Amarillo, Texas

==Infrastructure==
===Air transportation===
[[Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport]] is a [[public airport]] located {{convert|10|mi|0}} east of the [[central business district]] of Amarillo, north of Interstate 40. A portion of the former [[Amarillo Air Force Base]] was converted to civilian use and became part of the airport.<ref>{{Handbook of Texas|id=qba01|name=Amarillo Air Force Base}}. Retrieved on January 25, 2007.</ref> The airport was named after [[NASA]] astronaut [[Rick Husband]], an Amarillo native and commander of the final flight of [[Space Shuttle Columbia|Space Shuttle ''Columbia'']], [[STS-107]], which [[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|disintegrated]] on re-entry, killing Husband and his crewmates. The airport is served by several major air carriers with non-stop service to [[Dallas, Texas|Dallas]], [[Houston, Texas|Houston]], [[Austin, Texas|Austin]], [[Denver, Colorado|Denver]], [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] and [[Las Vegas, Nevada|Las Vegas]].

[[Tradewind Airport]] is a public-use [[general aviation]] airport located in Randall County, {{convert|3|nmi|mi km}} south of Amarillo's central business district. The airport covers {{convert|595|acre|ha}} and has two [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]]-paved runways and one [[helipad]].<ref>{{FAA-airport|ID=TDW|use=PU|own=PR|site=23324.*A}}. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective June 30, 2011.</ref>

[[Buffalo Airport (Texas)|Buffalo Airport]] is a public-use general aviation airport located in Randall County, {{convert|9|nmi|mi km}} south of Amarillo's central business district. The airport covers {{convert|40|acre|ha}} and has two grass runways.<ref>{{FAA-airport|ID=1E7|use=PU|own=PR|site=23324.3*A}}. Federal Aviation Administration. Effective June 30, 2011.</ref>

===Ground transportation===
Local transit services in the city have been available since 1925 and have been provided through the City of Amarillo's [[Amarillo City Transit]] (ACT) department since 1966; before that time the system was privately owned. ACT operates bus services that include fixed route transit and demand response [[paratransit]] which are designed for people with disabilities. The ACT transports approximately 350,000 passengers per year on the fixed route and 30,000 paratransit passengers.<ref name="community"/>

Amarillo has no passenger rail service but remains an important part of the rail freight system. The last passenger train out of the city was the [[Santa Fe Railroad]]'s ''[[San Francisco Chief]],'' from [[Chicago]], which had its last run in 1971. Previously, the ''[[Texas Zephyr]]'' to [[Denver]] and [[Dallas]], last served Amarillo in 1967.

The [[BNSF Railway]] complex in Amarillo continues to serve a heavy daily traffic load, approximately 100–110 trains per day.<ref>{{cite news |author=Cunningham, Greg |title=Transportation key to Amarillo's past, future |date=June 26, 2005 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/062605/spe_disama_6.shtml |access-date=January 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929090701/http://www.amarillo.com/stories/062605/spe_disama_6.shtml |archive-date=September 29, 2007 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The [[Union Pacific Railroad]] also sends substantial shipments to or through Amarillo. In addition to intermodal and general goods, a big portion of rail shipments involve grains and coal. There have been various proposals over the years to add passenger service. One, the ''[[Caprock Chief]]'', would have seen daily service as part of a Fort Worth, Texas—Denver, Colorado service, but it failed to gain traction.

[[File:Amarillo Tx - Brick Streets.jpg|thumb|Several streets around Amarillo's downtown area are still paved with bricks.]]
The streets in Amarillo's downtown area conform to a [[grid pattern]]. The city's original street layout was set up by William H. Bush, beginning at the west end of the town moving to the east. Bush named the north to south streets for past [[president of the United States|United States presidents]], in chronological order except for [[John Quincy Adams]] because the surname was taken with the second president, [[John Adams]].<ref>{{cite news |author=Routon, Ralph |title=Street names can honor past, embrace future |date=February 8, 2004 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/020804/new_routon.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref> (The last president so honored was [[Grover Cleveland]]; though the city has expanded eastward, the pattern was not continued.) While the streets running north–south honor past presidents and are designated 'streets', east–west streets are numbered and are designated 'avenues'. North of the Fort Worth & Denver (now Burlington Northern-Santa Fe) railyard, the numbers are "NW" (northwest) west of Polk Street, and "NE" (northeast) east of Polk. South of the railyard (including the downtown-city center area), numbers are officially "SW" (southwest) west of Polk, and "SE" (southeast) east of Polk. Colloquially, though, most tend to dub the SW and SE avenues as W (west) and E (east), respectively. One example of the numbering difference regards the former U.S. Highway 66 routing west of downtown and into the San Jacinto neighborhood. Most call it 'West Sixth Street' when its actually SW Sixth Avenue.

In 1910, the Amarillo voters approved to pay for street paving and the materials used to pave the streets were [[brick]]s.<ref>{{cite news |author=Parker, Debra A. |title=Brick streets helped build |date=May 17, 2001 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://amarillo.com/stories/051701/new_brickstreets.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref> As of 2003, the city still has {{convert|16.2|mi}} of brick streets in some parts of the downtown area. In 2002, the city spent $200,000 to restore one block of brick street on Ninth Avenue between Polk and Tyler streets.<ref>{{cite news |author=Chapman, Joe |title=Touchstones of history |date=August 10, 2003 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://amarillo.com/stories/081003/new_touchstones.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref>

===Major highways===
Amarillo is served by two interstate highways: [[Interstate 27]] and [[Interstate 40 in Texas|Interstate 40]].  Amarillo is also the northern terminus for I-27, of which less than one mile (~1.6&nbsp;km) is located in Potter County. The highway terminates at the city's main west–east highway, Interstate 40, just north of the Potter–Randall county line. The roadway continues northward into downtown Amarillo via U.S. [[U.S. Highway 60 (Texas)|60]], [[U.S. Route 87 in Texas|87]], and [[U.S. Route 287 in Texas|287]], via a series of four one-way streets including Buchanan, Pierce, Fillmore and Taylor. North of downtown the highway becomes US 87 & 287 and continues northward to [[Dumas, Texas]].<ref name="i27"/>

Interstate 40, the city's major east–west thoroughfare was completed entirely through Amarillo in November 1968 across the center of the city. Previously, [[U.S. Route 66 in Texas|U.S. Highway 66]] was the major east–west highway through the city, generally following Amarillo Boulevard to the north of the downtown area and then curving southwest to leave the city near the Veterans Hospital. A city route (which was an original alignment of US 66 through central and west Amarillo) followed Fillmore south into the downtown area and turned on West 6th through the San Jacinto Heights district which is now home to many antique shops, restaurants and other businesses, passing the Amarillo Country Club and veering onto West 9th Street and Bushland Boulevard before tying into the through route at a traffic circle near the Veterans Hospital.
[[Texas State Highway Loop 335|Loop 335]] circles around Amarillo in all four directions and consists of four-lane roadway on its northeast and southwest quadrants and two-lane paving to the southeast and northwest.

Amarillo is also mentioned in the song "[[(Get Your Kicks on) Route 66|Route 66]]".

===Future freeways===
In 2015, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) published the plans for the all new [[Texas State Highway Loop 335|Loop 335]] freeway that encircles the city of Amarillo.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.amarillo.com/news/2015-04-07/txdot-lays-out-proposed-loop-335-project |title=TxDOT lays out proposed Loop 335 project |first=Vanessa |last=Garcia |work=[[Amarillo Globe-News]] |date=April 7, 2015 |language=en}}</ref> TxDOT has planned multiple multi-level interchanges that intersect with [[Interstate 40 in Texas|Interstate 40]], [[Interstate 27]], and U.S. [[U.S. Route 287 in Texas|287]] and [[U.S. Route 87 in Texas|87]]. The first interchange, on the East side of Amarillo, is a multi-level interchange that provides access to both directions of the I-40 Expressway and Loop 335. On the northern side of Amarillo, the loop will be completely reconstructed to an Interstate-Grade freeway with complete grade separations and will be expanded to four lanes. It also includes a stack interchange that will connect the new freeway to the future I-27 [[Ports to Plains Corridor]] (Highway 287, 87).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.portstoplains.com/index.php|title=Home - Ports-to-Plains Alliance|website=www.portstoplains.com}}</ref><ref name="state.tx.us">{{cite web|url=http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/apps-cq/project_tracker/|title=Project Tracker|website=apps.dot.state.tx.us|access-date=March 10, 2018|archive-date=March 11, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311120723/http://apps.dot.state.tx.us/apps-cq/project_tracker/|url-status=dead}}</ref> I-27 in Southern Amarillo will be entirely reconstructed from Buffalo Stadium Rd. at the Canyon E-Way Interchange to Palo Duro Canyon State Park. It will accommodate six lanes at the mainlane bridge along with a complete stack interchange with direct connectors to and from I-27. Furthermore, another triple-level interchange will be built to accommodate Soncy Road, Helium Road, I-27 and the new loop.<ref name="state.tx.us"/>  Also, another new mainlane bridge that accommodates up to six lanes is also in the works for I-40 near Helium Rd. providing easier access to the new freeway.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/amarillo/040715.html|title=Public Meeting - State Loop 335|first=Texas Department of Transportation (State of|last=Texas)|website=www.txdot.gov}}</ref>  Although construction started in 2016, the entire project, which includes converting the entire loop to Interstate Specifications, is not expected to be complete until 2024.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.theamarilloloop.com/|title=CloudAccess.net Message|website=www.theamarilloloop.com|access-date=March 10, 2018|archive-date=September 22, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922105437/http://theamarilloloop.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=State Loop 335 - AARoads - Texas Highways |url=https://www.aaroads.com/guides/sl-335-tx/ |website=AARoads |date=April 4, 2017}}</ref>

===Medical centers and hospitals===
[[File:Amarillo Texas USA - Harrington Regional Medical Center.jpg|thumb|upright=1.75|The Harrington Regional Medical Center has two of the city's major hospitals.]]
Amarillo is home to medical facilities including Baptist St. Anthony's and Northwest Texas Hospitals, the Don & Sybil Harrington Cancer Center, Bivins Memorial Nursing Home, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Texas Tech School of Pharmacy, and Texas Panhandle Mental Health and Mental Retardation. All are located in the Harrington Regional Medical Center, the first specifically designated city hospital district in Texas.<ref>{{Handbook of Texas|id=sbhfz|name=Harrington Regional Medical Center}}. Retrieved on January 25, 2007.</ref>

Baptist St. Anthony's, known locally as BSA, had some of its services listed on the ''[[U.S. News & World Report]]''{{-'}}s "Top 50 Hospitals" from 2002 to 2005.<ref>{{cite news |author=Schwarz, George |title=BSA facilities receive honors |date=July 8, 2005 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://amarillo.com/stories/070805/new_2305721.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref> BSA was a result of a merger between the Texas Panhandle's first hospital, St Anthony's, with High Plains Baptist Hospital in 1996.<ref>{{cite news |author=Hernandez, Basil |title=Harrington Cancer Center joining BSA |date=March 23, 2006 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/032306/new_4286261.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref> The BSA Hospice & Life Enrichment Center provides important services to the Amarillo area. The BSA facility, opened in 1985, was the first free-standing hospice west of the [[Mississippi River]] to be built and opened without debt.<ref>{{cite news |author=Feduris, Marlene |title=Officials unveil book about city's hospice care |date=September 18, 2002 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://www.amarillo.com/stories/091802/new_unveilbook.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Tttu amarillo.JPG|thumb|Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center]]
Northwest Texas Hospital is home to the area's only Level III designated trauma center.

The [[Thomas E. Creek]] Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center is located east of Harrington Regional Medical Center. The facility opened in 1940 and was renamed in 2005, honoring the 18-year-old Amarillo Marine who was posthumously awarded the [[Medal of Honor]].<ref>{{cite web |author= Library of Congress – Congressional Records |url= http://icreport.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r108:H13SE4-0025: |title= Thomas E. Creek Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center – (House of Representatives – September 13, 2004) |access-date= April 17, 2006 |archive-date= June 30, 2014 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140630173028/http://icreport.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?r108:H13SE4-0025: |url-status= dead }}</ref> Construction began in 2006 for a new Texas State Veterans Home in northwest Amarillo. The United States government, through the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, provided the funding to build the facility, while the Texas government will run it after construction is completed.<ref>{{cite news |author=Cunningham, Greg |title=Veterans home on its way |date=March 11, 2005 |work=Amarillo Globe-News |url=http://amarillo.com/stories/031105/new_1466138.shtml|access-date= January 25, 2007}}</ref> The Ussery-Roan Texas State Veterans Home opened in 2007.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Amarillo |url=https://vlb.texas.gov/veterans-homes/locations/amarillo/index.html |access-date=2022-09-14 |website=vlb.texas.gov |quote=The Ussery-Roan Texas State Veterans Home opened in 2007...}}</ref>

===Utilities===
[[Drinking water]] is provided by the City of Amarillo and its Utilities Division. Amarillo's water supply used to come from both from [[Lake Meredith]] and the [[Ogallala Aquifer]]. Due to the lake's low water level, water is now only supplied by the aquifer. Lake Meredith is located northeast of Amarillo and in 2005 it contained at least {{convert|114|e9USgal|m3}} of water. By 2011, lake levels had dropped so much due to the Texas drought that the Canadian River Municipal Water Authority voted to stop using it entirely.<ref>{{cite news |agency= Associated Press |url= https://www.usatoday.com/weather/drought/story/2011-10-14/texas-drought-abandoned-lake-meredith/50773340/1 |title= Texas drought leaves lake too low for cities' use |access-date= November 22, 2011 |work=USA Today |date=October 14, 2011}}</ref> Increased rainfall in recent years{{When|date=September 2022}} has helped the lake regain much of its volume.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.myhighplains.com/news/recent-rains-add-1-5-billion-gallons-of-water-to-lake-meredith/|title=Recent rains add ~1.5 Billion gallons of water to Lake Meredith|date=2019-06-04|website=KAMR - MyHighPlains.com|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref> Generally, the city's daily water production averages between {{convert|40|-|50|e6USgal|m3}}.<ref>{{cite web |author= City of Amarillo's Utilities Division |url= http://www.ci.amarillo.tx.us/departments/dirutils/pdf/2005%20CCR%20MSWORD.pdf |title= 2005 Water Quality Report |access-date= January 28, 2006 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060305124221/http://www.ci.amarillo.tx.us/departments/dirutils/pdf/2005%20CCR%20MSWORD.pdf |archive-date= March 5, 2006 |url-status= dead }}</ref>

Collection and disposal of the city's trash and garbage are the responsibilities of the City of Amarillo's Solid Waste Collection and Solid Waste Disposal Departments. Amarillo's non-hazardous solid waste is collected and disposed of through burial in the city's [[landfill]]. The City of Amarillo also operates recycling collection centers, one located near the downtown area and four at fire stations in the city.<ref>{{cite web |author=City of Amarillo |url=http://www.ci.amarillo.tx.us/departments/solidwaste.htm |title=Solid Waste Departments |access-date=February 7, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051109090305/http://www.ci.amarillo.tx.us/departments/solidwaste.htm |archive-date=November 9, 2005 |url-status=dead |df=mdy }}</ref> Other utilities are primarily provided by private organizations. Natural gas is distributed by [[Atmos Energy]]. Electric power service is distributed by [[Xcel Energy]], through its wholly owned subsidiary, the Amarillo-based Southwestern Public Service Company.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/finance/stocks/company-profile/XEL.O|title=${Instrument_CompanyName} ${Instrument_Ric} Company Profile - Reuters.com|first=Reuters|last=Editorial|website=U.S.}}</ref> Wired telephone service is mainly provided by [[AT&T Inc.|AT&T]]. Cable television is primarily provided by [[Suddenlink Communications]].