WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Texas has passed and the public has approved by
election the constitutional amendment creating the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement
Fund, and
WHEREAS, $200 million appropriated annually to the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement
Fund could be used to create a total bonded funding capacity for the Fund of at least $2 billion
over the next decade, and
WHEREAS, the annual appropriation to the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund
should come from a source other than Fund 6 (gas tax revenues constitutionally dedicated to
highways), and
WHEREAS, the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement Fund could be used throughout the
State to relieve traffic congestion, improve freight movement mobility, remove hazardous
materials from the heavily-populated areas of urban Texas, and thus improve the economy and
quality oflife in Texas.
NOW BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED, that the City Council of the City of Schertz, Texas
respectfully requests that the State Legislature and the Governor of Texas appropriate $200
million annually to the Texas Rail Relocation and Improvement fund during the 2009 regular
session and subsequent sessions of the Texas Legislature.
PASSED AND APPROVED TIllS 14TH Day of October, 20~ .
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Hal Baldwin, Mayor City of Schertz Texas
ATTEST:
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Brenda Dennis, TRMC, CMC City Secretary