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 ...
From CorridorWatch.org:
HOUSE BILL 3363 FILED FRIDAY, MARCH 11, 2005.
It took CorridorWatch.org a full day to catch-up, but today we discovered our prayers were answered when House Bill 3363 was filed yesterday.
BILL WOULD PLACE A 2-YEAR MORATORIUM ON TxDOT TOLLS AND THE TTC.
On Friday, Representative Garnet Coleman (Houston) filed the most significant bill relating to toll conversion and the Trans-Texas Corridor.
The one-page bill goes directly to the point.
First, it requires TxDOT to report obligated funds and discretionary funds available in each district. Every elected city, county and state official would be copied on the report each year.
Second, it places a two-year moratorium on TxDOT imposing a toll on any portion of a state highway or roadway that did not have a toll in effect on or before the effective date of the Act.
Third, it places a two-year moratorium on implementation of the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Fourth, it establishes a 15-member committee to perform a comprehensive study of the Trans-Texas Corridor and the use of tolls, bonds, and other revenue sources for the inancing of state highway and roadway construction and maintenance. The committee will hold meetings and public
hearings and make a complete report, including findings and
recommendations and drafts of any legislation considered necessary, available to the public not later than October 1, 2006.
THIS IS IT! THIS IS THE LEGISLATION TEXAS NEEDS TO ALLOW CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND INPUT BEFORE WIDESPREAD AND FAR-REACHING TOLL PROJECTS AND THE TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR ARE IRREVERSABLE.
NO MATTER WHAT CALLS AND/OR LETTERS YOU SENT BEFORE TODAY – YOU NEED TO MAKE MORE CALLS AND SEND MORE LETTERS PERSONALLY ASKING YOUR REPRESENTATIVE, YOUR SENATOR, SPEAKER CRADDOCK AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR DEWHURST
TO SUPPORT HOUSE BILL 3363. ASK THAT THEY ADD THEIR NAME TO THE BILL.
THIS BILL MUST HAVE BROAD BI-PARTISAN SUPPORT TO PASS AND SURVIVE THE PROMISED VETO BY THE GOVERNOR.
Everyone should support this bill. It does not kill either tolls or the Trans-Texas Corridor. It does provide an opportunity for serious consideration and reconsideration. It slows the process down from todays headlong rush. It will allow meaningful public input. It will ensure that
our legislature is fully informed about toll and corridor issues before they are implemented. It is both a rational and reasonable action.
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. PLEASE ACT THIS WEEK.
PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO EVERYONE IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK, EVERYONE IN YOUR CLUB, ASSOCIATION, CHURCH, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD - SUPPORT HB-3363!
Don't know who your representatives are?
Check Here: http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/fyi/fyi.htm
MAILING ADDRESSES:
The Honorable (your Senator’s name)
Texas Senate
PO Box 12068
Austin, TX 78711-2068
The Honorable (your Representative’s name)
Texas House of Representatives
PO Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
The Honorable David Dewhurst
Lt. Governor’s Office
PO Box 12068
Austin, Texas 78711-2068
The Honorable Tom Craddick
Texas House of Representatives
PO Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
The Honorable Garnet Coleman
Texas House of Representatives
PO Box 2910
Austin, TX 78768-2910
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST AND SUPPORT.
BTT!!!!!!
85 sounds great to me. Drove on Autobahn in Germ. over 100mph and if the car is built for that speed it feels like 55 or 60. No problem. And now that we have a Porsche Carerra, it is HARD to go less than 100. You step on the gas and it FLIES.
Thanks for the ping!
Hey, if they actually build this thing, I'd like to have at least one run on it. If the speed limit's 85, that means I'll be doing 90, 95. It'll be sweet!
Check out Reply #41 (Corridor Watch announcement).
gracias, senor.
i'll write some letters.
this is an important issue, and i don't understand why it's not on the front page.
Thanks Ken - I was out of town, enjoying the last days of a functional Texas freeway system.
Lighten up, BobL. No one is getting shafted. This transport system is going to do for Texas what the Interstate System did for America as a whole -- give us a tremendous business and logistical advantage over other states.
People whined and moaned about Ike when he proposed the Interstate System, too. Those people were wrong then and their modern-day equivalents are wrong now.
I can't wait to buy the bonds.
Sorry for being a bit short-tempered, but I just got back from driving 500 miles on Texas freeways today.
Total Cost: $75 ($40 for gas, $35 for maintenance, depreciation is not a factor for my cars). Of the $40 for gas, $10 was for gas tax (about $5 to state, $5 to feds).
What ticks me off is that our lovely governor is going to add at least $100 to my drive, so a bunch of European investors can build new condos on the French Riviera. [[yea, yea, I know, these Cintra toll roads will have NO EFFECT on our freeways - yea right - then why the secret contract?? - obviously, there is something to hide]]
I couldn't have said it better myself. "Creep" indeed.
Thanks for the ping!
BTTT!!!!!!
I bet he walks away from defeated guv seat with more money in his pocket than Bill and Hill did after 8 yrs in the white house. What, maybe 20 or 30 million???
I agree. Check this out -
Perrys Road Lobby contributions-
http://www.tpj.org/Lobby_Watch/perryroads.html
More- check out the politicians
http://www.austintollparty.com
And http://www.corridorwatch.com
And http://www.firericwilliamson.com
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