Craddicks honored

MIDLAND In white lettering, the four-by-eight foot green sign, unveiled Wednesday, read: “Nadine & Tom Craddick Highway.”

At least three of the signs will soon adorn the new $15 million reliever route, which is designed to bypass Midland and join Highway 349 with FM 1788, just north of the intersection with Highway 191. The 16-mile road is part of the La Entrada al Pacifico trade corridor, which aims to connect West Texas with the deep water ports of Mexico.

“It’s just an awesome experience,” Nadine Craddick told a gathering of about 100 people at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin Center for Energy and Economic Diversification. “I believe in the Permian Basin. I love Midland. I love Odessa. The folks there, we have so much commonality.”

“That’s why her name is first,” her husband, State Rep. Tom Craddick, R-Midland, said after his wife spoke.

Nadine Craddick said she’s been working on the reliever route since the early 1990s, when she was a founding member of the Midland-Odessa Transportation Alliance, which is La Entrada’s primary advocate. And Rep. Tom Craddick helped secure funding for the project during his time as speaker of the house.

The opening of the new stretch of highway is “pretty close,” said Glen Larum, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation.

“Maybe next week, maybe tomorrow,” he said.

The final part of the reliever route is an overpass that will cross Highway 158 for an additional $5 million, Larum said. Construction is expected to begin on it in the coming months.

Officials at the event included TxDOT executive director Amadeo Saenz, state representatives Tryon Lewis, R-Odessa, and Drew Darby, R-San Angelo and Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, or “Sel Keliger,” as MOTRAN Chairman David Boutin called him.

“No matter what anyone says, my name is Kel Seliger,” the senator said. “Thank God it’s not Tiger Woods.”

Lewis said the project will benefit those in Odessa by allowing them to avoid busy areas along Loop 250 in Midland.

“There’s a lot of traffic between Odessa, Ector County and the surrounding counties and Lubbock,” he said. “This will cut travel time considerably.

“It’s going to create a large amount of traffic to and from Lubbock,” he said. “It’s a tremendous boon for us.”