Everyone from elected officials, to businessmen and women, to concerned citizens came together Thursday to discuss the Unified Transportation Plan for 12 counties in the Permian Basin.
This year's meeting was unique because there is a potential $600 million that could be allocated to Permian Basin roads and highways over the next two years.
Dustin Fawcett, vice president of Motran said, "We have a tremendous crash problem out here in the Odessa district, for our 12 counties. Overall those numbers tend to increase over 100 percent over every two years.”
This steady increase is why groups like Motran and TxDOT, along with lawmakers and the public are coming together.
They are putting a plan in place that would spend $600 million on basin roads and highways every two years.
That means there is a potential of $3 billion of spending over the next 10 years.
“This is something we’ve been working on and Motran and a lot of our elected officials to get this extra money," Fawcett said. "We need this extra money to help us with this extra influx of vehicles with work and all this production that’s happening."
According to TxDOT, the annual budget for the district before 2012 was $40- $60 million. Since then that budget has increased to $400 million.
“It’s absolutely justified. Projects that have been done recently are being concluded and they are showing dropping numbers in accidents and fatalities in those areas,” explained John Speed, TxDOT engineer for the Odessa District.
However, even with the $600 million price tag, the planned budget increase will not be able to fix all of the area's road problems.
“$600 million isn’t going to solve everything, it’s only on a few select roads and we have a lot of roads that need help. But it's a step in the right direction," Fawcett said.
This meeting was the last big public forum - taking the group one step closer in the approval process.
“Right now it’s simply a recommendation, so public input is critical right now,” Speed said.
That input gives the organization the information they need to keep the roads safer.
For more information on UTP or to register your public comment you can click here.
People have until August 12 to register their public comment. After the 12th, the Permian Basin will have confirmation on whether or not we will see an additional $600 million going towards roads and highways.