by Rick Davenport,
Texas Transportation Institute
Miles from civilization, driving a lonesome and desolate stretch of Interstate 20, you wonder if it’s a mirage up ahead on the Rat and barren West Texas landscape.
On either side of the highway there’s a sprawling, museum-like structure – resembling a 1940’s era air base complete with hangars and a control tower – buzzing with sightseers who were drawn to this place like a magnet.
For now, it’s fantasy. But for Andy Keith, the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT’s) Safety Rest Area Program supervisor, it’s a premonition – a clear vision of reality two years in the future.
“I fully expect this project to be built,” Keith says with conviction as he looks over artist depictions of this extraordinary rest area. ”The tourist and visitor center will be a great accomplishment for Texas and national historians, but especially for the 2.5 million motorists who travel this stretch of highway each year.”
The planned Ward County Tourist and Visitor Center is not like any Texas rest stop you visited as a kid, with the exception of having restrooms and parking areas. On both sides of 1-20 – located 50 miles west of Odessa and two miles east of the town of Pyote (population 130) – the facility calls for interactive exhibits, an interpretive center, nature trails, picnic arbors and covered play areas. The buildings that surround you are designed after the original Pyote Army Air Base, known as the “Rattlesnake Bomber Base.”
“What most people don’t realize is the significant historical value of this part of Texas,” says Gary Law, the director of Transportation Planning for TxDOT’s Odessa District. “It really will be similar to a museum, a permanent structure that preserves and shares with people from all over the world the crucial things that happened right here that helped shape who we are as a nation.”
Ten years ago, the Ward County project was just a concept, but ballooned following a community meeting organized by TxDOT and attended by the public and government officials. Field trips to the Pyote Air Base followed and valuable input was received from West Texas historians.
Support for the estimated $13 million project will likely come from the Transportation Enhancement Program and stimulus funding secured through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Ground breaking is expected soon and construction will take about 18 months.
“Obviously, this is much more than a rest stop,” Keith says. “Besides the historical elements that will dominate the visitor center, keep in mind that the main goal of rest areas is to provide a safe location for weary travelers. This one just happens to do that with a lot of history thrown in.”
