DTMFall'25_Final - Flipbook - Page 19
Today, a world without planes, trains and
automobiles seems as unimaginable as the very
existence of all those things must once have
seemed to our early settlers. Sadly, we lack trains
for personal transportation in this region, but if
Walter Buck were still driving today, he’d rarely
encounter a dirt or caliche road except on a ranch.
Personal automobiles are by far the most used
form of transportation; in fact, more than 280
million vehicles were registered in the U. S. in 2023.
And its namesake would be astounded by the
impact of Goodfellow AFB, which contributed
around $3 billion to the Texas economy in 2023 and
employed (indirectly and directly) some 12,000
persons. Angelo State University now offers a
Commercial Aviation degree, and some 230 flights
per month are operated through San Angelo
Regional Airport.
Even so, transportation might be considered static
when you consider the advancement of other
technologies in the last 30 years, particularly
communications, computer sciences, and
medicine, all areas in which San Angelo is keeping
pace. By land, sea or air, we still predominantly use
fossil fuels, while comfort, affordability and speed
have not greatly improved in the past few decades.
We have seen that more has not meant better, and
are daily confronted with pollution, congested
traffic, overcrowded flights and rising fuel costs.
Still, who knows what dreams may come? Perhaps
even now, even here, some visionary is sketching
the genesis of an idea that will, at first, invite the
slings and arrows of skepticism, but that will lead
to an outrageous fortune in the end–and a better
world.
Goodfellow AFB circa 1967. Photo Courtesy of Goodfellowafbthenandnow.com
With thanks to: Tanya L. Lee’s “The Avenue: A Social and Economic History of Concho Avenue,”
Master’s Thesis, Angelo State University 1998; Newspapers.com; Hathi Trust Digital Library;
Library of Congress database; National Archives database; Federal Highway Administration
database. Any errors are the author’s.
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