Transportation in Texas : past, present, and future / prepared by the Texas Transportation Institute
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Texas Transportation Institute
Texas A & M University System
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Transportation is seldom of value in and of
itself. It generally is a means rather than an end,
and for this reason the importance of transportation
is often unnoticed. In fact, a smoothlyworking,
well-ordered transportation system may
likely be taken for granted in much the same sense
as the air we breathe is taken for granted. But if a
disruption occurs in this efficient system, the results
are immediate, often dramatic, and potentially
destructive. A traffic accident can instantly block
the flow of an entire freeway resulting in huge
losses of valuable travel time and the waste of
hundreds of gallons of fuel. A truck or rail strike can
cut deliveries of goods to the point of creating
significant shortages and distorting the entire price
structure of local economies. A cut-off of crude oil
shipments—an embargo—can precipitate national
and international crises.
An efficient, complete transportation network
provides a foundation upon which a society can
develop and improve its economy; resources can
be moved to their most productive uses; people can
pursue their freely-chosen lifestyles; and governments
can pursue policies to enhance the benefits
of the governed. To these ends, transportation is as
crucial to a society as blood circulation is to the
human body. Without transportation, a free society
cannot survive.
The analysis of transportation reported here
has two objectives:
(1) to focus attention upon the current status,
critical issues, trends, and needs that exist
in the Statewide transportation network;
and
(2) to indicate the value of transportation implicit
in other major issue categories—
economics, human services, natural resources,
population, government, and relations
with Mexico.