Monday Morning Report
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The Austin-San Antonio Corridor Council’s Transportation Task Force Committee will meet 1:30 pm on Monday, March 31, 2008 at the San Marcos Activity Center located on 501 E. Hopkins. Representative Linda Harper-Brown, Chair, Budget and Oversight Subcommittee of the Transportation Committee; Member – Appropriation Committee and Member, Sunset Commission will be the guest speaker. Please RSVP to council@thecorridor.org or call 512-558-7360 for more information. Agenda details here.
Infrastructure
We hear a lot about population growth in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, but a recent story from Bell County and Temple puts it into perspective: by 2050, there will be 35 million people - 70% of the state's population - living in the Texas Triangle formed by Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio. 16 million people live within the Triangle now. And transportation issues loom largest, according to Temple and Bell County officials. More.
Construction began last week on a long-awaited overpass project on Highway 183 in Lockhart, which will allow traffic to continue to flow despite the presence of trains on the Union Pacific Railroad tracks north of the Courthouse Square. Contractors hope to have the overpass itself open for traffic by August.
And up in Round Rock, TxDOT also started construction last week on a north-to-south turnaround bridge at Interstate 35 and RM 620. "It's become a very crowded intersection," said Tom Word, chief of Public Works for the city told The Leader. "We have a railroad crossing on RM 620 less than a half-mile from the interchange of I-35 and when a train comes through, traffic is really bad."
Congratulations to New Braunfels, which last Friday celebrated the 163rd anniversary of its founding by Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels on March 21, 1845. Details here.
Texas State University-San Marcos has a statewide economic impact of almost $1 billion annually, according to an economic impact study released last week by the university. “This reinforces what we believed - that we are an important part of the economic lifeblood of the region and the state,” said Denise M. Trauth, president of Texas State, told The Record. “It shows that we contribute significantly not only to the higher education aspirations of Texans, but to their economic interests as well.”
Economic Development
San Marcos city council members are expected to consider plans to build a distribution and warehouse facility on Clovis Barker Drive. Scheduled to be completed in March 2009, the facility will total 148,900 sq. ft. on 30 acres.
Computer technician firm Support.com will move 100 jobs to Austin by the end of the year. Support.com, a Redwood City, CA. –based company, provides remote tech support for individual consumers and small businesses.
The Defense Energy Support Center awarded a $185.4 million contract to Refinery Associates of Texas Inc. in New Braunfels. Refinery Associates is an oil products trading company that works with refineries to procure different sources of fuel for the Dept. of Defense.
Dwight Ferrell, chief operating officer and executive vice president of the Capital Metropolitan Transportation Authority, has resigned. Ferrell is leaving Cap Metro to be chief operating officer and deputy general manager of the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority.
The San Marcos Chamber of Commerce has named Amy Madison, former Schertz economic development director to head up business recruitment and retention. She starts work on April 7th.
A 170,000 sq. ft. Lowe’s, the anchor to one of the city of Leander’s largest commercial developments, will officially open on March 25.
The Department of Defense will award $33 million to a research consortium led by the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio to study post-traumatic stress disorder among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Man is by nature a political animal."
-Aristotle Greek Philosopher (384 BC - 322 BC)