Texarkana, Tyler or Longview?

[mljones99]

I grew up in Longview so my vote goes to Longview.

[totheskies]

Hmmm, interesting thread (of course I'm discovering it probably a year too late). I've not been to Tyler in quite a long time, so I definitely don''t want to claim "expert status" on that city. But in reference to the other two, I know enough...

Texarkana... it's slowly becoming much more than the "bi-state rest stop" of the past. I went to college about an hour away from there in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and so I have a lot of friends from the area, and spent a fair amount of time there. The near completion of the full loop is pretty awesome, and I'm quite proud of how well the twin cities are cooperating to improve their infrastucture. It shouldn't just stop at I-30 though; hopefully a northern portion will be built with something that connects into US 71 towards Ashdown on the AR side, and OK on the Texas side (I-69 plans perhaps?). Aside from the roads, the biggest news is how awesome the job market is there... people are really starting to MOVE to Texarkana for decent work! My favorite project is the massive expansion of TAMU Texarkana, b/c this region NEEDS a powerhouse university, especially considering that the closest comprehensive schools (public) are 75 miles away!!

Longview... I've got a lot of love for this little Texas city. Beautiful setting in the east Texas woods, and lots of great people. Longview's growth is spurred by it's excellent location between Tyler and Shreveport also, and as the city continues to peel off industries that are unique from Shreveport's, it will keep growing from that metro's support. Again, another decent-sized university would spur Longview's development, but UT Tyler is serving as a great outlet for the Longview area.

I think I'd have to go with Texarkana (b/c it's twice as nice LOL), but I reserve my final opinion until I've gotten a chance to visit Tyler again.

[bigboyz05]

Hmmm, interesting thread (of course I'm discovering it probably a year too late). I've not been to Tyler in quite a long time, so I definitely don''t want to claim "expert status" on that city. But in reference to the other two, I know enough...

Texarkana... it's slowly becoming much more than the "bi-state rest stop" of the past. I went to college about an hour away from there in Arkadelphia, Arkansas and so I have a lot of friends from the area, and spent a fair amount of time there. The near completion of the full loop is pretty awesome, and I'm quite proud of how well the twin cities are cooperating to improve their infrastucture. It shouldn't just stop at I-30 though; hopefully a northern portion will be built with something that connects into US 71 towards Ashdown on the AR side, and OK on the Texas side (I-69 plans perhaps?). Aside from the roads, the biggest news is how awesome the job market is there... people are really starting to MOVE to Texarkana for decent work! My favorite project is the massive expansion of TAMU Texarkana, b/c this region NEEDS a powerhouse university, especially considering that the closest comprehensive schools (public) are 75 miles away!!

Longview... I've got a lot of love for this little Texas city. Beautiful setting in the east Texas woods, and lots of great people. Longview's growth is spurred by it's excellent location between Tyler and Shreveport also, and as the city continues to peel off industries that are unique from Shreveport's, it will keep growing from that metro's support. Again, another decent-sized university would spur Longview's development, but UT Tyler is serving as a great outlet for the Longview area.

I think I'd have to go with Texarkana (b/c it's twice as nice LOL), but I reserve my final opinion until I've gotten a chance to visit Tyler again.

Yeah I'm proud of Texarkana as well. Have lived here most of my life and it has blossomed from being a small town to a small city. Plans are already moving forward to building the north loop from I-30 to U.S. Hwy 71 and I-69 is still in the planning stages. Work on the university is coming along nicely. It's in the second stage of construction which is the multipurpose library and school of engineering buildings. The last phase to be built will be the dorms. The school officially opens fall 2010. Once finished it will have the capacity to accomodate up to 10,000 students. The new frontage road and interchange projects are making major headway and will be completed in two years. Lots of new businesses and jobs have come into the city since you were last here. The area around the I-30 freeway is almost unrecognizable with all the new buildings going up. You should come back for a visit. You'd be surprised at how it's changed!

[jjoyner23]

Yeah I'm proud of Texarkana as well. Have lived here most of my life and it has blossomed from being a small town to a small city. Plans are already moving forward to building the north loop from I-30 to U.S. Hwy 71 and I-69 is still in the planning stages. Work on the university is coming along nicely. It's in the second stage of construction which is the multipurpose library and school of engineering buildings. The last phase to be built will be the dorms. The school officially opens fall 2010. Once finished it will have the capacity to accomodate up to 10,000 students. The new frontage road and interchange projects are making major headway and will be completed in two years. Lots of new businesses and jobs have come into the city since you were last here. The area around the I-30 freeway is almost unrecognizable with all the new buildings going up. You should come back for a visit. You'd be surprised at how it's changed!

I check on the progress of texarkana almost daily. I left for the army in 2003 and ive been back to Texarkana a couple of times and I must say it has really sprung to life since 2003, especially the I30 corridor. The only thing Im disapointed with is the lack of development downtown. And yes I know the effort going on to make it better but I still dont think the city (texas side) is 100% commited. Arkansas seems to care more about downtown than Texas does... and Texas side has all the cool venues... Perot theatre, Grim hotel, mccartney hotel, even Josh Morris is remodeling those old crumbling building on broad... Why wont Texas side embrace the buisness aspect that they seem to always outbid Arkansas for(convention center which I think belongs downtown), and start bringing some big buisness downtown? The area next to Wadley hospital where 82 and 67 intersect would be my focus as it does get some pretty decent traffic and is not filled with all the old landmarks that the city wants to save... That location is still very much downtown but has the room to expand. God I wish I had the money sometimes to get things started.. hats off to Josh Morris.

[bigboyz05]

I check on the progress of texarkana almost daily. I left for the army in 2003 and ive been back to Texarkana a couple of times and I must say it has really sprung to life since 2003, especially the I30 corridor. The only thing Im disapointed with is the lack of development downtown. And yes I know the effort going on to make it better but I still dont think the city (texas side) is 100% commited. Arkansas seems to care more about downtown than Texas does... and Texas side has all the cool venues... Perot theatre, Grim hotel, mccartney hotel, even Josh Morris is remodeling those old crumbling building on broad... Why wont Texas side embrace the buisness aspect that they seem to always outbid Arkansas for(convention center which I think belongs downtown), and start bringing some big buisness downtown? The area next to Wadley hospital where 82 and 67 intersect would be my focus as it does get some pretty decent traffic and is not filled with all the old landmarks that the city wants to save... That location is still very much downtown but has the room to expand. God I wish I had the money sometimes to get things started.. hats off to Josh Morris.

I agree with you 100% about downtown. The last I heard about anything being done down there was when the Burhman Pharr building was renovated for loft apartments. A couple other buildings on the Arkansas side are currently being renovated. The Texas side still hasn't done much. I get sick and tired of hearing about renovations of the Mc Cartney and Grim Hotels. Those buildings could have been made nice if renovated a long time ago but they've just been allowed to sit and rot. I think they should knock them down and use the land for other uses like a nice urban park or something. The latest news on the convention center project is that both Texarkana, Tx and Arkansas will build their own projects. The Tx side center will be located near the intersection of Kennedy Lane and Cowhorn Creek Rd. The Ark side center will be built along I-30 in the Crossroads Business Park along with a Copeland's restaurant. Both centers will have adjacent hotels. It's been rumored that the Tx hotel will be a Hilton Garden Inn. Over by the Richmond Ranch and Texarkana Pavillion shopping areas the new mall called The Shoppes At Westpark will break ground this summer. All the public housing on the Tx side will be torn down and rebuilt. They've already done it with Stevens aka Covington Homes and Bowie, Griff King and Robison will soon follow. There's even talk of a waterpark on the Ark side. City planners say there's even more projects on the horizon but they are being tight lipped.

[FromCityToRural]

If Tyler sticks to its "Tyler 21" plan, sort of the official urban plan, Tyler will turn out to be a nice place. It calls for some revitalization of downtown, some mixed-use developments near downtown, lots of tree planting, and establishment of new greenways throughout the city.

It still irks me, though, that new development seems to be moving southward along the South Broadway and Old Jacksonville highways, the opposite direction from Interstate 20, which runs, oh, 10 miles or so north of the city. The reason for that may be the annexation agreements Tyler has, basically acquiring only 100yds on either side of some of the roads which feed from Tyler to the superslab...but I don't know.