Posted on 04/24/2005 1:36:07 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The latest, proposed route of the I-69 "NAFTA Highway" is slightly different from previous expectations, with a major segment skipping Fort Bend County.
The NAFTA Highway is a proposal to link Mexico, the U.S. and Canada through a major highway starting at Laredo and Matamoros and running through Port Huron, Mich. The highway proposal also includes a separate route connecting the main corridor to the Houston Ship Channel, and that will likely run through Fort Bend County.
For years, local officials have speculated the main corridor of the highway would run through Fort Bend County in place of U.S. 59. Instead, the main corridor of I-69, as a portion of the proposed Trans Texas Corridor, will possibly divert from the U.S. 59 corridor before reaching Fort Bend County, and it will probably run in an arc taking it through Austin and Waller Counties, before connecting again with U.S. 59 well after Fort Bend County.
The Trans Texas Corridor is a proposal to construct multi-lane "corridors" in Texas that would likely include truck lanes, car lanes, rail lines and utility lines running side-by-side through rural portions of the state. The proposed corridors might run 1,200 feet wide, or the span of four football fields, but their routes have not been finalized.
County Judge Bob Hebert said two difficulties have arisen that could lead to the Trans Texas Corridor and I-69 running around Fort Bend County.
Hebert said a discussion with a Texas Department of Transportation revealed the department has considered moving both projects to avoid Houston.
"Part of the driving motivation behind the road is Gov. Perry wants to use very wide corridors where truck and traffic lanes intermingle," he said. "When you start getting that much right-of-way, there's just no way to bring anything like that though Houston in a cost-effective manner."
Also, said Hebert, the TxDOT official told him the curve around Fort Bend County and Houston would allow TxDOT to avoid a national forest located near Lufkin and Nacogdoches.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Andy Meyers said he has heard the same information.
"I hope they can come fairly close to us," he said. "I would like to have access to them, but 1,000 feet of width is tough."
Hebert said he does not want the Trans Texas Corridor to run through Fort Bend County.
"If it takes a big right-of-way, I think the project could be more disruptive to our economy than productive," he said.
Both Hebert and Precinct 1 Commissioner Tom Stavinoha stress the current widening of U.S. 59 as a means to improve mobility in the county.
Stavinoha said he prefers the I-69 main corridor skipping Fort Bend County, due to the high number of trucks expected for the route.
Gabriela Garcia, a TxDOT spokeswoman, stresses the project remains in preliminary stages, but she said the project may be looped around Houston, and therefore, Fort Bend County.
"That doesn't mean there wouldn't be connections and corridors through the Houston area," she said.
Garcia said engineering, design and other studies remain before a final corridor plan is finalized.
Robert Black, a spokesman for Perry, confirmed no route has been finalized for the Trans Texas Corridor.
He said the first possible route on the Trans Texas Corridor will be one following I-35, but planning for a route in the Fort Bend County area will happen over a lengthy period of time.
"It's important for Fort Bend County to remember that the Trans Texas Corridor for that area of the state is not imminent, because it will not be built until it is needed," he said.
The Trans Texas Corridor has been proposed by Perry as an entirely privately-funded venture, with a Spanish company building the roads and charging tolls. Critics have charged the corridor could result in a massive land-grab of ranches and other rural property by private interests.
Black said Perry's office had been working with Texas Farm Bureau to pass legislation allowing land owners the rights to profits from the corridor.
Whatever the case, Hebert stresses TxDOT needs to hear from constituents before finalizing any plans.
"There should be a hell of a lot more public input before they make any decisions," he said.
.
I can only imagine how many of those signs will be stolen.
it's actually a massive $ grab by perry and his cronies, and cintra.
Ranching dinner addresses beef issues
...
The Trans-Texas Corridor is another issue that may effect ranchers. Brockman said several agricultural groups are working on 14 amendments to the program that would make it more acceptable to landowners.
“They shouldn’t be condemning your land — our land to build service stations,” he said.
Brockman went on to say that companies should negotiate with the landowners.
There is also the use it or lose it amendment, in which if the state does not use land condemned along the corridor within five years, the former owner or heir can buy it back for the price the state paid.
Brockman said it is also being proposed that instead of giving landowners one lump sum for their property, they could get a percentage of income from toll roads or whatever the land is used for. That way they receive a steady stream of income, he said.
...
Is that sorta like wondering why Je$$e Jaxson's kin bought farm property way out in nowheresville, and now the state of ILLINOIS is gonna build an airport there?
The Paris News Story was published on April 21, 2005.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
either way, april 21 or april 24, perry's toll roads still suck.
the austin toll party, i think it was thursday night, gave a huge party and awarded carole keeton strayhorn an award.
she had bad things to say about govenor perry.
In the immortal words of Bill and Ted:
"SIXTY-NINE, DUDE!"
Not much to say, except that now toll road money will be used to pay off cities and counties:
http://www.borderlandnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050419/NEWS/504190324/1001
So for all you people out there that think tolls are "targeted user fees" to improve transportation - you've been shafted. Tolls are now, in part, general revenue. In other words, THEY ARE A NEW TAX.
Suckers.
(thanks Ken)
Thanks for the ping!
BTTT!!!!!!
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