Free Republic

State Rep. Jim McReynolds has sent a letter to the Texas Department of Transportation saying he thinks TxDOT should drop the idea of tying the Trans-Texas Corridor in with plans for routing Interstate 69 through East Texas. McReynolds says tremendous negative outcry from his constituents and other East Texas residents has made it clear to him no one wants infrastructure that massive and disruptive to the quality of life to be built, taking big swaths out of the Pineywoods countryside. "Within the past several weeks, I have personally attended every TxDOT hearing held in my district regarding this proposed corridor,"...

FORT WORTH -- Interstate 35W, Loop 820 and Airport Freeway would not be expanded until 2015 at the earliest if a two-year ban on toll roads is approved by the state Legislature, area leaders say. A bill calling for a two-year ban was filed Tuesday and has strong support in the Senate. North Richland Hills Mayor Oscar Trevino says it’s time to hold the Metroplex’s lawmakers accountable for jumping on the anti-toll road bandwagon and endangering Metroplex road projects. The bill was filed by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and cosigned by 25 of 31 Senate members, including Jane Nelson,...

A Wise County portion of the planned outer loop for the Metroplex may not be in the initial construction phase. Jeffrey Neal, principal transportation planner for the North Central Texas Council of Governments, said funding could be shifted to another project that would at least temporarily keep the loop from passing through Wise County. He made his presentation at Wednesday’s Northwest Communities Partnership meeting at Northwest ISD. The alternative assumes that the planned “outer loop” proposed to encircle the Metroplex will be used in designs for the Trans-Texas Corridor. The outer loop was not included in the original plans for...