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The need for speed
Published April 23, 2003
Instead of seeing tractors turning dirt on 3,000 acres in the center of Brazoria County, in a few years people will see cars burning rubber.
About 300 investors, politicians and developers gathered Tuesday for the groundbreaking of the Houston Superspeedway. Construction on the $100 million racetrack is expected to begin in June, and the track is scheduled to open for races in the summer of 2005.
Brazoria County Pct. 4 Commissioner Larry Stanley said the racetrack replacing farm land is a sign of how the county is changing.
“This shows all of us Brazoria County is changing from an agricultural entity to a cosmopolitan entity,” Stanley said. “It’s something we need to get used to. It’s the future of this county.”
U.S. Congressman Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, said Tuesday’s groundbreaking marked a “historic day” as the racetrack will have a huge economic impact on Brazoria County and the surrounding area.
“This speedway will establish a cycle of prosperity,” DeLay said. “It will draw growth down the freeway with hotels and restaurants.”
Star State Investments Inc. is building the speedway on 3,000 acres about eight miles north of Angleton and nine miles west of downtown Alvin. The speedway will be bordered to the east by Austin Bayou, to the west by Highway 288, to the south by CR 51 and to the north by FM 1462.
Star State is hoping to attract both Indy Racing League and NASCAR events.
Star State officials took those at Tuesday’s ceremony to the site of the 1.3 mile racetrack. The track’s turns are currently marked by posts with orange flags.
Alvin Councilman Doug Balkum said after seeing the racetrack marked off, he was able to imagine what it will look like.
“I’ve never been to a race, so I couldn’t visualize it,” Balkum said. “Now, I can visualize a lot of cars racing around.”
The design of the racetrack will be unique in that turns one and two will be very narrow and turns three and four will be wider, instead of them all being the same, said Tom Floyd, chairman of Star State.
“We wanted a track that was unique,” Floyd said. “I didn’t want to build a track like any other. We are building what I call a monument for racing.”
Star State has already assembled a team of architects that will design the racetrack, stadium, garage area, parking facilities and visitor’s center. Hermes Architects, which co-designed Reliant Stadium in Houston, is leading the design team.
The racetrack will have a 75,000 seat grandstand, about 1,600 luxury seats and parking for 25,000 cars. On a race day, the grounds will also have to accommodate the 30,000 people, including security guards and concession workers, that it takes to put on a race, said Bob Bellomy, president of Hermes Architects.
Several studies, including ones on drainage, soil, road improvements, utilities and the track design, are currently underway, Bellomy said.
“This is really a big effort,” Bellomy said.
The first phase of the project will be to rework the ground, which, with irrigation ditches on it, has been designed for farming.
“Anytime you have this kind of acreage, you have a lot of earthwork to do,” Bellomy said.
Bellomy said the track site is in the flood plain and a drainage plan has to be submitted and approved by the city of Alvin before construction can begin.
“You have to have a plan to divert the water and detain it so it doesn’t flood anyone else,” Bellomy said.
Larry Heckathorn, Brazoria area engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation, said there are plans for an overpass at Highway 288 and CR 51 and for improvements to that road, which is currently a shell road. He said other roads in the area will also be widened to handle increased traffic flow.
“There are a lot of planned improvements,” Heckathorn said. “They have been coordinating with us for about six or eight months already.”
Star State bought the racetrack site in July and has already cleared at least one hurdle. The racetrack site was annexed by the city of Alvin last year. Alvin will receive tax revenue from the property. In turn, the city plans to set up a special taxing district for the development. Tax revenue from the development will go to pay for infrastructure needs, such as road improvements.
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