TYLER, Texas (KETK) – With more people moving to Texas, that brings congested roads, higher costs of living and other factors that complicate the small-town life.
Tom Mullins, President of Mullins Consulting and former CEO of Tyler Economic Development Council, sat down with KETK’s Neal Barton to bring East Texas’s latest boom in focus.
POPULATION
The Tyler population sign boasts nearly 100,000 people, but the number of people in Tyler goes up considerably with travelers, shoppers and other visitors. Mullins explained how hundreds of thousands of people flock to the Tyler area for a variety of needs, whether it’s back to school shopping, doctor visits, groceries or any other goods or services.
“When you look at the Retail Trade Area– the primary trade area which is about a 30 to 40 mile radius– defined as people who come here to shop at least once a week for something… That is about a 420,000 population,” Mullins said.
When you look at the amount of people who travel from farther out, the number grows even more, up to 840,000. With that many visitors comes an increase in vehicles on the roads.
“It’s a lot of traffic,” Mullins said. “Tyler has been very aggressive over the years trying to keep up with highway infrastructure, but it’s still the number one problem. The number one challenge for Tyler is traffic.”
So much traffic, in fact, that a major Texas region known as the Texas Triangle, defined as the region between Austin, DFW, Houston and San Antonio (the “triangle” is comprised of Interstate 25, Interstate 10 and Interstate 35) could be shifting our direction.
“The state demographer predicted several years ago that because of the growth primarily in Tyler and Smith County but all over East Texas, that triangle the upper point of it is going to move east to us,” Mullins said. “It’s coming at us. Texas is still the fastest-growing state by population.”
To learn more about traffic in Tyler, including Mullins’ answer to the question of if Old Jacksonville Highway is becoming the “new” Broadway Avenue, watch the video below:
GROWING PAINS
Tyler might be first on your mind when you think of fast-growing regions of East Texas, but it certainly is not alone. The entire East Texas region is going through what Mullins calls a “transformation.”
Industry in Tyler and East Texas historically has been tied to natural resources like agriculture, energy, oil and gas, timber and more. Though those sectors still play a large role, the region is moving from a historic dependence on resources to technology, Mullins explained.
“What we’re seeing now is a rapid growth in healthcare and medical, education, logistics with the distribution facilities, technology, software, internet, telecommunications and the trades,” he said. “Even tourism, we’re seeing tremendous growth patterns in all of East Texas in those categories.”
Though it’s good for areas to grow, it’s ideal for that growth to stay manageable. Mullins said that East Texas is experiencing the kind of growth that brings high demand and high-paying jobs.
“One of the negatives of that, it might become more expensive to live here because there’s going to be more money available in the economy for people to buy and build bigger houses,” Mullins said.
The abundance of natural resources and good interstate infrastructure around East Texas draws in business. In the clip below, Mullins explains the region’s unique position and answers the question of if Tyler is poised to horizontally (city limits) or vertically (adding in skyscrapers):
In addition, Mullins talked about how the 35 counties in East Texas are the least healthy counties in Texas. If that area was a state, it would be the least healthy state in the union. The addition of the UT Tyler School of Medicine should help, as Mullins explains:
To see the full conversation, including viewer-submitted questions, catch East Texas In Focus on FOX51 News at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday.