ISSUES IN DEPTH:Trans-Texas Corridor master development plan made public

East Texas Review ^ | October 4, 2006 | William Lutz / LSR

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

The Texas Transportation Commission unrolled Sept. 28 the long-awaited road map for the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Release of the Master Development Plan will result also in public disclosure of the full contract between the state and Cintra-Zachry, a private joint venture between the Spanish firm Cintra and the Texas highway contractor Zachry.

Both Cintra-Zachry and the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) appealed a ruling from the Texas Attorney General’s office that the full contract is an open record. A trial was scheduled for Oct. 10 in Travis County district court.

The master plan calls for the prompt building of seven segments of the Trans-Texas Corridor’s parallel route to Interstate 35 (TTC-35), mostly with private funds.

“The plan will help us take advantage of private sector innovation and investment to relieve congestion on I-35,” said Michael Behrens, TxDOT executive director. “It will allow us to develop TTC-35 as it is needed and as private sector funding makes it feasible.”

In coming weeks, expect Gov. Rick Perry’s opponents to pore over the full contract, looking for issues to raise.

“For 16 months Rick Perry has fought to keep Texans in the dark and his contract with a foreign-owned company to build toll roads across Texas a secret,” said Mark Sanders, spokesman for Perry opponent Carole Keeton Strayhorn. “ … Texans have the right to know what their government is doing, but Rick Perry and his highway henchmen are determined to cram toll roads down our throats and were willing to go to court to protect this administration’s special interests.

“As governor, Carole Keeton Strayhorn will blast this $184 billion boondoggle off the bureaucratic books … In a Strayhorn administration, agreements and undertakings of this magnitude will be put to the voters or be approved by the Legislature.”

As this deal is likely to become the subject of significant debate in coming weeks, it’s important to understand what Cintra-Zachry has placed on the table.

Seven near-term roadways were identified costing $7.5 billion, with nearly $2.3 billion paid to the state up front for the right to operate these highways. Five segments of road were identified as near-term roadway facilities that the developer could design, build, finance, operate and maintain:

1. the Dallas Northeast Connector (which would connect Interstate 30 east of Dallas with US-75 near the Oklahoma border).

2. the Dallas Southeast Connector (connecting Interstate 45 south of Dallas with Interstate 30 east of Dallas).

3. a toll road from Hillsboro to Temple.

4. a toll road from Temple to Georgetown.

5. the first half of a Southeast loop around San Antonio that would allow trucks and cars from Laredo to bypass the metropolitan area and head straight to the proposed State Highway 130 (which would go from Seguin to Georgetown).

Concession fees from the first five segments of road could also be used to help build two other proposed near-term toll roads: the second half of the San Antonio loop road and a Northwest connector that would connect Interstate 35 near the Oklahoma border with US 75.

The near term roads could be ready for development within five years and open for traffic within 10 years.

In addition to the roads identified as part of TTC-35, the master plan identifies three other roads as ready for construction: State Highway 130 segments 5 and 6 (Seguin to south of Austin), southern portions of a proposed Loop 9 around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, and a freight rail facility from Dallas-Fort Worth to Mexico.

The Trans-Texas Corridor envisions separate lanes for trucks and cars as well as space for utilities and rail. Total right of way is expected to be 1,200 feet wide. The master plan includes detailed revenue projections for all facets of the project, using complicated statistical methods.

The revenue projections assume a toll rate of 12.5 cents per mile for cars and 48 cents per mile for trucks. The study calls these rates consistent with tolls on the state’s existing toll roads in the Dallas and Houston metropolitan areas. (Dallas-to-Waco is approximately 100 miles. A 100-mile journey at 12.5 cents per mile would cost $12.50.) The Texas Department of Transportation has to approve the methodology for determining the tolls.

Much of the controversy surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor involves use of eminent domain to condemn land. Only the state, not the private contractor, can use eminent domain, and the right-of-way belongs to the state, even though the state sells a private company the right to build and operate a road on that right-of-way.

The exact route of TTC-35 has not yet been determined. What route to use, and whether to build it, are decisions governed by the National Environmental Policy Act.

TxDOT and the Federal Highway Administration are jointly conducting environmental studies on the road. Unlike past projects, this one stipulates simultaneous planning and environmental studies.

“What the public is seeing,” continued Behrens, “is an environmental process that runs in tandem with a separate planning process. The private developer assumes a great deal of risk this way, but the ultimate benefit to drivers is that the project is delivered sooner. In the past, environmental studies and detailed planning were performed sequentially, adding years to major projects. I firmly believe that the public knows and appreciates it when we move faster on our projects.”

During the study process, the department held 54 environmental hearings around the state. These, Strayhorn turned into political rallies, where she railed against toll roads and the Trans-Texas Corridor. Many rural residents also showed up and voiced concerns.

TxDOT emphasizes that corridor development will not put a halt to gas-tax funded work along Interstate 35. The department is currently widening the road to at least three lanes in each direction between San Antonio and Hillsboro. “The state’s commitment to expand IH-35 remains intact,” said Behrens. “Everything that TxDOT is working on now and has scheduled over the next 25 years under the traditional gas-tax financed system will continue as planned.”

The department estimates the segment from Georgetown to Hillsboro will be completed by 2011.

[Diddle E. Squat]

85 mph speed limit, except close in to Austin and DFW. I'm not sure why you think most people will have to drive 30 miles east to use it, since a simple glance at the maps on the Trans-Texas corridor website will show it to be only about 10 miles east of I-35 (in between them north of Hillsboro) for most of the way, with numerous connecting roads at angles that makes the trip only slightly longer. Running south from Mansfield puts it in the middle of DFW, will be just a few miles east of Waco, Temple, Georgetown, Round Rock, Bergstrom Airport, west of Manor and Lockhart, with numerous connecting roads being widened to 4-lanes (that will also save time.) Plus most of the toll revenue will come from trucks, and there are numerous ways to provide incentives for trucking lines to use it.

[GeorgefromGeorgia]

In order to permit 100mph speeds like the autobahn, the highway would have to be engineered for such speeds. That will cost more. Also, maintenance on the highway will need to be exemplary. If you hit a pothole at 100 you are toast.
I doubt if those speeds will be permitted. Truck traffic might like the route to avoid congested cities.

[wolfcreek]

So are you saying toll road dirt is different?


YES! The new tollroad within a quarter mile of my house, is being cut through land, some of which, hasn't been disturbed for centuries, if ever. I don't know where you live in Texas but, in my area, there has never been so much excavation and construction. Along with lines of trucks hauling dirt and rock that hasn't ever been disturbed, everywhere I travel is through clouds of dust.



You can try and exaggerate my opinions to suit your own needs but, people who really care about the state of Texas, will see through your hypocrisy.

[wolfcreek]

Do you actually think that the environmental permitting process in the US/Texas is inadequate?


They're adequate up to the point where development dollars override environmental concerns. Take SOS (Save Our Springs)as an example. They were the supposed Godsend for people who wanted to try a save a little piece of Texas from an overwhelming desire to develop a fragile area. They finally SOLDOUT! IMO, anyone who is in favor of 4000 additional miles of roads is just that, A SELLOUT! BTW; my Wife and several friends have worked for environmental testing labs. The *diddly squat* I do know is, they are a manipulated farce.

[hopespringseternal]

Beltway 8

Beltway 8 is only packed because of all the accidents at the toll booths. If they were packed, there wouldn't be much point to the toll, one of its main purposes is to keep people off the road to ease congestion.

[Wallace T.]

In North Texas, the Dallas-Fort Worth area will be the main generator of intrastate travel, both passenger and truck. The current preferred route will run through Rockwall and eastern Collin Counties, still predominantly rural areas. A "corridor alternative" runs through eastern Parker, Wise, and western Denton Counties. It is hard to see what would motivate a traveller or a truck driver in Plano, Mesquite, or the west side of Fort Worth, relatively close to the TTC's path, not to use toll-free I-35 to drive to Waco and points south. Especially with truckers, where profit margins are thin, the toll from DFW to Austin, a multiple of the estimated $12.50 passenger vehicle toll to the state capital, would cut into profit margins. If you could drive from DFW to Austin in two hours on the TTC as opposed to three to five hours on I-35, it might be worth the expense. However, as you point out, maintenance would have to be exemplary to allow for 100 mph speeds. Design standards would have to be well above Interstate standards, which are usually set at 70-80 mph. Liberals, insurance companies, and Southwest Airlines would fight any legislation to permit autobahn style speeds on the TTC.

Additionally, while the route in Central Texas is not too far from the existing I-35, the growth in Austin and San Antonio has been to the west for several decades. For Austin and San Antonio residents to access the TTC, they would have to travel crosstown through urban traffic and pass over I-35 on their way to the TTC. Furthermore, there is no east west freeway through central Austin.

If Cintra wants to build a tollway, that is fine. However, they should not spend a dime of taxpayers' money and not rely on eminent domain.

[Ben Ficklin]

We can all read between the lines and we all know that you are a NIMBY.

[wolfcreek]

We can all read between the lines and we all know that you are a NIMBY.



Who's *We*, Ben? You can't stand on your own merits so, you formed a gang? That's pretty cowardly! Why don't you just say what you mean instead of name-calling and innuendo.

[Ben Ficklin]

By reading between the lines, we'all think you are a yankee, also.

[wolfcreek]

By reading between the lines, we'all think you are a yankee, also.


You just proved my point, Ben. A Six generation Texan won't stoop to your (or your gang's) childish level.

[Ben Ficklin]

That's what they all say, anonymously.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

$12.50 per 100 mile stretch. Plus gas. Plus car ins./car payments.

It may be cheaper to fly.

That may be so, but Cintra-Zachry won't make you wait in a two-hour line just to strip half-nekkid to ensure you don't have a bomb on you.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

80 MPH is the proposed speed for the TTC.... not sure under what laws, etc.

I've read articles claiming the top speed limit on the new highway will be 85.

[Ben Ficklin]

Of course, when you cross the line and make physical threats, as you have done via freep mail, that anonymity could disappear.

[deport]

Yep, that is correct as pointed out by Diddle. So maybe 90 is the going rate if they give 5 over.

[wolfcreek]

I would like to post the FReepmail message I sent to another FReeper, earlier.


You call me a 'yankee' to my face and I'd probably punch you in your $%#@ mouth. Lay off the name-calling and be civilized. There's no need for that on this board. If you don't have something civil say, don't say anything to me. PS: I'll do the same!



There was a *choice* word before mouth but, calling a Texan a *yankee*, as most real Texans know, is the worst insult that can be applied.



If there is some *anonymous group* on this board that has a problem with my opinions, such as on this thread, then please construct your responses in a way that does not include name-calling or snide innuendo. I felt I was baited into saying the things I said in the FReepmail and I am ashamed I fell for it.

[Ben Ficklin]

Obviously, you need to bring JR in on it.