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Follow TURFTrucks used in oil, gas drilling take $2 billion toll on Texas roads, officials estimate
Photo by David Woo/Staff photographer
The surge in oil and gas production in the state has created thousands of jobs for Texans and has gushed forth plenty of tax revenue. But those aren’t the only effects, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Drilling activity has put a strain on the state’s roads and the Texas Department of Transportation told officials they would need about $2 billion to bring them up to standard. And that’s just farm to market roads and local road, not state and interstate highways.
Although most of the gas wells are located in Tarrant County, drilling trucks are using roads around Dallas-Fort Worth. It takes an estimated 1,200 loaded trucks needed to bring one gas well into production, according to the Department of Transportation. That’s about the equivalent of 8 million cars driving on the roadways.
According to a Corpus Christi engineer’s study, a typical county road should last about 20 years but “all it takes is one pass of 6 million pounds of drilling equipment to destroy a road like that,” David Underbrink Sr. told the Star-Telegram.
According to the Star-Telegram’s story, a task force of elected officials, industry representatives and public safety officials met recently to discuss the problem. The group plans to make legislative recommendations “to address what has become a statewide infrastructure problem,” the story says.
County judges say some oil companies do provide compensation when they drill a new well. The cash allows for counties to maintain roads but other companies do not provide the money.
“‘Who should pay for it?’ That’s the kind of questions we in the industry are asking ourselves,” said Deb Hastings, executive vice president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, which has a committee dedicated to transportation issues. “We do pay billions in taxes already. How that’s funneled to local governments, that’s the question.”
For more details, read Barry Shlachter’s story on the Star-Telegram’s website.