Posted on 01/05/2005 3:10:55 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
AUSTIN, Tex., Dec. 31 (AP) - Texas has embarked on a project to build superhighways so large and so complex that they will make ordinary Interstates look like cowpaths.
As envisioned by Gov. Rick Perry, the project, the Trans-Texas Corridor, would be a 4,000-mile transportation network costing $175 billion over 50 years and financed mostly, if not entirely, with private money. The builders would then charge motorists tolls.
These would be megahighways: corridors up to a quarter-mile across, consisting of as many as six lanes for cars and four for trucks, plus railroad tracks, oil and gas pipelines, water and other utility lines, even broadband transmission cables.
Supporters say the corridors are needed to handle the expected Nafta-driven boom in the flow of goods to and from Mexico and to enable freight haulers to bypass urban centers on straight highways that cut across the countryside.
The number of corridors and exactly where they would run have yet to be worked out. But on Dec. 16 the Texas Transportation Commission opened negotiations with the Cintra consortium to start the first phase of the project, a $7.5 billion, 800-mile corridor from Oklahoma to Mexico that would parallel Interstate 35.
"Some thought the Trans-Texas Corridor was a pie-in-the-sky idea that would never see the light of day," said Governor Perry, a Republican who has compared his plan to the Interstate system. "We have seen the future, and it's here today."
But some have called the project a Texas-size boondoggle. Environmentalists say they worry about its effect on the countryside, and ranchers and farmers who stand to lose their land through eminent domain are mobilizing against it. Small towns and big cities alike fear a loss of business when traffic is diverted around them.
Even the governor's own party opposes the plan. The platform drafted at last summer's state Republican convention rejected it because of its effect on property rights.
The tolls would represent a sharp departure for Texas, which has traditionally relied on federal highway money from gasoline taxes to build roads. But supporters of the Trans-Texas Corridor say its combination of tolls and private money would allow Texas to lay concrete at a rate that would be impossible through gasoline taxes alone.
The corridors could generate about $135 billion for the state over the 50-year span and lure new industry by offering efficient shipping routes for goods and utilities, Ray Perryman, a Texas economist, said.
In addition, Robert Black, a spokesman for Mr. Perry said, the new rail lines could lower the risk of chemical spills in urban areas.
For the Oklahoma-Mexico corridor, Cintra plans to spend $6 billion for about 300 miles of four-lane highway from Dallas to San Antonio and give the state an additional $1.2 billion for improvements along the route. In return, Cintra, which is based in Spain, wants to maintain and operate the toll road for 50 years.
The Texas Farm Bureau, generally regarded as an ally of Mr. Perry, opposes the project, with the organization's president, Kenneth Dierschke, saying: "They're proposing going primarily through farm and ranch lands. If someone comes in and cuts your property in half, that's no good."
Officials promise that property owners will be fairly compensated for any land seized. And a special provision put in for the benefit of rural Texas would allow some property owners to negotiate for a share of the revenue generated by traffic on the corridor.
$30 per hour to hold a sign up, when a college kid would do it for $6.
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Even worse, in KenneTaxaChusetts, (that's "MA" for those of you fortunate enough to never have lived there) the cops union forces replacement of that $30 flag-waver with a $55 State Trooper on overtime, with his $$$$$$ souped-up, electronics-loaded patrol car idling -- with its flashing lights replacing the flag. (And that includes supervisors' cars -- with bigger "antenna farms" than the President's limo...)
All the uniformed (college degreed) $$$$Trooper does is stand around, look dumb, and collect overtime -- he/she doesn't even hold a flag.
As a result, the highest paid public servants in MA are -- MA State Troopers!
If not, you ain't got a dawg in this fight!
"If not, you ain't got a dawg in this fight!"
One other comment - even if he doesn't come around, at least he'll keep a close eye on TX, and thus be available to warn others, after the $hit hits the fan.
I'm glad you like toll roads, I implore you to move to Austin and pay the fees. I've seen some estimates that commuters will be paying $2000 more a year to get to their jobs. I've also seen estimates that adding just a few pennies more to our taxes would bring in the same revenue without this egregious misuse of our money.
Jen
Cintra now charges 13 to 14 cents (Canadian) per kilometer for the road they own near Toronto. That comes out to about 17 cents US per mile.
http://www.407etr.com/tolls/tolls.asp
HANG ON TO YOUR WALLET Texans!!!
i don't understand why they don't use barcode technology for billing cars.
instead, they create these huge bureaucracies that was money. paying someone to sit in a toll booth is labor intensive and stupid.
they'll unionize and vote democrat.
was = waste.
i'm gonk to bed.
One last comment,
The rates that I quoted for Cintra in Canada assume that you have a transponder. Without the transponder it comes out to about 21 US cents per mile.
the dozen or so 4-tier interchanges that they're building in austin are just plain ugly and destructive. take the one at i-35 and louis henna. who will wanna shop at kinko's or eat at mcduck's?
they will destroy the neighborhoods that they tower over, just like the ones at i-35 and 183. the stretch from 35 to metric on 183 is a high crime, slum.
Oh no! We are going hi-tech here! No tool booths, they will have some device to bill for road use. You will get a couple of free passes if you are unfamiliar with the area, tourist or new to the area, after that the bill will be in the mail.
Big Brother, he is here, alive and well in Austin TX. BTW, a toll road is never EVER paid for, and the fee never goes away, it might rise but it surely won't go down.
HMM, now that I think about it, what better place to have this happen than in the ultra blue zone known as liberal heaven, Austin TX!
I'm glad we live on the outskirts, maybe I will consider a move to Waco or Temple.
Jen
Have you seen what they are building at 620 and 183? I think I should set up a camera and wait for someone to come flying off that lovely interchange when it is finished. It is bound to happen.
They will kill our neighborhoods and stores.
you're sure no toll booths, huh?
last summer i went around the east side of denver. it was 4 or 5 toll booths, and $12.00.
$12.00 seemed like alot to avoid the traffic on i-25.
in either case, the 4-tier interchanges, whether they're in denver, phoenix, los angeles, las vegas, or austin...etc are
oppressive.
yeah, i've seen it.
it sux.
i was telling a friend the other day that everything from cedar park to georgetown will be bulldozed in a couple of years.
as i said, i think the 4-tier interchanges are oppressive.
there must be an alternative that would be more human.
When did the speed limit change for thinly populated counties? I remember seeing an article about proposed legislation, but I haven't been more than 50 miles west of I-35 since 2001 so I've never seen a higher speed limit than 70 in Texas.
Where would the state get the right of way to add two lanes in each direction to I-35? The right of way currently is narrower than most newer Interstate highways that have two lanes each direction separated by a grass median. The grass median separating north and south bound traffic between Austin and Hillsborough is about half the width of other Texas Interstate highways. That's why the state built concrete crash barriers between those lanes in the last five years. The frontage roads adjacent to I-35 are also closer than more modern frontage roads. There is no place to to put more than one additional lane in each direction using the current right of way unless elevated lanes were built. You could build lots more lanes in a brand new right of way for what it would cost to build an elevated highway from San Antonio to Denton.
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