Posted on 09/29/2006 8:02:32 AM PDT by Dog Gone
Former business partners are now competing for one of the state's richest construction contracts — development of a transportation corridor between Northeast Texas and the Mexican border, passing near the Houston area.
The Texas Transportation Commission voted Thursday to seek proposals from the two for development of the route designated TTC-69, part of the state's ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor plan.
Projects envisioned for the corridor include a $12 billion toll road running west of U.S. 59, high-speed passenger and freight rail, pipelines and other utilities.
Spanish-owned construction giant Cintra and San Antonio road builder Zachry, which joined forces to win a contract to plan development of TTC-35 along Interstate 35, are competing against each other for the TTC-69 plum.
Joining forces with Zachry are ACS Infrastructure Development of Madrid, Spain; Williams Brothers Construction Co. and Dannenbaum Engineering, both of Houston; and six other team members.
Two other Houston firms, Othon and W.W. Webber LLC, are in the Cintra-led group.
"I find it fascinating that Cintra and Zachry have taken their experience on TTC-35 and each in essence has gone out and recruited and organized their own separate team," said Commissioner John W. Johnson of Houston.
"They are the most experienced in the state of Texas," he said. "The keener the competition, the better off we all are."
"I think you'll see more of that," said Phillip Russell, director of the Texas Department of Transportation turnpike division. "You're going to have cross-pollination."
At the same meeting, Texas Department of Transportation officials for the first time disclosed Cintra-Zachry's Master Development Plan for TTC-35.
Despite its bulk — 1,600 pages — and the numerous maps included, the master plan does not include the actual route of TTC-35.
TxDOT says that will depend on the same federally required environmental process, including public hearings, as any other road project.
If all the hurdles are jumped, TxDOT says, construction could begin in 2011.
Because the master plan supersedes earlier "conceptual" development and financial plans that TxDOT declined to reveal in March 2005, these were released Thursday as well.
The Houston Chronicle and others had filed open-records requests to see the documents, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott agreed they should be released.
TxDOT and Cintra-Zachry then sued Abbott, asking an Austin court to exempt the plans from disclosure on grounds that they would reveal proprietary information, give competitors unfair advantage and have a "chilling effect" on future proposers' willingness to reveal their ideas.
The lawsuit was dismissed Thursday by agreement.
The campaign manager for gubernatorial candidate and state Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn had urged that the plans be made public.
Strayhorn said Gov. Rick Perry had "fought to keep Texans in the dark and his contract with a foreign-owned company to build toll roads across Texas a secret."
Commission Chairman Ric Williamson said the matter was handled the same way as proprietary information from firms seeking other TxDOT work.
Perry announced the corridor plan in 2002, calling for a $175 billion, 4,000-mile limited-access transportation network built mostly with private dollars for profit but owned by the state.
TTC-35 generally would run east of Interstate 35 from Oklahoma to Mexico and would include an $8.8 billion toll road from Oklahoma to San Antonio.
The proposal has received continual criticism, despite efforts by TxDOT to reassure the public.
Farmers and ranchers have expressed concern that their property would be divided or taken by eminent domain.
Local officials feared that the corridor would draw business away from existing routes.
Others were concerned that negotiating a 50-year contract for a project of such size was being done behind the scenes.
Supporters of the corridor concept say gasoline taxes will not be able to fund enough roads to meet future need, but private companies can build and operate them for a profit at no risk to taxpayers.
If a corridor developer defaults on its contract, Williamson said, TxDOT can buy the facility, probably for less than it cost to build, and bid it to another.
Have Carol Keeton Whatzername and the moonbats been misleading us?
There's an election coming up. This will cover for Perry and his clowns until after the election. Do you really think this will be a competitive deal?
You're right. $175 billion isn't enough to generate any competitive interest.
Until this became an issue in the upcoming election there was no consideration of competition. Now that it has become an election issue they have created some kind of competitive straw man. If this is open to all bidders I'll believe it is something other than typical Perry scam. Let's not forget property tax increase caps which he helped kill after supporting it. Protecting our borders with unarmed National Guard troops which the border patrol has to protect. His "you can take it to the bank" two thousand dollar tax saving which he had to stop using in his commercials because even his advisors knew it was untrue.
Let me guess. You're for the pro-abortion, anti-death penalty, gay marriage supporter who hates hunters.
Who said I had to pick one. I don't see any good candidates running. I would vote for Perry IF he was a true conservative but he's not. Perry has literally destroyed Texas Parks and Wildlife, Education, Texas Highways, increased taxes, increased insurance premiums while decrease coverage... need I go on. Tell me how many previous campaign promises has he kept that was music to the ears of true conservatives. Please don't mention medical tort reform since the doctors keep all the benefits.
I'm not sure where he got the dictatorial powers to do all that. He's my State Farm agent, too?
Yes I know. A Texas Governor is a Emperior with no clothes. But he sure make a statement with veto. How about the current thread on Auto Sales Tax law effective Monday.
In theory, I don't have a problem with cracking down on those who lie to avoid paying proper sales tax. But it looks like this law could make some pay too much sales tax. It needs to be amended.
The car dealer has to keep records of what a used vehicle sells for. A private seller doesn't. So it provides a powerful incentive for the buyer to underreport the purchase price.
But that really is a discussion for the other thread.
Your right.
A used auto sold by a dealership is always priced above book value and the sales tax collected by the dealer is based on that higher price. If the state told the dealerships to collect sales tax based on book value, the state would collect less sales tax.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.