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San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Price and Houston rank among the many high 10 most populous cities within the nation — and two-thirds of Texans reside in these metro areas.
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With the Austin and San Antonio areas anticipated to collectively develop from 5.2 million to eight.3 million individuals by 2050, Texas financial leaders and builders say investing in environment friendly transportation, reasonably priced housing and sustainable water sources might be key to assist that inhabitants surge.
Henry Cisneros, the previous San Antonio mayor and former U.S. secretary of Housing and City Growth, stated the state is at a essential crossroads in determining find out how to handle such progress.
“Are we going to permit that [growth] to be haphazard, hectic, congested, environmentally poisonous?’” Cisneros stated at a Texas Tribune occasion Wednesday. “Or is that this one thing that may be coordinated with built-in pondering, planning?”
San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Fort Price and Houston rank among the many high 10 most populous cities within the nation — and two-thirds of Texans reside in these metro areas.
Among the many most urgent points as progress continues, occasion panelists stated, is counting on Interstate 35 to assist nearly all of journey between metro areas. The Texas Division of Transportation plans to start increasing I-35 by Austin in late 2025 — however widening the freeway will in the end solely appeal to extra automobiles and site visitors to the area, Cisneros stated.
Excessive-speed rail can be an excellent possibility for the area, stated Jenna Saucedo-Herrera, president and CEO of larger:SATX, an financial improvement group.
However, Saucedo-Herrera added, the Austin-San Antonio area doesn’t have affect on the state-level to assist the undertaking. Efforts to create a bullet practice between Dallas and Houston have stalled for greater than a decade.
“As huge and grandiose as high-speed rail connectivity can be … there are extra applied sciences that we’re not even considering at this time that we ought to be for an economic system 50 years from now,” Saucedo-Herrera stated, citing electrical automobiles, autonomous automobiles and aircrafts equivalent to helicopters.
As worsening local weather change exasperates water shortages in Central Texas, panelists additionally stated increasing water provide might be key within the coming years. In 2020, San Antonio created the 150-mile Vista Ridge pipeline to extend its water provide — although quickly after the launch, rural landowners reported dropping water entry on account of the town’s groundwater pumping.
Nonetheless, financial leaders in Austin plan to advocate for comparable water provide initiatives this coming yr, based on Ed Latson, CEO of Alternative Austin, an financial improvement group.
“In our neighborhood, there’s loads of recognition that San Antonio did one thing very appropriate with planning for the water, and we’ve got not had that form of foresight right here [in Austin],” Latson stated. “We’re going to be dealing with greater droughts and extra excessive climate sooner or later, and our planning goes to should account for it.”
Although transportation and water provide are essential throughout the area, panelists stated entry to inexperienced areas — equivalent to parks, trails and neighborhood gardens — has confirmed to be the highest precedence for households when selecting the place to reside.
Mike Kamerlander, CEO of the Higher San Marcos Partnership, stated his financial improvement company labored with environmental teams to determine precedence inexperienced areas that the company is not going to pitch for future improvement tasks.
“Inexperienced house is essential — let’s determine these [spaces] now,” Kamerlander stated. “After which when we’ve got firms come and wish to be right here, we do not have that concern shifting ahead.”
Whereas inexperienced areas are a high draw for households, panelists stated reasonably priced housing is most important to drawing younger professionals to the area. Texas dwelling costs and rents have hit report highs in recent times, significantly in Austin.
Jonathan Packer, president and CEO of the Higher New Braunfels Chamber of Commerce, stated rising housing choices is essential to tackling the affordability disaster.
“You may have a provide drawback, and native governments want to consider provide,” Packer stated.
Whereas native governments and chambers of commerce throughout the area are tackling these points, Cisneros added that Texas nonetheless lacks an overarching plan to assist the fast urbanization of the Austin-San Antonio area.
“The time is correct, and the time is now,” Cisneros stated. “And failure to behave now — there comes a degree when the spiral of congestion downward is so nice that the second passes.”
Disclosure: Higher San Marcos Partnership and Combine have been monetary supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no position within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full record of them right here.
This text initially appeared within the Texas Tribune.
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