Visitors’ center will be voice of historic Old Rankin Highway

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE; May 25, 2006

TxDOT, City of Midland building visitor information facility

The Texas Transportation Commission gave its approval today for a joint Texas Department of Transportation - City of Midland project to build an Historic Old Rankin Highway Visitors’ Center near the intersection of State Highway 349 and Interstate 20, according to a TxDOT official in Midland.

"If the Old Rankin Highway could talk, what a tale it would tell," said Rick Hopkins, the TxDOT official who coordinates Transportation Enhancement Program grants for the region. "This Visitor’s Center will tell that story."

Hopkins said that the Midland Chamber’s Convention and Visitors Bureau will use the Center’s exhibits to interpret the role that the highway played in connecting West Texas. At a site within view of the Old Rankin Highway [State Highway 349], the facility will showcase dioramas that capture images dating from the early-day cattle and sheep industries to the modern-day oil fields.

"I want to thank the Texas Transportation Commission, the Texas Department of Transportation, the Midland Chamber of Commerce, and the Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance for approving the Historic Old Rankin Highway Visitors' Center in west Texas," Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick of Midland said. "This center will provide residents and travelers in west Texas with a sense of the history of the roads in this region."

Artifacts used in the transportation of goods and services on the Old Rankin Highway will be displayed throughout the Visitor’s Center, which will feature 24-hour accessible restrooms.

Volunteers will staff the information booth during the day and provide travelers with details about the Old Rankin Highway and the part it played in the growth of key Permian Basin towns and industries, as well as describing the modern-day tourist activities available in Midland.

Future plans call for the development of walking paths and hike-and-bike trails –linking the Center with the nearly Permian Basin Petroleum Museum and the Horseshoe –the Midland County multi-purpose facility located just to the west of the Visitor Center.

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The Midland Chamber of Commerce, which championed the facility, has an architect’s rendering of the proposed facility, showing the profile of the proposed building as well as site and floor plans.

The Texas Department of Transportation approved $1.5 million in federal enhancement funds for the project. The City of Midland is adding additional funding to the project.

For more information: contact Glen W. Larum, Texas Department of Transportation, at 432) 498-4746.