By State Rep. Brooks Landgraf
If you want to know the heart of West Texas, all you have to do is attend one Friday night football game.
We love football, but we really love high school football. Why? Well, for one, football is a lot like the oil field. To succeed, you have to work at it. You have to get up early and contend with the West Texas sun and wind. A team or a player can be prepared for the game, play a great game, and still lose. It’s not a game of luck, but sometimes you get lucky.
We love high school football for all of those reasons and more. When you go to a West Texas high school football game you see (and hear) a community supporting the next generation. And it’s not just about the football players and coaches, it’s about the bands, cheerleaders, spirit teams, dance teams, student councils, flag runners–everyone shows up to support the community.
That’s just one example of how we are cut from a different cloth here in West Texas, despite the cards that we’ve been dealt, we still maintain a sense of community. So when I hear about someone losing their lives in an accident on one of our West Texas roads, it devastates me.
When I was first elected to the Texas House of Representatives, I heard a horrible statistic: the Permian Basin has 2% of the state’s population, but accounts for 11% of the state’s fatal motor vehicle accidents. That statistic disturbed me and broke my heart. Since then I’ve been hellbent on fixing it.
In the 4 years before I first took the oath to protect and defend the constitution as your state representative, an average of $51 million per year was spent on highway projects in the Odessa Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) district. A few years later, that number jumped to $158 million per year.
Since I was appointed to the House Transportation Committee in 2019, an average of $361 million per year has been spent on transportation projects in the Odessa TxDOT district. I certainly am not the sole person responsible for this massive increase in funding, but I’d be lying to you if I told you I didn’t fight for it every step of the way.
None of it would be possible without all of the West Texans who contacted TxDOT over the years to advocate for more state highway funds. We’re a team.
All of this funding has led to a lot of road construction in our region recently. While this does cause some complications, we are already seeing major benefits: the number of fatal accidents has dropped by 32% over the last 3 years.
Still, I have personally known several people who have passed away in car accidents during that same time frame, so I have not and will not stop fighting for more resources to improve driving conditions around the Permian Basin.
In the coming months and years, the TxDOT is planning on making safety improvements to I-20, US 385, SH 302, SH 191, Loop 338, SH 176, and SH 115. These improvements will replace many of the roadway features originally created to handle earlier traffic patterns in the Permian Basin with features that are compatible with current commercial traffic. When complete, this work will greatly reduce the risk of crashes for all drivers.
It’s impossible to know how many West Texas lives will be saved by these much needed improvements to our highway infrastructure system. But next time we all gather together under the Friday night lights, there is going to be at least one person on the field or in the stands who wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for that new traffic light, turning lane, or overpass that is under construction right now. That’s enough to motivate me to keep my foot on the gas, to keep fighting for safer roads in the Permian Basin.
Nothing can ever replace the loved ones we’ve lost much too soon on our Texas highways. We will always mourn for and never forget them. But today I am here to tell you that the state of Texas has heard our cries and has taken action. A billion dollars have been spent in the last three years alone on Permian Basin highways and a billion more is expected to be spent in the next three years. I will not stop and I will not slow down until the work is done.
Don’t forget, early voting for the 2022 Texas primary elections starts on Monday. For information on where to vote and when, visit: www.votetexas.gov.
God bless Texas!
