Posted on 09/18/2005 12:00:47 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Supporters say the Trans-Texas Corridor will relieve congestion on I-35 and spur new business. But the people who live along its path say the highway will devastate their communities.
“I like the serenity and the peacefulness of it," says Chris Hammel. He bought his slice of heaven 15 years ago in the form of a rolling farm outside Holland. It's a place where man and nature co-exist beautifully. "Love to work with the cattle. We have a big lake. I love to fish… It's a lovely place to be."
Holland is a town where "skyline" takes on a different meaning and a place where neighbors fear one highway could take it all away.
Hammel says, "The road is simply the wrong road being built for the wrong purpose at the wrong time, in the wrong place."
The Trans-Texas Corridor could run right past Holland. At first, it started out as a futuristic prototype, more ‘Buck Rogers’ than reality. But today, a private builder is in place, maps have been drawn and the project is rolling along.
So Hammel formed a group called the Blacklands Coalition to fight the corridor: "It's a highway from nowhere, going nowhere."
Opponents say the corridor will not bring new businesses –"This highway that's being built is not a conventional highway. It'll have no frontage roads. It'll have no access."
McLennan County Commissioner Wendall Crunk says, "This is not an interstate highway. This is a limited-access toll road."
Hammel says, "So that means anybody who has land that it passes by will receive no economic benefit."
Beyond the human toll though, there is also the effect on the land. Much of the land is environmentally sensitive and a lot of it is prime farmland.
"I don't think there was any serious consideration of the overall environmental and pollution impact,” says Bruce Allen with The Waco Sierra Club, which says the TTC could be an environmental disaster. "In order to build a road bed on that kind of soil, you're going to have to bring in a lot of rocks, and that means a lot of rock crushers, a lot of cement kilns, a lot of pollution from that."
Hammel isn't just thinking of himself. His son has autism and he has plans for this place: "We had plans and hopes that we might be able to create a community for disabled children here. That's been put on hold until we understand what happens with this road."
For now, a lot of plans are on hold while politicians debate the future of Hammel’s little slice of heaven.
There's still plenty of time to voice your concerns over the Trans-Texas Corridor. By January of 2006, TxDOT will select a ten mile-wide path for the corridor. Then a new series of public hearings begins. In late 2006 or early 2007, the federal government will decide on approval for that ten mile-wide path. After that will be up to three years of additional studies and public hearings.
Construction wouldn't begin until summer of 2009, at the earliest.
STORY BY JOHN CRAVEN
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
OK, I respect those who love the wide open spaces of Texas. I grew up there. I've traveled up and down I-35 more times than I want to think about. I once figured, and this was thirty years ago, that I could have gone to the moon and back. The 15 acreas he owns will either not be affected or will soar in value and he can go buy his 15 acreas somewhere else.
BTTT!!!!!!
Thanks for the ping!
The noise pollution and the resulting loss of value will go out over a mile away from the highway. There will be no land that will increase in value, because there are few accesses, and because it's a toll road, no one will leave the highway because it will cost them money to do so.
These highways basically duplicate the existing interstate freeway system, and will provide incentive for the state to cease maintaining them so as to push traffic onto the toll lanes where they collect taxes on the profits.
Toll roads are an economic loss. They inhibit travel vs. similar freeways. They do not give incentive for roadside business. They're a temptation for local political corruption, which is why I think this particular road system is being promoted.
The libertarians support this stuff because it fits their ideology. However I believe that in the overall economic picture, free roadways provide an economic catalyst that toll roads just do not. Free roads are one of the few "big government" programs I support.
You're welcome. :-)
I have a feeling that toll highways, as well as the tolling of existing freeways, is going to be inevitable. The reason is that the cost of road-building is going up. The prices of steel and concrete have soared, and if you look to asphalt as an alternative to concrete for pavement, that contains petroleum products, so that's going up, too. And given that we undoubtedly have rising demand for materials from developing countries, these prices could stay up.
Gasoline taxes will only go so far, and if you proposed raising them with gas prices at 3 dollars/gallon, you would hear a very loud scream from the public. Therefore, governments might decide to toll the freeways and use the existing gas taxes for surface roads. Given the soaring costs of road-building and maintenance, they might even have to raise the gas tax just for surface roads in addition to tolling the limited-access highways.
Bend over, here it comes...
It may happen, but price is merely the excuse, not the reason.
We're going to pay for the road, one way or another. The problem is that toll roads do little, if anything, for the local economy, thus they are "more expensive", because they don't have any benefit.
Toll roads allow remote metro areas to be connected, without any "sprawl" along the route. There's a great satellite pix of the entire earth at night, showing the metro areas worldwide, and the ribbons of light connecting them together like strings of pearls.
I've flown enough at night to know that the light is not from car headlights, it's from the booming cities along the highways. Toll roads discourage growth in those cities.
I've got some good anecdotal evidence, but I've never seen any real data.
Drive I44 where it crosses from toll to free at the Oklahoma, Missouri border and you'll see it.
Drive up I35 north of Oklahoma city and note the business, then turn onto I44 at the Turner turnpike and see the business go away totally for a hundred miles. That toll road has been there for around 50 years, with almost zero economic impact.
There's a new toll road south from the 91 freeway just west of Corona California. It's empty.
I drove the toll road north out of downtown Dallas many times 20 years ago. Zero economic development around it. It was the same on the toll road between Dallas and Ft. Worth, until they closed the toll booths and opened it free sometime in the early 80's. THEN it began to flourish.
We're going to pay for the roads somehow. We may as well encourage economic development along with them and get a little tax money to help pay the load.
Virtually all roads in early America, and most bridges were toll. The old timers in government a hundred years ago bought them and made them free. There was a reason. The old timers weren't stupid.
I take it you're thinking "cash cow" here?
Of course, if I were in charge, I'd try and make just enough money off of the tolls to maintain and, when necessary, improve the road. I'd also allow the open-road tolling option, which let's people zip through the toll plaza. I'd also allow a cash option for those who don't want to be "tracked" by transponder. But that's just me.
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