Winch-Out in Three Rivers, TX.

What is winch-out like in Three Rivers, TX?

I-37 runs straight through Three Rivers, interstate speed, Eagle Ford trucks, and Choke Canyon boat trailers.

Three Rivers is the only place in the outer Coastal Bend corridor with an actual interstate running through it. I-37 connects Corpus Christi to San Antonio, and Three Rivers sits roughly midway. US-281 runs north-south through town and overlaps with I-37 through portions of the interchange. SH-72 heads west from Three Rivers toward Choke Canyon Reservoir and the federal prison. The I-37 / US-281 interchange here is the dominant traffic node in Live Oak County, and multi-vehicle fog crashes on US-281 south of Three Rivers are documented in local accident records. Flat South Texas terrain and the low-lying river-bottom land near the Nueces and Frio river confluences create fog conditions that turn I-37 speeds into a hazard. An interstate-speed rear-end collision or rollover here is a different call than a farm-road breakdown, it needs the right equipment, fast. The Valero Three Rivers Refinery sits inside city limits on approximately 400 acres. It's been running since 1974, processes 100,000 barrels per day, and runs mostly on Eagle Ford crude from the surrounding shale formation. Valero has put more than $100 million into capacity expansions here to handle Eagle Ford production. About 300 people work at the plant. Inbound crude tankers and outbound product trucks run on US-281 and I-37 continuously. Maintenance contractors, specialized equipment haulers, and heavy-lift crews service a facility that never stops, their rigs and service vehicles break down on the highway corridors between the refinery and the interstate. A blown tire on a tanker truck on US-281 at 2 a.m. is a real call on a real road. FCI Three Rivers is a medium-security federal prison 8 miles west of downtown on SH-72, across from Choke Canyon Lake. It has capacity for 1,247 inmates across the main facility and an adjacent satellite camp. The prison opened in 1990 and is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Staff commute from Three Rivers, George West, and surrounding Live Oak County communities on SH-72 every day. Visiting families travel SH-72 on weekends. That same road also carries all the recreational traffic headed to Choke Canyon State Park, boat trailers, campers, RVs, and fishing trucks. SH-72 is a two-lane rural highway carrying two very different traffic streams on a shared corridor, and a breakdown anywhere on it creates a complete strand with no alternate route in. Choke Canyon Reservoir is a 26,000-acre impoundment on the Nueces River, about 7 miles west on SH-72. Texas Parks and Wildlife operates boat ramps at the South Shore Unit and the Calliham Unit. Bass tournaments, crappie season, winter duck hunters, and summer campers push recreational traffic on SH-72 and US-281 every weekend. A boat trailer with a wheel bearing failure or a truck that overheats while towing a pontoon to the ramp is stranded on a two-lane road with no cell signal in some stretches and no commercial services between Three Rivers and the park. Eagle Ford drilling activity in the northwest portion of Live Oak County also puts oilfield trucks on US-281 and SH-72, and commercial vehicles were involved in 54 accidents in Live Oak County alone in 2011, a documented oilfield traffic safety problem on roads built for light use. Call (361) 967-8088 for any breakdown on I-37, US-281, or SH-72.