Heh, heh. You said I-69.
Posted on 01/01/2005 7:08:48 PM PST by Dubya
AUSTIN - In what sounds like another tall tale told by a Texan, the Lone Star State has embarked on an audacious project to build superhighways so big, so complex, that they will make ordinary interstates look like cow paths. The Trans-Texas Corridor project, as envisioned by Republican Gov. Rick Perry in 2002, would be a 4,000-mile transportation network costing $175 billion over 50 years, financed mostly if not entirely with private money. The builders would charge motorists tolls.
But these would not be mere highways. They 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-shot highways that cut across the countryside.
The number of corridors and exactly where they would run have yet to be worked out for the proposed I-69. But the Texas Transportation Commission opened negotiations Dec. 16 with the Spain-based consortium Cintra to start the first phase of the project, a $7.5 billion, 800-mile corridor that would stretch from Oklahoma to Mexico and run parallel to Interstate 35.
"Some thought the Trans-Texas Corridor was a pie-in-the-sky idea that would never see the light of day," said Perry, who has compared his plan to the interstate highway system, which was started during the Eisenhower administration.
But as the plan rumbles along in the fast lane, some have called it a Texas-size boondoggle. Environmentalists are worried about what it will do to the countryside. Ranchers and farmers who stand to lose their land through eminent domain are mobilizing against it. Small towns and big cities fear a loss of business when traffic is diverted around them.
Even the governor's own party opposes the plan. The GOP platform drafted at last summer's state convention rejected it because of its effect on property rights.
Perry is undeterred. "I think it will be a model for future infrastructure construction in the world," he predicted.
The tolls would represent a dramatic departure for Texas, which has traditionally relied on federal highway funding from gasoline taxes to build roads. But supporters say the combination of tolls and private money would allow Texas to pour concrete at a rate that would not be possible through gasoline taxes alone. ONLINE: ww.dot.state.tx.us www.keeptexasmoving.com www.corridorwatch.com
Hmmm .. 6 lanes accross is pretty normal out here in Southern California, and that's just going in one direction! ;-) Not counting the other 5-6 lanes going the other way!
I just wish these northeastern carpetbagging democrats would get the heck out of Texas!
They are ruining the State with their:
Toll roads
Seat belt laws
Car seat laws
No passengers in the bed of pickups laws
Watershed laws
Toilet laws
Hunting and Fishing laws
When I was a kid you could drive anywhere for free in Texas (quickly) while crawling around in the back of a pickup truck or stationwagon. You could drink clean fresh water from a well you had on your own property, and could hunt or fish for free year round without a stinkin licence, not to mention that Toilets actually WORKED back then!
What the hell is going on !!!! I feel like i'm living in communist Russia!
I want my state back! And I want all these pinko communist liberals to go back to wherever the hell they came from !
They are pulling the same scam in Indiana. There is a big gap where I-69 needs to be extended. They are going to do a collossal land grab. But the good news is it will make it easier and more profitable to move all of our jobs to Mexico where there are no pollution laws and people work for a dollar a day. NAFTA is a joke.
"in fact, the reality of this road project is probably that the state expects a massive population boom from immigration. that's what this is likely all about."
It will make it easier to match those "willing worker" to those "jobs that Americans won't do". It will also make it easier to get to the welfare office.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.