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Trans Texas Corridor could be San Marcos' new neighbor
San Marcos Daily Record ^ | February 4, 2005 | ANITA MILLER

Posted on 02/05/2005 6:34:20 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

The time to speak out and ask questions about the Trans Texas Corridor is near.

Residents in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties will get a better understanding of potential impacts to their land usage and future tax revenues next month during Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) public meetings concerning the proposed corridor.

The corridor, as envisioned, would consist of a network of brand-new "transportation routes" that would carry passenger vehicles and large trucks in separate lanes and also provide for railway freight, high-speed commuter rail and "infrastructure" for utilities including water, oil, gas, electricity, broadband and "other telecommunications services," TxDOT says.

The routes would bypass major metropolitan areas and the project would be implemented in phases, beginning with "priority routes," which include a route to run east but largely parallel to Interstate 35.

The roadways would be toll roads, and would require 146 acres of right-of-way for each mile of the envisioned 4,000 miles of corridor. The combined vehicle, rail and utility lines would be 1,200 feet wide.

Overall, the project would result in the taking of 558,000 acres of private lands, according to Corridor Watch, an organization whose premise is "challenging the wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor."

While landowners would be compensated under eminent domain, acreage taken for the corridor would be removed from county and school district tax rolls.

Officials with TxDOT will meet with Caldwell County residents on March 3 at the Lockhart High School Cafetorium, 1 Lion Country Drive. On March 22, citizens of Guadalupe County can attend a public meeting at the Seguin-Guadalupe County Coliseum, 810 S. Guadalupe St. Both sessions will run from 5 to 8 p.m. and will be held in an "open house" format.

Those in attendance will be able to ask questions as well as provide input and submit comments for the record. Available at the meetings will be the preliminary results of an environmental study that is expected to have narrowed the proposed route to a more or less 10-mile swath.

The round of public meetings is the second concerning the corridor. In the fall of last year, citizens were presented with maps showing a wide area of Texas from the Rio Grande to the Red River. Since then, "corridor alternatives" for the portion of the project to parallel IH-35 have been "refined."

This summer, project planners intend to have completed a draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and following that will be another round of public meetings. The complete EIS, consideration of which will also include a "no build" option, is expected in early 2006. Around the same time, project planners are expected to present the corridor plan to the Federal Highway Administration.

In December, Gov. Rick Perry detailed how the project would be funded. Under a type of contract called a "comprehensive development agreement," which allows the state to hire a private firm to "plan, design, construct, finance, maintain and operate" the corridor, the governor said a Spanish firm has been selected to develop the corridor project.

Cintra-Zachary has said it plans to invest $6 billion by 2010 in the stretch of toll road from San Antonio to Dallas. Under terms of the agreement, the company would also pay the state $1.2 billion to be able to operate the toll road for 50 years. The $1.2 billion could be used by TxDOT for road improvements, high-speed or commuter rail projects.

According to TxDOT, the total project cost could range from $145.2 to $183.5 billion.

Proponents say the network of roads and rail and pipelines would ease traffic congestion in major cities and that given projected growth rates, the corridor is a proactive way of managing the transportation needs of 50 years into the future.

Opponents argue that the corridor would not ease major metropolitan traffic, but could bisect towns and farms. It would also drain communities along IH-35 through lessened traffic and relocation of businesses.

For more information, visit

www.txdot.state.tx.us;

www.keeptexasmoving.com;

and www.corridorwatch.org


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: boondogle; caldwellcounty; cintrazachry; corridorwatch; guadalupecounty; i35; ih35; kay06; keeptexasmoving; landgrab; meetings; perry4sale; rail; rickperry; ricwilliamson; rinorick; sanmarcos; tollroads; tolls; transtexascorridor; ttc; ttc35; txdot; utilities; utopianscheme
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To: Ben Ficklin

how many other corridors are there planned?


61 posted on 02/05/2005 9:22:32 PM PST by ken21 (most news today is either stupid or evil.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

Hmmm-There doesn't seem to be THAT much traffic on IH-35 at the choke points in San Antonio. I wonder what the "proposed" toll road would look like. Other than to steal private property, just what is the justification of this new abortion?

It would also drain communities along IH-35 through lessened traffic and relocation of businesses.

The ONLY concession I'll make to this multi-billion dollar boondogle is the fact that The San Antonio-Austin MetroMess plans will be shelved in favor of another area. It would also drain the ash-n-trash out of the area.

62 posted on 02/05/2005 9:25:48 PM PST by Sarajevo (Sarajevo is the beginning of 20th century history.)
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To: ken21

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/hep10/nhs/hipricorridors/hpcorqk.html


63 posted on 02/05/2005 9:26:01 PM PST by deport (There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.)
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To: ken21

Scroll up to #16.


64 posted on 02/05/2005 9:26:15 PM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: Ben Ficklin
"Who pays you to shovel this sh!t around."

No one - but we do generally refrain from that terminology on this website (the DU more than makes up for it).

As far as I am concerned, it is underhanded. I have yet to see any details, any guidelines, anything at all, as to what Perry is giving away to Cintra. Perhaps you know something that others (including the media) doesn't know - and that gives you comfort that the deal is not so bad.

I don't have access to that information. All that I am told is that I must trust the Governor to look out for my interests.

I've been around way too long to trust ANY politician to look out for my interests, so I will get suspicious. I know that Ric Williamson has all but promised that that Cintra will get some type of franchise protection. That scares me, because that means that I-35 will be affected.

If the governor keeps behaving this way, any work on the entire freeway system of Texas is likely to be subject to veto power from private companies that are only here to make a killing.

Yes - that worries me a lot. But no, I have no dog in this fight. And, as I have said numerous times, and as is proven by my posts on any topic other than these toll roads, I do not attack governor Perry or any other Republican (other than on toll roads), in any way.

If the governor would kill this plan, I will shut up - and heck, maybe I'll even contribute to his re-election (particularly if the Dems manage to find a strong candidate).
65 posted on 02/05/2005 9:28:36 PM PST by BobL
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Thanks for the ping!


66 posted on 02/05/2005 9:30:01 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Doctor Stochastic
The Western Railroads were mostly government sponsored.

Yes, the government owned vast amounts of land in the west that was of zero economic value unless railroads were built. The government gave railroads land for rights of way and land to sell off to settlers. In return railroad built roads that allowed settlement of the continent all the way to the Pacific Ocean prior to the end of the 20th century.

The railroads themselves were built by private companies using iron and steel made in private factories made from raw materials from private mines. A few years ago I was reading Stephen Ambrose's book about the building of the transcontinental railroad. He pointed out that that the US transcontinental railroad was built in less time with a tenth of the Chinese labor that the Russians used to build the trans-Siberian railroad.

67 posted on 02/05/2005 9:32:18 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: BobL

I'm sorry, how much do you get paid to shovel this crap around?


68 posted on 02/05/2005 9:34:04 PM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: Sarajevo

11:30 pm. on Saturday night. Try 5:00 pm. on Friday afternoon.


69 posted on 02/05/2005 9:34:20 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: deport; Ben Ficklin

gracias.

they never build a freeway thru' mid-nevada.

is that because art bell's area 51 would be negatively impacted?


70 posted on 02/05/2005 9:34:56 PM PST by ken21 (most news today is either stupid or evil.)
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To: ken21

is that because art bell's area 51 would be negatively impacted?



LOL.........


71 posted on 02/05/2005 9:35:58 PM PST by deport (There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.)
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To: ken21; Ben Ficklin; deport
how many other corridors are there planned?


72 posted on 02/05/2005 9:38:04 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: Ben Ficklin
"There were three bidders. Cintra is the apparent winner"

Sorry - my stupid computer needed rebooting again.

Ok 3 bids. No surprise. I'll wait until I see the details of whatever is signed before determining how bad the people of Texas just got screwed.

Right now I have no reason to believe that we're being protected.
73 posted on 02/05/2005 9:39:19 PM PST by BobL
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To: Ben Ficklin
"I'm sorry, how much do you get paid to shovel this crap around?"

That's better. NOTHING

But maybe if you guys would share some of the non-public information you have with me, you could calm me down, and be able to get back to this project.

Right now, I have no information other than the tiny bit that dribbles out of Austin - and you better believe that I'm suspicious.
74 posted on 02/05/2005 9:41:30 PM PST by BobL
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To: Paleo Conservative

I think he was referring to National planned corridors... which was linked up above in #16

What route do you take out of Refugio when heading to the DFW area?..... Up towards Austin or towards Houston and I-45? You are kinda stuck in a middle ground it looks like.


75 posted on 02/05/2005 9:41:43 PM PST by deport (There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.)
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To: Paleo Conservative

????It's 1:42 on a Sunday afternoon where I'm at.


76 posted on 02/05/2005 9:43:05 PM PST by Sarajevo (Sarajevo is the beginning of 20th century history.)
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To: deport; Paleo Conservative
What gets me is that these opponents say the TTC won't decrease congestion in cities but will decrease the number of cutomers of businesses along existing Interstates.

Consistent group aren't they?.....


Yes, as a fact, they are consistent -- and correct!

The TTC will be extremely limited access. That means that:

1. Virtually all access points will be sited for connection to urban areas -- thereby dumping the load of high-speed corridor traffic into the cities -- increasing urban traffic congestion.

2. That same limited access will divert traffic from rural interstates to the TTC -- and keep it confined on the TTC across rural Texas (where all corridor services will be confined to the TTC ROW). That means reduced off-corridor business and total devastation to communities that depend on out-of-state tourism.

If you can't get off the da*ned thing, you sure ain't gonna leave any money behind in rural Texas.

What is inconsistent about that?

77 posted on 02/05/2005 9:48:03 PM PST by TXnMA (Attention, ACLU: There is no constitutionally protected right to NOT be offended -- Shove It!)
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To: TXnMA
Come on TXnMA, can't you please be a team player.

Don't you see that it's a done deal. That the governor is only doing this to make our lives better.

We can certainly trust him - after all he is a politician - and who could be more honest and trustworthy than a politician?

Now please, be a team player.
78 posted on 02/05/2005 9:52:02 PM PST by BobL
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To: deport
What route do you take out of Refugio when heading to the DFW area?.....

I go through there when I to to and from Houston. It has lots of NAFTA truck traffic at all hours of the day. I don't go through Refugio when I'm going to DFW. I take I-37 to San Antonio, then I connect to I-35. During rush hour, I take loop 410, at night I'll go all the way to to the end of I-37. Once I turn onto I-35, the traffic is much heavier.

If you look at the proposed corridor coming north from the Rio Grande Valley, it interects I-37 north of Alice. It will be able to take traffic from the Rio Grande Valley all the way to DFW without having to go through San, Antonio, Austin, Temple, and Waco. It will reduce the need for more capacity in those cities.

79 posted on 02/05/2005 9:58:06 PM PST by Paleo Conservative (Hey! Hey! Ho! Ho! Andrew Heyward's got to go!)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

As long as the Factory Outlets don't relocate to the corridor, then my wife can use it as much as she wants when going up that way. :)

Honestly, I like those store too.


80 posted on 02/05/2005 10:02:26 PM PST by The South Texan (The Democrat Party and the leftist (ABCCBSNBCCNN NYLATIMES)media are a criminal enterprise!)
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