Posted on 09/15/2005 11:04:01 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
TOURS – Trans-Texas Corridor critics denounced the state's handling of the project on Tuesday and called on McLennan County residents to organize against the proposed transportation network.
In a meeting at Tours Hall in eastern McLennan County, speakers urged the roughly 200 attendants to slow down or stop the Texas Department of Transportation's plan to build a network of tolled highways, railways and utility infrastructure from San Antonio to Dallas.
“We have to raise the political cost, and how you raise political cost is you organize,” said Chris Hammel, chairman of the Bell County anti-corridor group Blacklands Coalition.
The McLennan County group DERAIL, which opposes the corridor, scheduled Tuesday's meeting to update people on the corridor project, said Rick Wegwerth, a group organizer.
Hammel said next year's gubernatorial primary and general elections will be the “beachhead at which we as people who are opposed to this can send a very clear signal to both parties that are in office that there's something wrong going on in Texas.”
Gov. Rick Perry proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor in 2002 as a way to handle current and future trade traffic and population growth by providing an alternative to the state's interstate system.
The transportation department later identified a corridor running parallel to Interstate 35, with a likely path through McLennan County, as its top priority for construction and targeted 2010 to break ground.
The department is now working through an environmental study of potential routes for the corridor. Transportation officials have said that they hope to have a 50-mile-wide study area narrowed to 10 miles by December.
The state's decision to bring private investment into the project also came under attack Tuesday. In March, the transportation department signed an agreement with developers Cintra Zachry for the developers to spend $6 billion to build the corridor in exchange for a lease to operate it as a tollway for 50 years.
Transportation officials have said that the private investment enables the state to conduct much-needed infrastructure projects that it could not otherwise afford. But critics argued that such arrangements distract the focus from citizens' opinions on the project.
“Yeah, they're going to build this road, and it leads to three cities: one's called political patronage, the other's called corruption, and the other's called graft,” Hammel said.
Also at Tuesday's meeting, Austin lawyer Erik Cardinell, a specialist in eminent domain law, walked attendants through the condemnation process. He encouraged landowners who find themselves in the corridor's path to seek legal advice before accepting the state's appraisal of their land value.
“It's a very intricate, involved and complex area of the law, and landowners can be taken advantage of if they don't seek help,” Cardinell said.
He said condemnation attorneys do not charge by the hour, but are paid a percentage of however much their work increases the land's appraised value.
Jimmy Jaska, who lives between Leroy and Elm Mott, said he had only heard small bits of information about the corridor before Tuesday's meeting. He said the rising price of fuel may cut down on traffic to the point that the corridor is not warranted.
“My thing is, they started expanding I-35 and I think they need to finish that,” he said. “If (the corridor) is still needed then, then they could look at it.”
mjoyce@wacotrib.com
757-5735
Anti-corridor rally slated on Tuesday
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst is expected to attend a meeting of opponents of the proposed I-69 TransTexas Corridor plan at the Grimes County courthouse in Anderson on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at 7 p.m.
Other state legislators have been invited and may also attend. Also present will be Linda Stall, co-founder of CorridorWatch, an organization opposing the proposed massive transportation corridors. Citizens can join CorridorWatch at no cost going to the web site, www.CorridorWatch.org. After joining, members will be kept informed via email about new developments.
The I-69 portion of the TransTexas Corridor is planned to go from the Texas-Mexico border north, exiting the state at its border with Arkansas, and continuing through other states to Canada in the vicinity of Lake Erie.
According to a readership poll being conducted by The Navasota Examiner, 69.7 percent of respondents don't want the highway. Only 19.7 percent approve while 10.6 percent don't care.
The right-of-way planned by the Texas Department of Transportation is projected to be nearly one-quarter mile wide.
Should the highway be built, it would be a multi-lane passenger vehicle highway, two lanes for trucks, rail lines to carry high speed passenger trains, commuter trains and freight trains, pipelines, communication transmission lines and utilities.
With each mile of right-of-way, 145 acres of land would be taken through eminent domain. Opponents say the county cannot afford to lose the 5,000-plus acres from the tax rolls or from economic productivity.
In addition to the tax ramifications, opponents believe the proposed corridor would merely provide a pass-through for goods from Mexico and countries in Central America, effectively making Grimes County "pass-through territory," along with many other counties along the proposed route.
Some have raised the issue of the negative impact it would have on school districts and providers of emergency services, as the proposed corridor with very access would make traversing the county more difficult. People also expressed concern that it will be a toll road and, as currently proposed, operated by a foreign company.
Interested persons are encouraged to attend the rally, to be held rain or shine. Participants are welcome to make and bring appropriate signs.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
Thanks for the ping!
4,000 square miles and 200 billion dollars of pure boondoggle.
Perry should be turned out of office for this BS.
Lemme get this straight......Strayhorn is against it, correct?
This is gonna undo any chance for Perry.
I'm certainly against it.
BTTT!!!!!!
What appeared interesting to me agout the TTC was that it would deliberately bypass the big cities. When traveling on the interstates, the cities always represent a bottleneck and high risk of accidents. Also there seems to be a rule that the cities part of the interstate system is Always under construction.
The TTC is an imaginative solution, and as a toll road it is pay as you go. I don't know about the complaints, stacked up as they are it seems there is not single good reason to argue against the program, only a lot of arm waving.
Will the County will be able to tax the land owned by the toll-road company. or would the state give it immunity?
You're welcome. :-)
I believe Strayhorn is critical of the TTC.
Good question. I suspect a toll road could afford to be a good neighbor. I have not seen the financials. All they would have to do is compensate for the tax receivable from farm and pasture land. Not too difficult I suspect. Plus fuel and restaurant stops would be tax sources that exceed the current tax sources.
My assumption here is that the road designers would not deliberately select a route that put factories and residences in its path. Don't know the small details of the route either.
How much of that $200 billion dollars will be tax dollars, and how much private investment?
It sure would be nice if they would finish I-35 first. It is so dangerous that we avoid it if at all possible. My son and his family had a major accident along the construction through New Braunfels a couple of years ago. Texas used to be known for its great highways. Now everything is torn up and a mess.
I met her at the "Tunes Not Tolls" rally & convert this Spring. Strayhorn spoke on it then and since then, and is DEFINITELY out there stomping on the TTC. STRAYHORN has my vote.
Arguments against to TTC:
All vending (gas, food, hotels) will be controlled by the investment company. Kiss the small towns goodbye.
I am not at all sure that there would be any tax money coming in. I think that has been abated.
Limited access (very limited) means that for many of us, getting home will be a longer trip.
Routing traffic around Houston will produce less tax revenue for Houston from truckers and other travelers.
A trip from Houston to San Antonio (200 miles) will prbably cost 45 to 60 dollars. A bit too much.
Since governors of Texas do not normally serve a second term, it appears that Perry will probably join the investment company as a consultant for extreme dollars.
4,000 square miles is way too much land for a road. It will impact beef and other production.
Show me a rail line, other than in the Boston to DC corridor that is making money. There aren't any. See Amtrak.
Maglev rail line? Just who is going to ride it? It will be empty.
And they will in fact bulldoze anything in their way, including factories, resorts, hills, lakes and rivers.
The investment company will be able to stop any projects that would negatively impact their revenues. Such as maintaining I-10 from Houston to San Antonio.
This is a wholesale annexation of 4,000 square miles of Texas by the state "for the common good". Very Hillary.
Thank you for the analysis. It would seem to be a very "non-Texas" style project. I would side with those who are against it if it turns out like this.
As a long distance traveler, I would use the corridor as outlined, (even at $60) if it made my trip safer. Presently Houston is not a pleasure to drive, and is one of the most serious safety hazards in the country.
On the other hand, Texas has many miles of wonderful highways and most of the time one can avoid the interstates.
You are correct about this being a Non-Texan style project. Particularly the part about the investors being French. I believe many of them are the ones who built the Chunnel and I suspect it will be the same type of loser.
If they would expand I10 and I35 it would be better and would serve to protect the communities through which it passes.
This is a non-Texan project dedicated to making Frenchmen rich at the expense of Texans and I am absolutely opposed to it.
On the bright side, my contacts in TxDot tell me that when Governor Perry is turned out of office (likely) this project will die.
One of the offshoots of this project is that the legislature has made it possible to declare any road in the state to be a toll road and people are up in arms about it.
Perry is toast, and will retire to a many millions of dollars per year job with the investment company.
For those of us who live in rural areas, this project is truly catastrophic.
Texans drive more than most as our state so big. I10 from Louisiana to the west Texas border is 897 miles.
By the way, Texas is now giving seminars to show legislators in other states how to turn old roads into toll roads, so it would be in your interest to keep track of any developments. Many states are extremely enthusiastic about this new method of taxing the proles.
Thank you, I will drive to the Rio Grande Valley this Fall and think evil thoughts when I see the I69 corridor signs.
I have lived in Texas (Austin) for four years, and consider my family to at least be "Winter Texans" (Even thoug my home base is in Alabama, War Eagle)
I heard that it was 880 miles in Texas. Did I miss something?
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