What happened: A $4 million federal appropriation secured by Congressman August Pfluger will pay for the design and engineering of improvements to the Five Points intersection on Garden City Highway. The funding cleared this year’s appropriations process and secured more than $20 million for Pfluger’s district.

County Judge Terry Johnson said on KWEL radio on May 12 that it is the first Interstate-27-related funding to be spent in Midland County.

“Congressman Pfluger saw to it that we got $4 million to do the planning and the engineering and architect work to design that intersection,” Johnson said. “Midland County will build it along with TxDOT.”

Why it matters: Five Points sits where State Highway 158 (Garden City Highway) crosses County Road 120, FM 1213, County Road 1150, and Ridge Road, creating a busy, unsignalized intersection southeast of Midland. It is also part of the proposed future Interstate-27 corridor, which is planned to run from Laredo through San Angelo and Midland to Lubbock and eventually to the Canadian border.

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The money will not build the intersection, but it will fund the design work needed before construction can happen.

The big picture: Johnson said he called the intersection “Crazy Corners” as a child and described it as “very, very unsafe.” Johnson said he expects TxDOT to eventually build an overpass there, though the state has not yet allocated construction funding.

Pfluger’s federal funding request describes the intersection as “high-collision” and heavily used by oilfield and industrial traffic. The new Midland County jail will also sit less than a mile north of the intersection, and Pfluger’s funding request cited direct law enforcement access to the jail as one reason for the project.

What’s next: Johnson said the rest of the Interstate-27 corridor in Midland County remains in much earlier stages, with planning and right-of-way work expected to continue for years. He said the full corridor buildout could take 30 to 40 years as counties along the route coordinate with TxDOT and the state.