285 and I-20, saving truckers up to 45 minutes a day coming and going, along with improving safety there. “As we’re getting into that interstate project over the next 6-8 years, it’s a tremendous headache-and there is nowhere else for that traffic to move, because you don’t have fully functional freeways and loops around these communities,” he said, adding, “We’ve got to finish these loops-that’s imperative.”Īt the mention of loops, 250 and 338 pop into the mind, but Beauchamp adds the need for a loop around Pecos as a high priority.

The changes are desperately needed, but, in the meantime, traffic will get worse before it gets better. All this is expected to take 6-8 years to complete-and for Beauchamp it’s a mixed blessing. That last project is geared at reducing the number of trucks slamming into overpasses at highway speeds, which has been at epidemic rates the last 10 years or so. The roadway will be expanded to six lanes from its current four, the access roads will become bidirectional, and at interchanges the interstate will go over the top. Some of the money will be invested in the long-discussed updating of I-20 through Midland and Odessa. Says Beauchamp, “Their budget’s going up, and they’re going to need to invest some of that out here.” But the recently passed Federal infrastructure bill will give Austin an extra $1 billion, and that, along with an extra $500 million in highway funds from severance taxes due to increased production, will give the state some budget breathing room.

In the past-before there were working truck counters-getting funding for road expansion was the biggest challenge for MOTRAN. There were times where an operator said ‘Yes, you can take it through here,’ and then a couple of days later there’s a pumpjack there. “During the planning process, we had to reset several times because of development that changed in the oil and gas fields. Beauchamp noted that planning new or extended roads can be challenging because of the plethora of other right-of-ways, such as pipelines, powerlines-and oil wells. The new numbers have led TxDOT to funnel more money to I-20 projects.Īs is implied by the “TRAN” in its name, MOTRAN spends a lot of time working on road and highway projects to relieve congestion and improve safety. They found 106,000 daily truck trips that they had previously missed.

Getting those devices updated alone revolutionized TXDOT’s understanding of the area’s traffic issues. “Every day, you’ve got to tell the story and communicate these issues and a lot of days you’ve got to do it over and over and over again, but eventually it clicks in,” he said.įor years Basin truck traffic was underestimated, Beauchamp added, because TXDOT had one weigh-in-motion counter on I-10 and one on I-20-one of which did not work at all and the other of which was mis-calibrated so it grossly underestimated the truck counts.

The organization’s President, James Beauchamp, keeps up with trends, traffic counts, and much more, helping Austin leadership understand why so few people need so many roads. MOTRAN Alliance is the 501 (c) 6 nonprofit created to improve transportation infrastructure, not only in Midland/Odessa as the name implies, but throughout the Permian Basin. Safe bike paths, city part upgrades, road growth, and business climate improvement are all on the agenda for chambers of commerce and other public organizations. But even in the desert, where the word “water” is usually preceded by the word “produced,” residents still look for a certain quality of life.Īrea leaders work against nature and sometimes the state capitol in wresting a better life than first meets the eye. In a downturn, newcomers can be misinformed about even that. In the Permian Basin, people mainly come for the jobs because, as in Casablanca, there are no waters.

Life in the perian