Posted on 03/12/2005 3:19:31 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Cintra-Zachry consortium plans system near 1-35
State leaders sealed a $7.2 billion partnership with an international consortium Friday to build the first portions of Gov. Rick Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor road network.
The agreement signed by Cintra-Zachry officials and the Texas Department of Transportation commits the state to pay the consortium $3.5 million to develop a plan to design, finance and build the corridor. The corridor will roughly parallel Interstate 35 from the Red River to the Rio Grande.
A plan is expected to be complete in about a year. It will outline $6 billion in short-term projects that Cintra-Zachry has pledged to pay for and open between 2010 and 2014, including a toll road from North Texas to San Antonio. It also will lay out the vision for longer-term projects, including highway connections to the Mexico border and new passenger and freight rail lines, which could be built after 2025.
"In Texas, we're not waiting on others to lead or innovate, and we're not going to accept a future marred by gridlock and growing pollution problems," Mr. Perry said.
He called the agreement a "significant step towards a better, more reliable transportation system." He added that roads can be built cheaper and faster under the plan, and that the infusion of $7.2 billion into the Texas economy could result in 140,000 jobs.
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
This is the highway for the New World Order.
If it lets me drive at 100mph legally, sure, why not? I don't live in texas, but I'd check it out. =]
CorridorWatch.org Member NEWS (03.12.05)
CorridorWatch.org WELCOMES MEMBERS FROM 143 TEXAS COUNTIES!
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NEWS FLASH
AUSTIN - MARCH 11, 2005
Without advance public notice, and announced late on the last day for legislative bills to be filed without the Governor's approval, TxDOT Officials joined by Governor Perry and Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters signed a 342-page agreement with Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA (Madrid, Spain) to create a master plan to finance and build the TTC-35 Trans Texas Corridor generally parallel to IH-35 from the Valley to the Red River.
Despite growing concerns over the TTC project, Governor Perry and state officials are charging ahead as quickly as possible to build the first 600-mile segment of the 4,000-mile Trans Texas Corridor.
Portions of this agreement are being kept secret under the guise that they contain proprietary business information. CorridorWatch.org believes in open and transparent government. CorridorWatch.org believes that this is public business, public infrastructure, and that the public interest and the public's right to know what obligations its government is creating is more important than any purported public benefit derived from protecting proprietary business information. Government conducted in the shadows is never good government.
Thousands upon thousands of Texans don't share the Governor's TTC vision. These Texans are extremely concerned about the state creating a transportation, communication, utility and economic development monopoly. They are concerned about a project that will consume 584,000 acres of land impacting land owners, farms, ranches, wildlife, the environment, communities, taxpayers, water rights, local economies, and more. A plan driven almost exclusively by its ability to generate revenue at the expense of open government, private property rights, taxpayers, travelers, private enterprise and thousands of Texas communities. With complete disregard for public will and the citizens of Texas, our government is marching forward. A member of the House Transportation Committee even suggested to TxDOT that a public relations firm like Disney should be hired (with public funds) to "sell" the TTC concept to the public!
CorridorWatch.org believes that it is dangerous public policy for the government to attempt to drive public opinion to support its own initiatives. We believe that is the kind of propaganda that undermines a democracy.
The impact of the Trans Texas Corridor will be enormous and span generations. As more information becomes widely available legislators are joining citizens in becoming increasingly concerned about the TTC. Several bills have been filed during this session in an attempt to limit, control, and address concerns about the TTC. These include House Bill 1273, House Bill 1794, and Senate Bill 352. Hopefully our legislature will listen to the people of Texas and can survive the strong-arm tactics and pressure coming from the Governor.
CALL TO ACTION!
VERY IMPORTANT: Contact your State Representative and ask them to call Rep. Lois Kolkhorst. Ask them to request to be added as a sponsor of House Bill 1273 limiting the Trans Texas Corridor. Ask them to support House Bills 1273 and 1794.
Contact you State Senator and ask them to support Senate Bill 352 to protect our water rights.
NOW IS THE TIME TO ACT.
Thank you for the time, interest and efforts.
David & Linda Stall
CorridorWatch.org
OK, so they are going to build corridors with high speed trains... that go NOWHERE NEAR the major cities of Texas?
Y'all are fergittin how things are done in Texas. All the guv's buddies have already snatched up the land fronting the corridor.
I don't see how this is even legal. It's so unAmerican. I'd raise cain over this issue alone.
isn't that how it is done in all the states???????....seems like power corrupts all around it even in the best of people....
You're right of course and Texas would get more exposure if we didn't have a funny way of dealing with it; effectively the DA of Travis County (where the state capital is located) is the watchdog and while he's a dog he doesn't do much watching unless he really wants to.
Where in NorCal? Long time Sonoma county resident until the commies ran me back home.
Let the lawsuits begin. Perry is opening the doors for a massive switch in Texas politics. Ten years and the democrats will control everything in the staste once again.
"Perry...Just Another Dumbass Republican."
Don't forget that he was a dumbocrat before he was a dumbass. He could see the writing on the wall but had none of the class or conservative background of say a Phil Gram.
IOW he's just another opportunistic creep sucking at the public tit, his party affiliation is indeed RINO.
Trans-Texas Corridor constructors to sign contract with TxDOT
March 11, 2005
Plans for the $7.2 billion, 600-mile turnpike from Oklahoma to Mexico is closer to becoming a reality.
The Texas Department of Transportation and a private consortium led by Spanish toll road operator Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corp. signed a contract Friday, jumpstarting the construction process.
The Cintra-Zachry proposal -- which the Texas Transportation Commission authorized in December -- includes a private investment of $6 billion to fully design, construct and operate a four-lane, 316-mile toll road between Dallas and San Antonio as the initial segment of the Trans-Texas Corridor.
That proposal also included a payment to the state of $1.2 billion for Cintra and Zachry to operate the initial segment as a toll road, which the state may use to fund road improvements or high-speed and commuter rail projects along the I-35 corridor.
Construction on the first segment of phase one could begin as soon as 2007, with construction on the other four segments likely beginning in 2009 and 2010. Completion of the entire project is expected by 2014.
"Texas is a national example for all states and a leader in unleashing the resources, innovation and efficiency of the private sector to bring transportation improvements to the public faster and at less cost to American taxpayers," says Mary Peters, federal highway administrator.
The project will bring billions of investment dollars to Texas and create thousands of new jobs, Cintra and Zachry claim, adding that the majority of the workers on the companies' project would be Texan.
The Cintra-Zachry proposal also offers to finance and begin development of a freight rail before 2007.
And the plan proposes to implement a system of truck and auto lanes coupled with freight and passenger rail between the corridor's major metropolitan centers before the project is completed.
The entire Trans-Texas Corridor is an alternative to the I-35 north-south route comprised of 4,000 miles of four-lane toll roads.
© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.
Trans-Texas Corridor & Cesar Chavez Projects Move Forward
A major step has been taken toward turning Cesar Chavez Street downtown into a two-way thoroughfare for its entire 2-1/4 miles.
On Friday, Congressman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, announced that $3 million in federal transportation funds have been allocated for the project. That's part of a total $15 million that will be coming in for transportation projects in Austin and along the IH-35 corridor.
"There will be pedestrian improvements as we fix Cesar Chavez to make it truly work as a corridor between 183, IH35 and MoPac," said Austin mayor Will Wynn.
Other money will go for new bicycle routes in Austin and upgrades for State Highway 71 and U.S. 290. Funds are are also available to complete the southern portion for State Highway 130.
Meanwhile, plans to build the Trans-Texas corridor will soon be in the works.
State transportation leaders signed a development agreement with the Spanish-based Cintra consortium on Friday.
The agreement calls for building a toll highway alternative to I-35 between San Antonio and Oklahoma by the end of the decade.
Under the agreement, Cintra will pay for the $6 billion project and recoup its costs through tolls. The agreement does not authorize construction or specify a route for the highway, and it does not set the toll rate.
Dumbest stupidest sht I've heard of a state doing in a long time. Most galling part is to hire a FOREIGN DAMN COMPANY to do this? This is madness. Who's palms have been greased? Where is Texas pride? Where is American pride?
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
KXAN-TV story was done on 03/11/05.
Thanks for the links to the nitty-gritty details.
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