Posted on 07/19/2006 12:42:54 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
News Release from TxDOT:
TTC-35 will be 10 miles wide.
Response: No. If federally approved, the study area would be 10 miles wide. Then, additional studies would be conducted within the 10-mile wide study area to identify a final route. If roads, rail and a utility corridor are located adjacent to each other, TTC-35 would be no more than 1,200 feet wide. Also, where existing roads and railways can be incorporated, the amount of right of way needed would be less.
TxDOT already knows the location of the project and will direct Cintra Zachry where to build it.
Response: No. The location of TTC-35 is not yet known. Like all transportation projects, TTC-35 must go through a federally-required environmental study to identify a route. Property cannot be purchased and construction cannot begin unless TTC-35 has been environmentally approved by the Federal Highway Administration.
By taking thousands of acres off the tax rolls, the corridor will remove thousands of dollars and cripple local governments' ability to provide services.
Response: No. Businesses generate more in tax revenue for local communities and school districts than undeveloped. As with any transportation project, business development will occur near the corridor bringing increased tax revenue for local services.
TTC-35 will make it impossible for small communities to exist due to access issues.
Response: No. According to state law, there must be a direct connection to the TTC with interstate, state, and US highways. Connections to farm-to-market, county and local roads will also be considered as design plans are developed.
TTC-35 will wipe out entire towns and communities.
Response: No. TTC-35 will go around populated areas. In fact, the potential impact to communities is one of the environmental factors considered in the study. In addition, to encourage economic development along TTC-35, there will be connections from TTC-35 to communities along the corridor.
Counties will have to pay to build crossings over the corridor and residents will have to pay to cross.
Response: No. Interchanges and overpasses will be constructed as part of the TTC-35. Counties will not have to pay for these connections nor will motorists be charged to cross TTC-35.
All land will be acquired under eminent domain at pennies on the dollar.
Response: No. Any land needed will be purchased and property owners will be paid fair market value. There will be an independent appraisal, an offer, and opportunity for negotiation. If the property owner is still not satisfied with the TxDOT offer, he has the same due process rights of a jury trial through the judicial system.
TxDOT has the authority to condemn property for private use and operate commercial facilities associated with the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Response: No. TxDOT can only acquire property for transportation purposes. If customer service facilities are needed, such as gas stations or convenient stores, TxDOT may acquire the land but the private sector will provide those services. In other words, any competition will be among private businesses and the landowner retains development rights. According to state law, Cintra Zachry, nor any other developer of TTC projects, will be allowed to operate these facilities.
TxDOT will transfer its eminent domain authority to a private entity hired to develop the corridor.
Response: No. TxDOT cannot delegate the power of eminent domain to a private or third party. A developer for the TTC will not be condemning land.
All land will be owned by the Spanish government.
Response: No. TTC-35 is a state-owned project and any land purchased or transportation improvements built will be done in the name of the state. All property acquired will be the property of the State of Texas. Should Cintra Zachry or another private group develop any portion of TTC-35, their role will be to finance, design, build, maintain, operate and collect a portion of tolls for a period of time.
TTC-35 will open up the borders to Mexico and allow unlimited access for Mexican immigrants.
Response: No. International crossings will not be built as part of the TTC-35 but will connect to existing border crossings. These international crossings are subject to state and federal laws.
Tolls on TTC will be set at whatever Cintra Zachry wants.
Response: No. TxDOT will establish toll rate methodology for how toll rates will be set. Tolls will be set at a price that the market will bear. If it is too expensive, motorists will not use the road.
Traffic is not bad and can be handled by upgrading existing facilities.
Response: No. Planned improvements to I-35 will continue but are not expected to substantially reduce the congestion levels that are predicted for 2025 and beyond. Some studies indicate that I-35 would need to be expanded to 16 lanes in metro areas and 12 lanes through Central Texas.
The Cintra Zachry contract is a big secret and no details have been made available to the public.
Response: No. The contract is a public document and is available online at www.keeptexasmoving.org. Just as no business owner wants to share his financial investments with his competitors, potential TTC developers do not want to share theirs. Texas needs an even playing field among competitors so that it can attract private sector capital to build needed transportation improvements. For these reasons, proprietary information on Cintra Zachry should not be released.
TTC will pave over cemeteries and destroy historic properties.
Response: TxDOT's goal is to avoid cemeteries and historic properties. TxDOT works with local, state and federal agencies to identify these areas so that any impacts are minimized. It is during route-specific studies (Tier Two) that actions to avoid or minimize potential impacts will be developed.
Large tracts of land will be taken only to wait decades for the corridor to be built.
Response: If property is not immediately necessary for the transportation project, the department will strongly consider purchasing options and offer lease-backs to allow the property owner to continue occupying the land.
If a developer is unable to make payments to its lien holders, the road would be shut down and the state would have to bail out the developer.
Response: No. TTC-35 is a state-owned project and would remain open regardless of a developer's ability to make payments to the bondholders. All financial obligations are between the developer and the bondholders. By law, the state cannot be held responsible for a private developer's financial obligations.
TxDOT has the authority to pump groundwater and strip the minerals beneath the surface.
Response: No. State law prohibits TxDOT from extracting groundwater for commercial purposes. TxDOT does not acquire the mineral rights and has no authority to drill for minerals on state-owned land.
Texas Department of Transportation
For more information
www.keeptexasmoving.org
7/18/06
Mike Behrens, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Human memory is often selective. Some people remember an incident from their past quite clearly. Others — sometimes those involved in the same event — have no recollection of it at all.
A case in point: America's 48,000-mile interstate highway system, authorized by a stroke of President Eisenhower's pen in 1956 — a half-century ago.
Our 3,200 miles of interstate in Texas now make highway travel safer and easier. The new road system also brought unprecedented economic growth to the state.
Even so, many of us recall that lively and intense public debate helped create the good that came with the interstate highways. Many property owners did not want to sell their land for a new highway. Some cities fought the interstates. Others saw the system as governmental folly and a colossal waste of tax money — or worse.
In the intervening decades, the interstate system was built and America prospered with improved mobility, better safety and a stronger economy.
Today, we take this system for granted, having largely forgotten the controversy that came with it. But major growth of the interstate system in Texas, for all practical purposes, stopped in the 1970s. Since then, population and traffic have outpaced the state's road system.
One of the great lessons learned from the development of the interstate system is the importance of planning. It is never too early to plan for the future, particularly when you're talking about Interstate 35.
Already, about 45 per cent of the state's population lives within 50 miles of I-35. More people come to live and work in this narrow band of Texas every day.
The Trans-Texas Corridor, and the TTC-35 component that will parallel I-35, is the best solution to the problem. Private-sector funding of this Texas-owned facility makes it feasible.
It will relieve traffic congestion and expand economic opportunity along its path. The Trans-Texas Corridor also will provide a route for evacuations before storms.
Texans always have a seat at our planning table. With a new round of public hearings on the TTC-35 segment under way, we invite all Texans with a stake in this exciting project to attend the meeting scheduled for their area.
We want your input. You can find the dates, times and locations of meetings on our Web site: www.txdot.gov.
Behrens is executive director of TxDOT.
Trans-Texas Corridor:
Pros: Keep Texas Moving
Cons: Corridor Watch
For more articles mentioning the Trans-Texas Corridor:
PING!
I do not know a single Texan who is in favor of this. Not one.
I do not know a single Texan who is in favor of this. Not one.
Me either! Hopefully they won't start it until We're dead and gone.
I am.
Yeah, I know the felling.
BTTT
Take a look at who owns the land they want to build the TTC -- there has not been such a greedy sale of land to a government since LBJ & Lady Bird in the 1960's.
Odd, since numerous freepers have posted on these threads refuting the hysteria and lies thrown out against this road, and noting that it is just a road like those preceeding it and that we need more roads. I've specifically posted argued in favor of it with you several times. You seem to play fast and loose with the facts.
Beyond FR I encounter mixed opinions, but several changed their minds to in favor when they heard the facts such as those posted above. There is a whole lot of lies and bullsh!t being tossed about by the anti-TTC groups, as evident in the myths that many of the above statements addressed.
People rarely take time to attend a public meeting when they are in favor of a project that appears to be going forward. Most meetings are dominated by those either in opposition or those in support when there is a danger of what they support being ended.
Fear and worry brings people to meetings, not contentment.
You mean when you mislead them with false information, etc.
What no bid process? Cintra-Zachry submitted a proposal, TXDOT reviewed it, decided it was a good idea and opened the project to competitive bidding, and Cintra-Zachry's bid was judged the best overall deal for the state. If you contact TXDOT they can probably quickly give you whatever the criteria matrix was that was used in evaluating the bids, and probably specific info on how each bid ranked. I have no idea how many bids there were, but who bid and the criteria is public record.
So yeah, if you are spread false info, your actions might be an issue. Hopefully you were simply misinformed.
Who owns the land?
Thanks for the ping!
Well that's another falsehood you've posted, since there is no freight-rail portion right now. All that has been bid out is the tollway (road) concession.
A private group (IIRC either Cintra or Zachry is a partner in this group) has made a proposal to build a freight rail line along much of the corridor (though they propose that this rail portion run west of Ft. Worth, unlike the road section) but TXDOT is only evaluating it right now. If at least 1 of the 2 major railroads in Texas (UP, BNSF) don't commit to reroute a certain amount of their rail traffic to it, it won't get built. The 3rd railroad, KCS, by itself probably can't generate enough traffic to cover the project costs. And of course TXDOT could go in a completely different direction with the rail portion, such as partnering with various railroads, or the railroads may come up with their own proposals. It isn't yet clear that a private toll-model will work with the rail line, nor is it clear that the rail portion will get built anytime soon.
If it does reach a level of feasibility, TXDOT will put out a request for bids on the project, as required by law. That could happen within the year, or perhaps not for 20-years, if ever. All the TTC is doing is reserving ROW if there is a possibility of a future need for each element, but each won't get built until viewed as viable or in the public interest (meaning political pressure, such as from Austin and San Antonio which want to move the freight out from existing tracks and convert those to transit uses.)
Seriously, you really need to fact-check anything you read on the anti-TTC websites, there are a lot of lies being put out.
bump.
So, why does Cintra-Zachry keep certain contract info secret after the bid was won for TTC-35?
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