State and local elected officials met with business leaders in Hurst Friday to plan for the future of transportation. This was the 13th year for the Tarrant Transportation Summit.
"We have got to stay ahead of the game," says Tarrant County Commissioner Gary Fickes, who organizes the event. "Tarrant County is known as a very progressive county as far as infrastructure and doing things for its citizens."
Panels included planning airports for the future of flight, using different modes of transportation to advance economic development in Texas and the economic impact of managed lanes.
"It's all about connectivity," says Robert Hinkle, director of corporate affairs for NTE Mobility Partners. "We can have all these stretches of highway out there, but if they don't connect with each other in a smart, progressive, economic way, then we've still got congestion. Today, we don't. We've got less congestion."
The first tolled managed lanes opened in 2014 along Highway 183 and 121 in Northeast Tarrant County. Since then, stretches of "TEXpress" lanes have opened along parts of 35E, 35W, 30 and 635/LBJ.
NTE Mobility Partners says TEXpress lanes have had a $5.4 billion local impact, including $4.1 billion in "direct traveler benefits," which include reduced travel times and car operating expenses, $590 million in "external benefits," which include improved safety and reduced emissions, and $700 million in "wider economic benefits."
"We've all seen that growth, we've all seen the economic growth in North Texas over the last decade," Hinkle says. "You could look at any one of the 14, 16 counties in the North Texas region, and there's not been one that has not had a massive amount of growth."
"This whole thing is about partnerships, not just with the City of Fort Worth but the 41 cities of Tarrant County," Fickes says.
Another panel focused on automation's role in the supply chain. Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, says the supply chain now relies on a train arriving on time as trucks line up to take containers. He says trucks often find their container is not on top when they arrive, so they have to wait as ports process the shipments.
"Are those trucks turned off when they're waiting for their load and it's 106 degrees?" Morris asks. "I don't think so. I think they're running their air conditioning and their diesel engines."
He says the region has an opportunity now to address all of these issues using more automation and more efficient ways to track cargo. He says NCTCOG is even testing traffic lights that can read how many trucks are sitting at an intersection
"Now picture a system where that train knows in advance which containers are on it. Truck companies are being told in advance when their container is coming in," he says.
During the panel, Brant Ring, chief executive of Fort Worth-based ITS ConGlobal, said his firm had an employee in Fort Worth controlling a truck at a cargo yard in Detroit, Michigan.
"These are not science projects. There are not out-year projects," he says. "These are deployable tomorrow."
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