Ports-To-Plains connects Mexican manufacturers, consumers with U.S. markets

September 22, 2006
By Bill Sontag
Feature Writer

‘Without trucks, America stops!’ And I sure wish more people realized that.
-- Richard Smith, long-haul driver, Lubbock, Sept. 11, 2006

Continued from:

Ports-To-Plains may save rural Southwest

The paucity of 18-wheelers thundering over west Texas highways, Sept. 10, was a measure of light commercial driving on Sunday afternoons. But, even under heavy traffic, the road stretching away to the northwest from San Angelo is inviting and open to far horizons.

The 1,360-mile Ports-To-Plains Trade Corridor overlays U.S. Highway 87 in its march toward Colorado, from the west-central counties of the Lone Star State. Here, the road is smooth asphalt, four-lane divided highway in excellent condition.

But in about 25 miles, where the route snips the southwest corner of Coke County, the width is the same, but the road is noticeably older, in need of re-surfacing. In contrast, at the county line, one of Texas’ snazzy, nearly extravagant new highway rest stops greets drivers on the northbound side of the road.

As 87 approaches Big Spring, Texas, both the historic petroleum extraction industry and new energy exploration are in evidence. The Howard Glasscock Oil Field was “discovered” in 1925, and remains in the top 100 of oil producing fields in the United States. And across the road from this lucrative Conoco Philips treasure, is a windmill electric energy generating “farm.”

North of Big Spring, the impact of late summer rains and center pivot irrigation color the landscape with shades of emerald green. Lush crops of cotton and grain sorghum line the highway for miles.

The acreages have been historically nourished and protected by antique crop duster aircraft, piloted by a dying breed of men and women who spray fertilizer, pesticides and other chemicals. The mostly yellow planes are still seen buzzing both sides of U.S. Highway 87. But now, this once-thriving industry is increasingly hampered by rising costs of fuel, insurance, and the advent of tall-wheeled “high boy” field sprayers.

The importance of agriculture in this part of Texas is further demonstrated in tiny Lamesa, Texas, about 60 miles south of Lubbock. Bordering the east side of the highway through town is one dealership after another, with lined-up, sparkling clean farm implements: Harvesters, seeders, sprayers, and new and used tractors in impressive display.

North of Lamesa, the Ports-To-Plains route along 87 is rougher, in need of re-surfacing, and for an eight-mile stretch that is being accomplished in southbound lanes with excellent results toward Tahoka and into Lubbock.

Lubbock is the hometown to Ports-To-Plains, and Michael Reeves is the coalition’s president. The organization’s thrust is to build a multi-lane divided highway from the U.S. ports-of-entry from Mexico to Colorado, and, with connections to similar routes, to Canada and the Pacific Northwest. The coalition was incorporated in 1997, and has enjoyed the support of governors and congressional delegations in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Colorado.

“Our first phase of work was building partners [industry representatives, cities, counties and chambers of commerce],” Reeves explained, Sept. 11. “Then we did that with departments of transportation in all the states, and next with representatives in Washington, D.C.”

Reeves’ predecessor in his current job was Randy Neugebauer, who has become a powerful ally in Washington. Neugebauer successfully ran for congress and now represents the 19th District of Texas in the U.S. House of Representatives. “And now we’re back to developing partners locally,” said Reeves.

The organization now boasts 24 municipalities on its list of “Investors in Progress,” as well as 19 counties, 13 economic development organizations, ten chambers of commerce, 19 corporations, and 11 industry organizations and universities.

Money, of course, is the ever-looming challenge to fulfilling the goals of developing a safe, reliable and economically-satisfying corridor of commerce through four states. With a $2.8 billion-price tag, Reeves is understandably in a hurry. “That’s in today’s dollars,” Reeves gushed, acknowledging that ever-increasing fuel, materials and labor costs will drive the figure higher each year. “That’s why we’ve got to move faster on this.”

The need for speed is compounded, Reeves said, by tight financing available from most state departments of transportation now, so he’s exploring other revenue streams such as leased right-of-ways. Noting the increasing abundance of “wind farms” generating energy along the Ports-To-Plains route, Reeves is considering whether transmission lines entrenched in the highway right-of-way could be a convenience to producers and a source of financing for highway developers.

In addition, ethanol – distilled from harvests of corn or grain sorghum – is “coming on line with a new plant in the Panhandle, soon,” said Reeves. The Texas State Energy Conservation Office estimates that, by 2008, ethanol plants in Texas – mostly in Central Texas and the Panhandle region – will produce 500 million gallons of ethanol annually. The new fuel must be piped to consumers, and, again, Reeves sees highway right-of-ways as a logical answer.

But publicity and public- and industry-education are important objectives of the coalition, too. Ports-To-Plains data reveal that in the first six years of the coalition’s existence, Texas Department of Transportation let $368.5 million in contracts for projects along the route in that state.

Moreover, last year congress approved and the president signed a massive transportation bill authorizing expenditure of $286 billion for highway improvements and transit programs. It includes more than $117 million in “direct funding for projects along the Ports-To-Plains Corridor.”

Reeves proudly showed off a detailed plan for the corridor, nearly filling a three-inch notebook, a result of collaboration among departments of transportation in all four states. Among all the data showing where improvements are needed, what kinds of improvements, and estimated costs – with a four-stage “Capital Structure Schedule” – the planners estimate that completion will create 40,000 new jobs, with an economic impact of $4.5 billion, generating a benefit-to-cost ration of three to one.

Richard Smith, a 47-year-old truck driver from the little community of Laverne, Okla., is all for highway improvements, but notes that there’s plenty of them impeding his travels already.

“This whole country is nothing but one major construction zone,” said Smith, relaxing after lunch in the Flying J Travel Center, Lubbock, Sept. 11. But Smith and his two traveling companions – Apollo, an eight-year-old Boston Terrier, and Sissy, Smith’s girlfriend’s Dachsund – love their travels together.

“I haul ice cream to Laredo for the Mexicans,” Smith chuckled. A former stock car race driver in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Altus, Okla., he now drives for H.E.I., owner/operator, and Schuster Trucking Company, headquartered in Le Mars, Iowa, self-proclaimed “Ice Cream Capital of the World.”

Smith’s “reefer” – refrigerated trailer – hauls meat and many food perishables, “But we haul any product they need to make ice cream, too – whether its ice cream cones from Kelloggs or popsicle sticks from Maine.”

The trio – Smith and his canine companions – have only been with Schuster for five months, “But I’ve been more satisfied and happy with this company than any other I’ve ever worked for.” He left Le Mars with 32,000 pounds of ice cream, and after depositing the load in five different locations, Smith is now “dead-heading” back to La Verne for some down time.

Truckers, Smith explained, are required by law to rest after 11 hours of driving, “But everybody breaks that. We do whatever we have to do to get the load there on time.”

Smith had heard mention of the Ports-To-Plains Corridor, but knew little about it. His route from Lubbock to Laredo only goes to Sonora on the corridor. Though the route is more direct if he stayed on Ports-To-Plains, Smith diverts onto Interstate 10 to San Antonio, then onto I-35, south to the border.

His loyalty to the profession is clear: “There’s a sign you may have seen on trucks that says, ‘Without trucks, America stops!’ I wish more people realized that. Without us, within a couple of days all grocery stores would close, because everybody would panic and empty the shelves, but the truckers have never been on a nationwide strike.”

(To be continued, to Denver, Colorado)

The Ports-to-Plains Series

1. Laredo, Texas to San Angelo, Texas:
   Ports-To-Plains may save rural Southwest
2. San Angelo to Lubbock:
   Ports-To-Plains connects Mexican manufacturers, consumers with U.S. markets
3. On to Denver, Colorado:
   On the Ports-to-Plains, Truckers’ tradeoffs: Better roads, but higher fuel prices
4. The New Mexico to Texas Spur
   Ports to Plains connects Texas and New Mexico

Next: On the Ports-to-Plains, Truckers’ tradeoffs: Better roads, but higher fuel prices