Posted on 02/07/2005 5:59:17 AM PST by HamiltonFan
Getting There: Ben Wear Time to pay attention to Perry's toll roads
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Monday, February 7, 2005
Back when the Trans-Texas Corridor seemed to be only a 4,000-mile, $180 billion gleam in Gov. Rick Perry's eye -- that is, a year ago -- it was easy not to take it seriously.
The Texas Department of Transportation held informational meetings in all 254 Texas counties, and almost nobody came. At the one in Bastrop, there were three
real human beings, plus me and about a half-dozen Transportation Department employees who looked like they'd much rather have been at home with a cold one and their feet up.
A second round of 26 meetings in the spring drew about 30 civilians each, then the third go-round in the fall ginned up 2,891 people. Or about 1 out of every 7,600 Texans.
It's a little embarrassing to admit, but the Austin American-Statesman's transportation reporter was among the 7,599 no-shows.
But everything changed in mid-December, when the Texas Transportation Commission, with Perry on hand looking like a cat who had consumed an entire pet shop of canaries, announced that a consortium led by Spanish toll road builder Cintra was willing to build 300-plus miles of Trans-Texas Corridor, from San Antonio to the Oklahoma border, footing the $6 billion cost alone and throwing another $1.2 billion the state's way.
That instantly reframed the discussion from "What was Rick thinking?!!?" to "Is this superhighway going through my barnyard?" And that gives the next round of 47 public meetings, due to start today in Dallas and
Sherman, considerably more cachet.
Not so much in Central Texas, where, as it turns out, we already have six lanes of Trans-Texas Corridor under construction: Texas 130. What Cintra builds, assuming the Spanish company and the state reach accord on an initial planning contract, would connect to the 49-mile Texas 130 tollway on its south end near Creedmoor and its north end near Georgetown.
But even here, Texas 130 might not be all of the Trans-Texas Corridor we see. As Perry proposed it, the corridor would have six lanes for cars and four for trucks, six rail lines and room for pipelines and electric lines.
So, what are these meetings about? Well, there's a long process under federal law that requires highway builders to take into account environmental, sociological and economic effects in deciding where and what to build. These public meetings are part of the fact-gathering. Transportation Department officials say that what they hear will help them narrow the road's path to a 10-mile-wide corridor.
The Austin meeting is at 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at the East Communities YMCA, 5315 Ed Bluestein Blvd. (U.S. 183).
Right now, the state has a thoroughly baffling map (available at www.keeptexas moving.org, along with a list of the meetings) that shows a tangle of 10-mile-wide snakes going from Oklahoma, circling around or through the Metroplex, going east of Waco, Austin and San Antonio, and then heading to Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley.
If you want to help the state select a snake, you have your chance in the next two months.
Getting There appears Mondays. For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.
I suppose it is ok for you that the road in front of your home was grabbed from someome.
How much land did they steal to build the Interstate System or the Farm-to-Market system?
There was a vote. All of this was authorized by constitutional amendment
I guess you don't travel on I-35 much. It's the most congested road in the country. If there's anywhere the corridor needs to be built is parallel to I-35. I'll pay the toll to bypass 35, and those who don't want the toll still have 35 as a free alternative.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
Just let me know if you want on or off the list. Thanks.
I disagree. The biggest land grab in Texas history was in 1850 when the legislature agreed to the terms of the Compromise of 1850. Texas gave up its claims to land that is now part of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming in exchange for the federal government paying off the Texas public debt.
Thanks for the ping!
You're welcome. :-)
And, before you regurgitate guschat's idiocy -- NO! we do not want to sell "the old home place" -- we (and our families) have plans for it!
BTW, TSR, thanks for the ping!
You need to review Texas history. Do some research on the machinations of Thomas Jeferson Rusk and his hit-men, the Regulators...
You're welcome. :-)
This is the second time I read that specific factoid about "most congested road in the country". What, already, is this on a "talking points" memo out of Perry's office? Wherever it comes from, it is utter bullcorn! I do travel I-35 often enough. Try Hotlanta, or near anywhere in Southern California. The more I read utter crap like this, the more dubious I get of the agenda out there.
I agree. From san Antonio to the NM border is wide open spaces a good 8 hour drive. The thought of dividing Texas with one big giant concrete scar is a meglomaniacs dream. this is an outrage that people should not allow. If they want to make truckers lives easier. Not to mention the people that get squished in accidents, build a specific truck highway. It would be safer for the general public, plus the added bene of being able to monitor the trucks from Mexico. The turnoffs at major pop centers could have weigh and inspection stations. I would go for that , but not this outrage.
BTTT!!!!!!
What are you talking about? They ARE building a truck-only highway, as the 2 truck lanes (each way) will be separated from the 3 auto lanes. And they aren't building any new roads west from San Antonio to NM until they are needed. The plan you are thinking of is a 50-100 year plan. The only Trans-Texas Corridor in planning stages that will be built soon is Oklahoma-San Antonio, and a little later to Mexico. I-69 from Texarkana to Houston to S. Texas to Mexico, which is already being planned and would have been built anyway as a traditional freeway, is also being studied to be built instead as a Trans-Texas Corridor type facility, in part to speed up construction and significantly reduce its cost in tax dollars.
There are also new local roads that are being studied for toll-financing, but other than an exception or two, none are being planned as a TTC-type facility. Those other rural TTC-type corridors listed on the 50-100 year concept plan (except for perhaps a Houston-Waco area connection) are a long, long way from being implemented or needed, and as much as anything were put there at the insistance of rural legislators. Several of those corridors were already existing before the TTC plan was developed, again at the insistance of rural legislators, who wanted their pork roads (such as the Ports to Plains Corridor.) Some of the same rural legislators who now complain the TTC would "divide rural Texas with one big concrete scar" What a bunch of drama queens.
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