Document Type
Report
Abstract
Transportation is seldom of value in and of itself. It generally is a means rather than an end, and for this reason the importance of transportation is often unnoticed. In fact, a smoothlyworking, well-ordered transportation system may likely be taken for granted in much the same sense as the air we breathe is taken for granted. But if a disruption occurs in this efficient system, the results are immediate, often dramatic, and potentially destructive. A traffic accident can instantly block the flow of an entire freeway resulting in huge losses of valuable travel time and the waste of hundreds of gallons of fuel. A truck or rail strike can cut deliveries of goods to the point of creating significant shortages and distorting the entire price structure of local economies. A cut-off of crude oil shipments—an embargo—can precipitate national and international crises. An efficient, complete transportation network provides a foundation upon which a society can develop and improve its economy; resources can be moved to their most productive uses; people can pursue their freely-chosen lifestyles; and governments can pursue policies to enhance the benefits of the governed. To these ends, transportation is as crucial to a society as blood circulation is to the human body. Without transportation, a free society cannot survive. The analysis of transportation reported here has two objectives:
(1) to focus attention upon the current status, critical issues, trends, and needs that exist in the Statewide transportation network; and
(2) to indicate the value of transportation implicit in other major issue categories: economics, human services, natural resources, population, government, and relations with Mexico.
Publication Date
8-1-1981
Language
English
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Texas Transportation Institute and Texas A & M University System, "Transportation in Texas : past, present, and future" (1981). Documents from the State of Texas. 73.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/utalibraries_digitalprojects_stateoftexas/73
Comments
College Station, Tex. : Texas A&M University System, [1981]