Posted on 05/05/2006 12:03:44 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Assistant City Manager Tim Young is well-versed on the Trans-Texas Corridor project that has been proposed to make four to six toll truck lanes and four to six toll passenger lanes from Laredo, Texas through San Antonio, Texas and up I-35 to Oklahoma.
“Dallas/Fort Worth doesn't want the truck traffic to go away as they are afraid of losing warehouse businesses to cities east and west of them,” Young said.
Oklahomans are pushing for the widening of U.S. 69/75 to bring truck traffic through Durant and up through Tulsa.
The Texas Department of Transportation has more information on the proposal and also has a place for on-line public comments. TXDOT's home-page can be found at www.dot.state.tx.us and the Trans-Texas Corridor is in red and blue as the first entry under “what's new.” Click on TTC-35 to get more information and click on “public comments” to enter your comment.
Greg Massey is on the Oklahoma Highway Authority who met with the Texas Department of Transportation and the contracting company in San Antonio to discuss the direction of the TTC this week.
Radack says taxpayers would be hit with $3 billion bill for 3 roads
By RAD SALLEE
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle
The Texas Department of Transportation wants Harris County to pay more than $1 billion for permission to build three planned toll roads, and continue paying an undetermined share of their revenue for 40 years.
Although the Harris County Toll Road Authority expected to pay TxDOT for right of way and its service in obtaining environmental clearance for the projects, some county officials were incensed at the proposed price.
In effect, Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack said, TxDOT is telling the county: "If you want to do these toll roads you've been proposing, you ought to send us a check ... for the privilege of trying to clean all the congestion off of our freeways."
The payment to TxDOT, plus construction expenses, "would cost the taxpayers over $3 billion and we'd still have to pay the state some of the tolls," Radack said.
County Infrastructure director Art Storey, who has been negotiating the issue with TxDOT, called the amount "surprising and outrageous." Storey said he will consult with Commissioners Court as soon as possible to decide how to respond.
County Judge Robert Eckels, who also chairs the regional Transportation Policy Council, could not be reached for comment Thursday.
The sum would apply to three tollways totaling more than 80 miles: 15 miles along U.S. 290 from Loop 610 to Huffmeister, 53 miles of the proposed Grand Parkway (Texas 99) from the Katy Freeway to the Eastex Freeway, and 14 miles of the Sam Houston Tollway, extending it from the Eastex Freeway to U.S. 90.
Besides the fee, TxDOT district engineer Gary Trietsch said in an April 24 letter to Storey that the projects would likely cost the county toll road authority $2.1 billion to build.
Trietsch said Thursday that his proposal of a $1.2 billion payment and a share of revenue represents a roughly 50-50 split of likely net profits from all the projects.
TxDOT is negotiating with Cintra-Zachry to build and operate a $6 billion toll road on Trans-Texas Corridor 35 in Central Texas.
"This is the sort of deal that foreign entities have been dangling before them, and they want us to compete with that," Storey said.
Cintra, the lead partner in the consortium, is headquartered in Spain.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
What a boondoggle this is. If they must build this
they should use an existing corridor such as I35 or US75.
Please put me on this ping list. Thanks.
BTTT
You're on.
B BTTT TTT
This is another in a long string of bad ideas coming out of Austin.
The original idea came from the UN hdqtrs in NYC.
NUFF' SAID!!!!
Where'd you hear that?
It is part of Agenda 21.
When I read the title I presumed they intended to make it a one way route North.
Just nonsense spread around by the tinfoil community.
Ignorance behooves some people, always has, always will.
Another plan with that "comprehensive" word in it.
This will get you started:
http://www.tgmag.ca/enviro/ag16to21_e.html
Spare me the tinfoil crap. Just because proposals intersect doesn't mean they serve the same goals.
There are 250,000 new residents EACH YEAR in the area this road will serve, and trade is increasing, too. That is why this road will be built, not because of some goofy UN ideas or because we want to hide Mexicans under your bed.
She's not a witch just because she floats.
Yeah, it's just one BIG COINCIDENCE.
Or didn't the traffic on your freeways go down by 50 % on "a day without illegals" like the ones in California did.
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