There are meetings all over Texas starting this week, but they are NOT being heavily publicized, and they aren't really public hearings. They're just going to tell us what they plan to do.
The Trans Texas Corridor is a huge boondoggle. I am appalled at the haste and hurry with which it has been shoved down our throats.
http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2005-01-13/news.html
Is there a Free Republic group interested in this subject? Something needs to be done, but the average Texas simply doesn't know what is happening.
Allowing increasing numbers of unregulated NAFTA trucks and drivers from Mexico, who don't have to meet the same standards as US trucks, is enough of a safety concern. Taking hundreds of thousands of acres and ripping a scar across the state to accommodate them is absurd. This project will not benefit the state or its citizens at all.
This is simply backward thinking. In an era of concern about pollution and fuel consumption, it makes absolutely no sense to haul individual loads, each pulled by its own engine. We need to think creatively, ship much more cargo by rail, encourage development of less intrusive and more efficient mass transit, and stop covering our land with concrete and stop this project before it is too late.
Schedule of meetings: http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/get_involved/
It is, however, a bit overwrought to claim that Texas is running out of land or that this highway will rip a scar across the state. It has been stated that the entire population of the world could be fit within Texas, with every family being placed in single family residences on suburban lots. The Texas and Pacific Railroad, the Houston Ship Channel, the oil and natural gas pipelines, the Comanche Peak nuclear plant, Lake Texoma, and the Interstate highway network are "scars," yet they have been vital to the economic growth of the state.
A strong transportation system is vital to the continued economic growth and health of the state. Several Interstates, notably I-35, are operating well beyond their design capacity. The Trans-Texas Corridor may not be the best solution, but increased highway construction is inevitable if the Lone Star State is to maintain sound growth. In the 1970s, the NIMBY mentality and environmental extremists came to dominate politics in California. As a result, road, utility, and water supply construction ground to a standstill. Thirty years later, the once Golden State is plagued by brownouts and gridlock. These are among the problems that have turned California into a state suffering the loss of its middle class to other states. If the same mentality takes hold in Texas, the Lone Star State will degenerate into a prairie version of California.
Like it or not, most people, especially families, prefer not to live in inner cities and want the suburban lifestyle sneered at by the New York, Hollywood, and Ivy League elite (even as they commute to their mansions in gated communities in their high-end SUVs). The suburbs have grown due to consumer demand. If state and county governments have been burdened with road and water supply construction tasks, it was only to meet the needs of the citizens who have moved to places they prefer. Halting road construction, limiting development in rural areas, and forcing people to ride mass transit are elements of liberal social engineering. These strategies only achieved economic stagnation in the Northeast and the flight of the middle class from California. There is no reason to believe they would not have the same results in Texas.
Social engineering is contrary to the foundational principles of this republic. It is the individual, and not government bureaucrats or academic social planners, who should enjoy the inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.