Coryell County Judge John Firth presented this recommendation Dec. 15 to the area highway planning organization, or Killeen-Temple Urban Transportation Study.
Right now the plan is just a theory, something Firth says he came up with on his own to make Fort Hood more competitive with other military installations around the nation.
All of the other installations in America with heavy armor divisions are adjacent to interstates, which may give them an advantage when the next Base Realignment and Closure study is done.
After the last study in 2005, Fort Hood lost some of its troops to Fort Carson in Colorado.
The timing of such a proposal may seem odd with the Texas Department of Transportation facing a funding crunch that has already delayed I-35 expansion projects in Bell County.
When Firth was asked if his recommendation was a response to President-elect Barack Obama’s stimulus plan to spur the economy by concentrating on infrastructure projects he reaffirmed that he believes an I-35 spur would be a way to support Fort Hood and said he had not considered any funding scenarios.
Such a spur would cost billions.
Annette Shepherd, director of the Killeen-Temple area transportation planning organization, said it is too early to tell if this area would benefit from a trickle down effect of a stimulus plan focused on infrastructure. Mrs. Shepherd said how Texas may benefit would become more clear after the legislature meets.
“(Firth) wants to make sure the people that sit (on the planning board) are reminded of the base’s importance to the area,” Mrs. Shepherd said. “He wants everybody thinking bigger, but I can tell you TxDOT is not thinking bigger, it’s thinking smaller … It is an idea worth looking at, it’s just finding sources of funding.”
Firth points to Fort Hood as a major reason this area is stable during what are difficult economic times in many other parts of the country.
“Without Fort Hood this whole region would suffer,” he said. “It is a $9 billion economic stimulus for this area.”
In 2009, Fort Hood’s troop levels are to be reduced to 39,000, or roughly 20 percent of capacity, Firth said. One of the concerns Firth has is that potential decreases in military spending combined with a transportation network that may be less competitive than other similar bases may influence future base studies and further weaken Fort Hood’s standing.
The spur would be a long-term solution, Firth says.
“There is a likelihood of a major drawdown over the next five years or so,” Firth said. “There will be those in Washington who look to significantly reduce the size of the military.”
Mrs. Shepherd said Fort Hood continues to be the highest priority for the planning organization and acknowledged that a Copperas Cove bypass and new onramps and offramps may be more viable solutions to address daily traffic near the post.
She said any decision on future projects would be made by TxDOT and that it typically analyzes many different projects and generally applies its funds where it would do the most good for the most people.
Firth said he wants local officials to make sure they take care of Fort Hood and points to the onset of the Iraq war in 2003 as evidence a transportation system with the ability to hold more would be desirable.
He said the post generally loads most of its heavy equipment on rails that transport it to seaports where they are then shipped across the ocean. During the initial deployment in 2003, Firth said the post shipped out so much equipment that it was necessary to turn to the highways to help move machinery.
“The ability to transport wheeled vehicles to port could be a discriminator in future (base study) decisions,” Firth said. “In the future we need to make decisions that make Fort Hood a viable installation to support as large and heavy force as possible. The mobility of forces could become a critical issue.”
