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• RESOLUTION NO. 2008-135R <br />A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SAN <br />MARCOS, TEXAS EXPRESSING SUPPORT FOR THE TEXAS RAIL <br />RELOCATION AND IMPROVEMENT FUND; AND DECLARING AN <br />EFFECTIVE DATE <br />RECITALS: <br />1. WHEREAS, freight and passenger mobility is critical to the economic <br />prosperity and quality of life in the state of Texas and the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, <br />and <br />2. WHEREAS, population growth and increased international trade have <br />combined to create both freight movement and passenger vehicle congestion throughout <br />the state of Texas and the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, and <br />3. WHEREAS, the state's population has grown by 57% and the total passenger <br />miles driven rose by 95% over the past 25 years, but highway lane miles increased by just <br />8% over the same period, and <br />4. WHEREAS, the Austin-San Antonio Corridor's population has doubled over <br />• the last 20 years and is expected to double again over the next 20 years, and <br />5. WHEREAS, Interstate 35 has become the de facto NAFTA highway between <br />the US, Mexico, and Canada, used by over one million trucks per year involved in <br />international trade, and <br />6. WHEREAS, a study by the Federal Highway Administration in 1999 found <br />that over the entire 1700-mile length of Interstate 35 from Mexico to Canada the highest <br />vehicle counts, the most traffic fatalities, the worst congestion, the lowest levels of <br />service, and the lowest average speed-per-mile were to be found in the Austin-San <br />Antonio Corridor, and <br />7. WHEREAS, a freight rail line owned by Union Pacific directly parallels <br />Interstate 35 through the most congested portion of the Austin-San Antonio Corridor and <br />was constructed over 120 years ago and currently has nearly 200 at-grade crossings <br />through the Corridor that represent congestion, public safety, and hazardous materials <br />risks within heavily-populated areas of the Corridor, and <br />8. WHEREAS, freight rail car traffic through the Corridor has doubled since the <br />passage of NAFTA, and <br />9. WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Transportation estimates that freight- <br />movement trucking is increasing nationwide by 2% per year, increasing by 6% per year <br />• statewide, but increasing by 15% per year in the Austin-San Antonio Corridor, and