Posted on 01/01/2005 7:08:48 PM PST by Dubya
I do go to the race in Ft.Worth once a year and I go straight up 77.
Sounds just like Florida.
If I could spare 15 to 20 cents per mile to give to this company (about $5,000 per year, for my family, based on present driving requirements), then I would agree with your viewpoint. Unfortunately, I pay more than that now in property taxes, so I'm not that lucky.
Back when they were first planning I-35, someone suggested that they route it east of Austin, but that got shot down. Now I avoid Austin when I go from DFW to San Antonio.
The Metroplex has one big thing going for it. Plenty of water from artifcial lakes.
I would reword your above statement as follows "As I said many years ago, the punishment Texas will see out of Nafta is one hell of a toll road, at OUR expense."
There are a heck of a lot of property owners who don't mind a freeway, but will fight to death against this scheme. When your right of way is 1200 feet wide, even a simple overcrossing becomes expensive and will cut off land owners.
" Yeah! What do these private investors think they're doing? Everyone knows that only the government can do things right."
I'll put up the Interstate system against against the hodgepodge of freeways and toll roads that preceded it. Our government does not have a very good track record on big projects, but it has done some things right.
" Yeah! What do these private investors think they're doing? Everyone knows that only the government can do things right."
Also keep in mind that this company is not exactly the Peace Corps - meaning that they do have their own agenda - which is profits (generally a good thing, but not in this case). They couldn't give a darn about the people of Texas
How to earn the profits: Become a monopoly and minimize your competition. That's done by closing off alternatives that can draw traffic away from them. I have no doubt once the fine print of this agreement is released (with those pesky details), we'll see that Perry totally sold out his voters.
Are they calling it I-69 because it will suck at both ends?
I-69 runs from Port Huron MI to Indianapolis.
Bring back Ike and make him Project Manager in Chief!
http://www.eisenhowerbirthplace.org
Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956:
In February 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) designated the Dwight D. Eisenhower System of Interstate and Defense Highways as one of the "Seven Wonders of the United States." (Other "wonders" include the Golden Gate Bridge, Hoover Darn, and the Panama Canal.) The interstate system has often been called "the greatest public works project in history." It not only linked the nation, but it boosted productivity and helped sustain a more than tenfold increase in the gross national product since the start of the program in 1956.
His first realization of the value of good highways occurred in 1919, when he participated in the U.S. Army's first transcontinental motor convoy from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco. During World War 11, Gen. Eisenhower saw Germany's advantages as a result of the autobahn network, also noting the enhanced mobility of the Allies when they fought their way into Germany. These experiences shaped Eisenhower's views on highways. "The old convoy," he said, "had started me thinking about good, two-lane highways, but Germany had made me see the wisdom of broader ribbons across the land." When President Dwight D. Eisenhower took office in January 1953, the states had completed 10,327 kin of system improvements at a cost of $955 million. Only 24 percent of interstate roadway was adequate for present traffic.
The 1956 act called for uniform interstate design standards to accommodate traffic forecast in 20 years). Two lane segments, as well as at-grade intersections, were permitted on lightly traveled segments. (However, legislation passed in 1966 required all parts of the interstate highway system to be at least four lanes with no at-grade intersections regardless of traffic volume.) On June 26, 1956, the Senate approved the bill by a vote of 89 to 1. That same day, the house approved the bill by a voice vote. In August 1957, the numbering scheme for the interstate highways was announced and the red, white, and blue interstate shield was unveiled. Many of the states had submitted proposals for the shield, but the final version was a combination of designs submitted by Missouri and Texas.
"Are they calling it I-69 because it will suck at both ends?"
Now, you know the rules here on FR. But seriously, the north end of I-69 (in Mich and Indiana) is an excellent freeway, I've driven it many times. It's only our luck in having Perry as governor at this end that almost assures it will be useless to most Texans (technically, I guess we could use it, but only by paying through the teeth).
Thanks for clearing up my confusion. I didn't know it was a planned extension of the same I-69 in my state.
I agree, although it's easier since it doesn't hit our two big cities(Detroit/Grand Rapids). In Michigan, the only 100,000+ cities that I-69 hits are Lansing and Flint, and most of the big Lansing traffic goes on US-127 or I96. Most of the big Flint traffic goes on I-75 or US-23.
Makes things much easier.
I have no problem with tolls as long as there is an expiration date. It is the idea of taxation without representation or taxes redirected to non-road related expenditures that sticks in my craw. Who says it isn't important to vote in local elections?
Any thought that it's raising the general welfare of Texas and the Nation?
HA! Will you be here all week?
So pay for it with public funds, and keep private profit out of it.
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