Transportation Commissioner Steven Alvis

The Texas Transportation Commission member Steven Alvis said that Texas will soon be the 7th largest economy in the world surpassing France. In his remarks at the Dec. 6, 2024, Alliance Annual Meeting at the offices of Greater Houston Partnership, Alvis pointed to dozens of major companies that have moved to the state and 360 more companies are in the pipeline trying to get to Texas.

“It is going to be so explosive. We are going to look back five or ten years from now to the infrastructure that is built in our state. It is already better than any state in the nation,” he said, highlighting that Dallas, for instance, is likely to become the country’s money and banking center larger than New York.

He noted that while the official prediction is that Texas will grow from the current 30 million population to 40 million in 2050, it is more likely to grow to 50 million.

He pointed to TxDOT’s 2050 Plan which predicts a highway funding gap of about $600 billion over the next 25 years. He called for Alliance members to focus on that funding need. He called expanded transportation capacity the key economic engine that will drive the state’s GDP growth. The Alliance has been a consistent supporter of expanding state and federal funding for highway project since the 1990s.

The annual meeting included report on the progress of I-69 projects from TxDOT district engineers and planners from all eight of the districts along the I-69 System in Texas.

The Alliance wishes to thank the partners who helped make the annual meeting possible including the Port of Corpus Christi Authority, TexAmericas Center, Cameron County Regional Mobility Authority, El Campo Development Corp., Gannett Fleming, Mission EDC, the Greater Houston Partnership, Killam Development and LJA Engineering.