Stacey Bennington (left), a consultant to the Texas Department of Transportation, answers questions about the proposed Trans Texas Corridor project during an open house held at Corsicana High School Wednesday. Daily Sun photo/LOYD COOK
Posted on 02/17/2005 3:29:19 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
2/17 CORRIDOR OPEN HOUSE HITS TOWN AGAIN: North-south route at midway point of planning process, official says
By LOYD COOK/Daily Sun Staff
In the latest step in the evolution of Gov. Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor project, area residents examined large-scale maps, explanatory informational graphics and talked with Texas Department of Transportation representatives Wednesday.
It was all part of an open house held in the commons area of Corsicana High School.
Doug Booher, an TxDOT environmental manager, said the project is about halfway through the multi-step planning process.
The Trans Texas Corridor is envisioned as a multi-modal effort that would include passenger lanes of traffic alongside separate lanes for freight traffics. It would also include rail lines and use the right-of-way in the Oklahoma to Mexico project for the placement of utility lines, oil pipelines, data transmission and communication lines.
"Everything will be based on need," Booher said. "Not all modes will be necessarily in every part of the corridor. We won't do anything that doesn't make sense for a particular area."
He said it is a long-range project, envisioned as a 50-year plan. Forecasts of a large population increase for Texas during the next few decades has been the catalyst for improving the state's transportation system.
"It is a 50-year program ... so the department is looking at how to handle the (anticipated) population growth and how we're going to get goods and people through the State of Texas," Booher said.
The initial study of proposed routes for the huge project included a 77-county area that Booher said planners has "to whittle down" to a 10-mile area and then decide where the best place is to build the project.
TxDOT is presently in the early stage of holding 37 informational open houses across the state, beginning in the northern region and finishing up in the south.
Formal public hearings are expected to begin in the fall. At that time, Booher said, a full-fledged presentation will be made and interested parties will have the opportunity to make comments.
Wednesday's open house at the high school was the third such event held in Corsicana in the past year.
Navarro County resident William N. Davis spent some time looking at available printed material and the large displays around the central area of the school. He said he wasn't sure how he felt about the project.
"I have mixed emotions, but I think it's inevitable with the population growth they're forecasting," Davis said. "Hey, just try to go through Houston and Austin during the rush hour now."
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Loyd Cook may be contacted via e-mail at loydcook@corsicanadailysun.com
Stacey Bennington (left), a consultant to the Texas Department of Transportation, answers questions about the proposed Trans Texas Corridor project during an open house held at Corsicana High School Wednesday. Daily Sun photo/LOYD COOK
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
Please let me know if you want on or off the list.
I wonder how much these lil ole open houses are going to end up costing the taxpayers. Time for TxDot to smooze a little I guess.
I was looking at the map, and it appears that they either need to go far enough west to tie it into I-44 or far enough east to tie into the Indian Nation Turnpike.
This is a pro Trans-Texas Corridor ping list.
Please let me know by Freepmail if you want on or off the list.
A map of possible alternatives for TTC-35. 
Free Republic search on keyword "TTC"
Interview (Audio) NPR | February 8, 2005 A Superhighway for Texas?
Here's the website with more info and explanation:
http://www.keeptexasmoving.org/
Here's a list of meetings where you can ask questions(and I encourage everyone who can to attend and ask questions)
http://www.keeptexasmoving.org/pdfs/TTC-35_Public_Meetings.pdf
Here's a link to the map of the TTC-35 corridor alternatives, which are approximately 10 miles wide study areas (the actual selected single corridor will be at most 1/4 mile wide):
http://www.keeptexasmoving.org/pdfs/TTC-35_Alternatives_Map.pdf
1990-2000 Population Growth of Border Metro Areas
Port of Houston teams up with Panama to draw a piece of Asia's massive trade away from West Coast
If other states don't get onboard, isn't there going to be a huge traffic jam at the borders with those states?
Apparently Oklahoma and Mexico are on board.
If other states don't get onboard, isn't there going to be a huge traffic jam at the borders with those states?
I watch the "orient express" everyday up here in the panhandle..... Yan-ming, Hanjin, COSCO , China Shipping etc etc sea containers as far as ya can see .....
Would the Chinese take the time and trouble to go through the canal and use Houston's as a port ?
Or do ya think an east west super corridor would follow suit and make St Joesph MO (just a guess) a super hub for international trade ?
The Mexicans are talking about connecting their Pacific coast ports with rail links to the TTC. One thing that would do is cause the stevedores in CA to be more reasonable.
ROFL. I had only visualised this in terms of outbound traffic before.
Yeah that would pretty much put a nail in their coffin.... I saw that other map after I posted. There are some great ports near Guymas and San Carlos on the Sea of Cortez. That would pretty much put west coast ports into a spin.
While the usual pictures do look pretty, consider the following:
(1) The factors that are really critical in determining whether Texans are about to get shafted with this plan are missing. In particular, look for any links regarding contract details, state law, or anything else that may protect Texans. Other than some fluffy words, it is those details and the state law that will determine whether Texas build the greatest highway system, or becomes the laughing stock of the nation (right now, my vote is on the second). Remember this “project” is costing close to 200 Billion dollars, which is about $30,000 for a family of 4. This is the biggest government-orchestrated debt on the public (per capita), other than the national deficit. While private investors may be putting up the money for the system, from whom do you think they will DEMAND their money back (hint: there are not enough NAFTA trucks to come close to covering these costs)?
(2) The government will be TAKING huge amounts of land from private landowners, and virtually giving over to a private company, Cintra (based in Spain), so that the company can build a toll road and probably be able to charge whatever the market will bear – as they do today in Canada. (technically speaking, we are being told that the concession is for 50 years, but we will not know for sure until we see the contract – and 50 years of being robbed is a long time)
http://best.enigmati.ca/trans-action/200501/4601.html#start
(3) Speaking of Canada. Cintra now charges cars 19.5 US cents per mile if they have a transponder, and 23 US cents per mile (or more) if the do not have a transponder (these are peak rates, non-peak rates are about 1 cent less). Large Trucks are now charged 58 US cents per mile (peak) and 52 US cents per mile (non-peak). For the length of the highway, this is the highest toll rate in North America, and possibly the world. Cintra has won court rulings assuring them the right to continue raising tolls at will, and there NOTHING Canada can do to stop them for the next 95 years or so. Will trucks in Texas use Cintra’s toll road? It’s hard to see how, considering that the toll will be higher than many of the drivers make in the first place. These are the rates (in Canadian cents per kilometer) that Cintra charges in Canada, bottom half of this web page:
http://www.407etr.com/tolls/tolls.asp
(4) If you think that is high, another experiment with a private monopoly being allowed to charge whatever it wanted was done in California. In that case, 2 toll lanes (each way, 10 miles long) were added to the totally packed SH-91 freeway, east of Los Angeles. The toll lane operator actually prevented the state from doing a badly-needed upgrade of a nearby state-owned highway section (using its monopoly clause). It got so ugly, that Orange County had to buy the toll lanes, just to be able to do the upgrade. By the way, those lanes now charge 70 cents per mile, for cars, at peak drive times.
http://www.91expresslanes.com/tollschedules.asp
http://bicycleaustin.info/rogerbaker/tollroad-failure.html
(read the LA Times article, just over halfway down – ignore the rest of the page, it’s a left-wing site)
(5) The contract between Texas and Cintra is being negotiated and signed in SECRET. Here in Texas, Governor Perry is signing away the future of Texans (see next item), without anyone even getting to see the deal. Most governors don’t have this level of power, and the ones that do would NEVER use it this recklessly.
(6) It has been virtually promised to Cintra that they will be able to prevent ANY upgrades to STATE-OWNED highways, anywhere near their toll road. This is classic MONOPOLISTC protection, which means that the free market has been jettisoned – and replaced by a very scary collaboration of big business and big government. Market forces are not simply not possible with surface transportation, due to right-of-away issues – the question really becomes whether private companies should be able to prevent the state from doing what it needs to do on state-owned highways. Most people in this country can easily see the disaster up ahead, except supporters of Governor Perry. Note this quote from Ric Williamson, head of the Texas Transportation Commission: “…we fully expect that there will be limitations on our ability, at some point in the future, to compete with the road…” The road being Cintra’s. There certainly will be monopolistic provisions. You can find the quote buried in this transcript.
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/transcom/transcripts/1204.htm
(7) The combined state and federal gas tax in Texas is about 2 cents per mile (or 40 cents per gallon, for a car getting 20 miles per gallon). For ONE extra cent per mile (or 20 cents per gallon), Texas could easily build the FREEWAYS that it needs.
(8) State-built toll roads can work, providing that politicians are honest about how they spend the money. The State of Kentucky built a large network of toll roads, but put all of the excess toll revenue back into paying off the roads. The result: the roads got paid off much earlier than expected, and now 80% of them are freeways, and the rest charge about 2 CENTS PER MILE. However, this is the exception. In Houston, once they had a surplus, they diverted it. First to buying a toll bridge that was nearly in default (and bailing it out), then by using the money to plan new toll roads, and finally by simply diverting the money completely out of the toll road system (when they were sure no one was looking). For a state with as much corruption as Texas (just look at this SECRET deal with Cintra), toll roads are simply another way for politicians and the well-connected (like Cintra) to rob the people.
http://www.kytc.state.ky.us/toll/Natcher.htm
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2994429
(9) Do toll roads increase property values and encourage development. NO, if you look at how people in the real world reacted when told that their freeway would now be a toll road. It’s real easy for the Libertarians at think tanks like Cato, Heritage, and Reason to publish white papers that essentially state that toll roads are equivalent to the second coming of Ronald Reagan. But the real world is outside of Think Tanks. The following article describes how a group of property owners (developers in this case) rescinded their offer to DONATE land to the state of Texas when they were told that their planned freeway (the Grand Parkway, a large loop around Houston) would instead be a toll road. While the Think Tanks may be have been telling them that they would become rich, their own decision to now force the state to BUY their land shows the real price of toll roads. (the article that follows is a bit tough to follow, but it confirms what did happen)
http://mypeoplepc.com/members/chrisodonnell/unitedtosaveourspring/id11.html
(10) Toll Roads are inherently inefficient. They require their own complicated system for identifying and tracking vehicles, and sometimes drivers. This adds greatly to the cost of tolls. Whereas the gas tax is already in place, thus no extra charge to collect more money. For example, if $10 needs to be collected using tolling, then $15 in tolls must be collected, with the other $5 paying for the toll collection system. With the gas tax, if $10 is needed, simply increase the gas tax so that it collects another $10. Real easy.
(11) Toll Roads are unfair. You force people to pay HUGE amounts of money to drive on certain roads, while giving a free pass on other roads (and when you do the math, you realize that 20 cents per mile, for an average car, is like paying an EXTRA $4.00 per gallon for gas). Considering that the goal should be get people ON to limited access highways, rather than PUNISHING them for doing so, one can only conclude that toll roads, as they exist today, are totally counterproductive. In fact, to be really fair, the limited access roads should be free, and the surface streets should be tolled – that way you encourage people to stop clogging up local streets and traffic lights. But we are tolled where it is convenient, not where it makes sense.
(12) Big Brother. Look for yourself, not a word about protection of privacy when you travel the Harris County toll roads or use their transponders. On the other hand, they don’t mind collecting your phone number, driver’s license number, social security number, and either bank account or credit card number (so they can pull the money out automatically). What can they do with the information. Well if you use a transponder, it’s likely that some little guy at headquarters can pull-up the information real-time and figure out when you and your wife are both 20 miles away from home (i.e., your house is empty), and call up one of their “friends”. Just an example. It used to be that privacy protection mattered to Republicans and Libertarians, I guess not with toll roads. Go through this site and their transponder application, see if there’s anything about protecting your privacy.
http://www.hctra.com/
(13) CONCLUSION - Tolls are NOT needed. They are a very inefficient way to collect huge amounts of money from the WRONG people. The gas tax has worked fine, it simply has no way to index itself for inflation. In Texas at least (and probably other growing states), an increase in the gas tax is necessary to build the roads necessary to keep traffic moving. Unfortunately, this governor will not do that, instead he is mortgaging away the future of Texas to a private company with no interest other than making us all look like idiots (as they did in Canada).
(14) HISTORY OF PRIVATELT FINANCED TOLL ROADS IN NORTH AMERICA - North America has a checkered experience with private toll roads. The Dullas Greenway, in Northern Virginia, was built privately. The Orange County Toll Road system was built publicly, but used private-sector financing, with no assurance to investors that the government would back up their investments. Both quickly failed, with the promised explosion of development not happening soon enough, if at all. Why is this important? Because future investors see these results and DEMAND lower risks and higher profits. Cintra has learned from this and is able to make a killing in North America. The problem is that its being done on the backs of drivers – it is virtually a zero-sum game.
(15) CINTRA IS VERY SHREWED – Canada learned this lesson the hard way in January. They thought that they had some control over toll rates, but the courts read the contract, and it was clear that Cintra could charge whatever they wanted, and that will hold for the next 95 years!. Are the skills of Governor Perry and his staff up to this level? Probably not. Consider that they announced the agreement with Cintra before it was finalized. This has to be about the dumbest thing you can do. Now Perry has to accept whatever Cintra offers, or otherwise walk away and look like a total fool. On this particular corridor, the Texans are about to get screwed big-time, it’s unavoidable.
(16) INCENTIVES – Monopolies operate according to a different set of incentives than regular private business. Since they already have an assured market share, their goal is to maximize profits (which is fine until you read the next sentence). Consider this hypothetical situation with Cintra: Their toll road is widely successful and starting to get crowded, so they hold a board meeting and Mr. Cintra is given two options: Option 1 - add an extra lane, Option 2 – increase tolls dramatically. This is a real easy decision – just increase tolls. That way you don’t have to pay a dime for new construction, and you get rid of the congestion. The fact that you’re choking off commerce in the state doesn’t matter – after all you’re Cintra, and all that matters is the bottom line. On the other hand, state owned highways have to answer to the taxpayers – which is about the best check you can have on this unrestrained power.
The discouraging thing is that I don't think there is =any= way at all to stop this. The lying sack of it, Gov. Perry is mortgaging the future of Texas to a foreign company, and we have no say on the matter.
"Gov. Perry is mortgaging the future of Texas to a foreign company, and we have no say on the matter."
That's what bites. I remember talking with some people about the death penalty (many moons ago) and they asked me if I thought that the option of life without penalty of parole was a good idea.
I thought about it, and told them no, since today it may be "throw out the key" today, but tomorrow, a new legislature could come into power and decide that "throw out the key" really means 20 years. They agreed and were surprised to finally get the answer that they were looking for.
The reason that I brought this up is that one legislative session cannot bind a future legislative session.
Unfornately, one Governor CAN bind 23,000,000 Texans for at least the next 50 years - as this governor is about to do. The only good thing that I can say about this is that there will still be 48 other states we can move to, once Texas follows California, lock-step, in having the WORST governors of all time.
Absolutely true. Frankly, I'm a little suprised at all the cheerleading I see for this thing in this forum. I guess anything the government does is o.k. with some people as long as the those screwing us have an "(R)" by their name.
Thanks for the ping!
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