Spurring Growth
TexAmericas lands $450K for push to link center to I-30, future I-69 corridors
TexAmericas Center now has the funding to study the next step in their development as an area industrial center.
A total of $450,000 has been allocated for this study, with $350,000 coming from the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority and the rest from TexAmericas. Bowie County will receive the funds from the mobility authority.
Since 2000, the industrial park created on land from Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant has steadily added tenants, the most recent being Lionchase Holdings Inc.’s planned industrial freezing facility, set to begin operations December 2019. But an enterprise as large as TexAmericas Center always has more work to do, and more information is always needed.
“When you have an industrial park, you want to be as attractive as you can be to industries looking for a place to do business,” said Scott Norton, TexAmericas executive director and CEO. “One of the exciting developments in the area over the coming years will be the multiple transportation routes coming through, joining and giving even more access to road networks, ports and air transportation facilities.”
The spur is meant to increase TexAmericas’ and RRAD’s access to the transportation infrastructure in the area. That makes the property more attractive to prospective commercial tenants.
“We’ve been working with the Texas Department of Transportation, Jerry Sparks and
“One of the exciting developments in the area over the coming years will be the multiple transportation routes coming through, joining and giving even more access to road networks, ports and air transportation facilities.”
—Scott Norton, TexAmericas CEO
(County) Judge James Carlow to figure out the next step. As a part of the I-69 corridor study, this spur is to be the link-up in our area, running through the 9,000 acres of the former Lone Star property.
“The TexAmericas Center board set aside a 600-foot right of way along Bowie Parkway, in anticipation of a future interstate corridor,” he said. “Among the things the feasibility study will examine will be this route and it eventually linking up to I-30.”
The funding is the first of many steps toward making the spur a reality.
“This is just the funds to get this study going,” Norton said. “It will be a long process—a series of steps setting perimeters of the project, creating proposals and eventually the selection of an entity to actually conduct the study.”
“This is exciting work,” said Chris Miller, executive director of the mobility authority. “When you get to consider big transportation projects like this and their potential, that really is great to contemplate.”
TexAmericas’ spur study was selected from a 12-county area based on criteria put in place by the mobility authority.
“Every calendar year, NETRMA’s long-range planning committee considers project proposals from the 12 counties it represents, with funds that come largely from its operation of the Toll 49 route. We consider the projects from a series of criteria, including regional significance, local political and financial support, the potential of the project to provide regional economic development and other considerations. Basically, it is a beauty contest,” he said.