Posted on 10/25/2006 4:24:55 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Texas Department of Transportation should submit a request for more detailed proposals within the next couple of months to work on the Interstate 69 section of the massive Trans-Texas Corridor project.
Earlier this year, two teams of private investors indicated their interest in the I-69 portion by submitting requests for qualifications: Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors and the ZAI ACS TTC-69 Team.
Bluebonnet’s equity partner is Cintra, while ZAI ACS is led by Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure Development. Cintra-Zachry signed a comprehensive development agreement to develop TTC-35, which would go from the Dallas area to Mexico.
“We shortlisted both teams in September and the commission gave us the authority to issue a request for detailed proposals, and the staff is now putting that together to extend that to the shortlisted teams,” said TxDOT’s Gabriela Garcia, public information officer.
The I-69 corridor section, about 650 miles long, would extend from Texarkana and the Shreveport area to the Rio Grande Valley or Laredo. The plans call for additional transportation options to be considered, such as rail and utilities, with a maximum width of 1,200 feet.
Detailed proposals will give a thorough and lengthy analysis of a project with transportation and financial modeling, Garcia said. An environmental study is ongoing.
Garcia said the estimated price tag a couple of years ago for just the highway section of the project was between $12 billion and $15 billion.
Bowie County Judge James Carlow said private financing must be considered and the project is important to Bowie County and Texarkana. He said Bowie County will be joining the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority to create a vehicle for additional funding.
“It’s just another tool for getting different modes of transportation funded,” said Carlow, adding that’s not just for highways.
But one driver to join the RMA is getting a northern highway loop on the Texas side to meet up with the future Interstate 49 as it heads north out of Texarkana, he said.
But one driver to join the RMA is getting a northern highway loop on the Texas side to meet up with the future Interstate 49 as it heads north out of Texarkana, he said.
[Could you repeat that, please? --TSR]
Jeff Sandford, president of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber supports development of I-69/TTC and private funding is one option that should be considered.
“The chamber certainly recognizes that TTC 69 has the potential to positively impact the community by increasing the already expansive transportation opportunities in this region,” Sandford said.
He said the chamber has taken no official position on private funding of the project but it should be examined as an option in “an effort to find the quickest, most feasible way of getting it done.”
The Trans-Texas Corridor project has met with opposition from groups such as Corridor Watch, which sees the possibility for a closed toll corridor that bypasses communities and funnels economic benefits to the state and private companies.
According to the group’s Website, the Trans-Texas Corridor would negatively affect local economies as traveler access is curtailed and business is taken away from communities.
Also, Corridor Watch charges that the plan “makes no direct connections to regional traffic generators nor destinations.”
Sandford said it’s far enough out from starting work on the project to plan in the best possible way the impact to local communities.
“I think that’s a legitimate issue to look at ... we have to be careful to do everything we can to ensure the best for our neighboring towns,” he said.
Carlow said there’s “always negatives to progress” and it’s important to complete the project.
“I’d try to accommodate as many small cities as I could because that’s vital to their future too,” he added.
by George H. Russell
Texas Governor Rick Perry is so blindly and stupidly obsessed with his Trans-Texas Corridor boondoggle that he apparently doesn't realize that he is playing into the hands of America's enemies by creating a target for terrorists so large that it would be visible from the moon.
Just think how strategically dimwitted it is to place all of our eggs in one big oversized basket. A single strike against this "Highway to Hell" could knock out our electrical power grid, as well as our natural gas, oil, and water supply systems, and all forms of ground transportation.
It is sheer insanity to build 4,000 miles of highways at a time when the planet is running out of fossil fuels, and burning what is left at an even faster pace. This detrimental situation contributes to global warming and ecological disaster, which boggles the minds of intelligent people.
Only one part of Perry's feebleminded plan makes any sense at all and that is the high-speed rail aspect. At 200 miles per hour, people and goods can be moved between major urban areas in less time and at much less expense than traveling by automobile or even by air. The pollution level would be only a fraction of that caused by millions of cars and overloaded diesel trucks.
An elevated high-speed rail network with dual tracks could easily be built on a hundred foot wide right-of-way, rather than Perry's 1,200 foot wide gashes across Texas. Perry's plan would sever hundreds of rural county roads, divide farms and ranches, fragment forests, destroy wetlands, and cause widespread environmental damage so severe that the quality of life of all Texans would be negatively impacted.
Half a million acres of Texas would be permanently destroyed so that Perry's overblown ego can be stroked to his satisfaction. Billions of dollars would migrate out of Texas to bank vaults in Spain. The Spanish would then have our own dollars with which to purchase and take control of our factories, farms, and industries. Perry would trade the basic wealth of Texas in order to satisfy his obvious megalomania.
Hundreds of rural families whose lives would be disrupted, and in many cases destroyed, would resort to alcohol and drugs in an attempt to cope with the inevitable depression that could lead to suicide. In my opinion, their blood would be on Perry's hands, and all of the scrubbing in the world could never wash it off.
Much more innocent blood would also be spilled if Perry's dream, which is our nightmare, comes to pass. No terrapin, deer, rabbit, armadillo, fox, beaver, river otter, frog, toad, or any other member of Texas' wildlife population could ever successfully cross a 1,200 foot wide series of highways and ground level train tracks. The road kill slaughter would be horrendous. Eventually, it would virtually depopulate millions of acres of rural Texas of its wildlife.
An elevated high-speed rail system would impact only around 45,000 acres rather than twelve times that amount. In addition, the environmental degradation would be only a tiny fraction of what Perry's scheme would cause. Animals, farmer, ranchers, hikers, hunters and vehicles could all pass safely beneath the elevated railways at almost any point along the course of the lines.
Farms and ranches would not be fragmented, rural county roads would not be cut and blocked, and life for the residents of Texas could go on relatively undisturbed as multitudes of passengers and tons of freight stream past at 200 miles per hour. In addition to the millions of animals that would not become road kill, the lives of hundreds of Texans who are killed each year by inefficient, and dangerous fuel-guzzling 18-wheelers would be saved.
If I were Osama Bin Laden or another terrorist leader, I would hang portraits of Rick Perry on the walls of my cave and thank Allah five times a day at prayer that Texas is being led down the primrose path by a dupe of the enemies of America.
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it were discovered that some of the money being poured into Perry's campaign coffers by promoters of the "Highway to Hell" originated in Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.
George H. Russell, an outspoken opponent of the death penalty, is a resident of Hunstville, Texas, which is known worldwide as "The City of Death." His work can be found at http://www.patriotnetwork.org/ and http://www.salvationnetwork.org/ George is a columnist at www.populistamerica.com.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
I wonder what an RPG could do to "multitudes of passengers and tons of freight stream past at 200 miles per hour" on an elevated track.
I guess it would be harder to repair an elevated railway hit by RPGs than it would be to repair a ground railway hit by them.
They should be thinking about how to build in a lot of redundancy instead of one single huge corridor. Just think of what that money could do spread across a lot of different routes.
They should think about the lessons that we've learned from the Internet -- one of the reasons it's successful is that it routes around damage automatically and can't be easily (physically) attacked by an enemy.
It has to be visible from the moon so that moonbats like the author of this rant can see it.
Just think how strategically dimwitted it is to place all of our eggs in one big oversized basket. A single strike against this "Highway to Hell" could knock out our electrical power grid, as well as our natural gas, oil, and water supply systems, and all forms of ground transportation.
Water supply? I thought water comes from lakes, rivers and wells. The major Natural Gas pipelines don't run through that part of Texas.
It is sheer insanity to build 4,000 miles of highways at a time when the planet is running out of fossil fuels, and burning what is left at an even faster pace. This detrimental situation contributes to global warming and ecological disaster, which boggles the minds of intelligent people.
Not even Al Gore is stupid enough to complain that one lousy highway will make any difference in global warming. Nor are we running out of fossil fuels.
Only one part of Perry's feebleminded plan makes any sense at all and that is the high-speed rail aspect. At 200 miles per hour, people and goods can be moved between major urban areas in less time and at much less expense than traveling by automobile or even by air. The pollution level would be only a fraction of that caused by millions of cars and overloaded diesel trucks.
Rail freight would not generally travel at 200 mph -- it is not cost effective. The idea that rail freight is faster than air freight is idiotic also.
An elevated high-speed rail network with dual tracks could easily be built on a hundred foot wide right-of-way, rather than Perry's 1,200 foot wide gashes across Texas. Perry's plan would sever hundreds of rural county roads, divide farms and ranches, fragment forests, destroy wetlands, and cause widespread environmental damage so severe that the quality of life of all Texans would be negatively impacted.
Widespread environmental damage? That's pretty blatant fearmongering. I doubt a road that's less than 1/4 mile wide will do that.
Half a million acres of Texas would be permanently destroyed so that Perry's overblown ego can be stroked to his satisfaction. Billions of dollars would migrate out of Texas to bank vaults in Spain. The Spanish would then have our own dollars with which to purchase and take control of our factories, farms, and industries. Perry would trade the basic wealth of Texas in order to satisfy his obvious megalomania.
The tolls on this road will be so high that it will deplete the entire wealth of the state? Spain will get so rich from tolls that they can buy Texas in a flea market?
Hundreds of rural families whose lives would be disrupted, and in many cases destroyed, would resort to alcohol and drugs in an attempt to cope with the inevitable depression that could lead to suicide. In my opinion, their blood would be on Perry's hands, and all of the scrubbing in the world could never wash it off.
Who can forget all of the mass suicides when the Interstate Highway System was built and all those people had to move? Ike's legacy was forever tainted when mothers jumped off overpasses with babies in their arms and died under the tires of an 18-wheeler. Uh - NOT!!!
Much more innocent blood would also be spilled if Perry's dream, which is our nightmare, comes to pass. No terrapin, deer, rabbit, armadillo, fox, beaver, river otter, frog, toad, or any other member of Texas' wildlife population could ever successfully cross a 1,200 foot wide series of highways and ground level train tracks. The road kill slaughter would be horrendous. Eventually, it would virtually depopulate millions of acres of rural Texas of its wildlife.
River otter?? Does he mean that this highway will divide rivers? Can't beavers travel along rivers and streams as well? Or will the Governor divert all waterways away from the highway?? Has the author never heard of culverts??
An elevated high-speed rail system would impact only around 45,000 acres rather than twelve times that amount. In addition, the environmental degradation would be only a tiny fraction of what Perry's scheme would cause. Animals, farmer, ranchers, hikers, hunters and vehicles could all pass safely beneath the elevated railways at almost any point along the course of the lines.
Using an elevated high-speed rail system for freight is completely unrealistic. Economics are beyond prohibitive.
Farms and ranches would not be fragmented, rural county roads would not be cut and blocked, and life for the residents of Texas could go on relatively undisturbed as multitudes of passengers and tons of freight stream past at 200 miles per hour. In addition to the millions of animals that would not become road kill, the lives of hundreds of Texans who are killed each year by inefficient, and dangerous fuel-guzzling 18-wheelers would be saved.
There is a reason elevated high-speed trains are not used to ship tons of freight. It's a STUPID IDEA!!! Freight trains often travel slowly on purpose to save energy costs on engines. If this ranter had any knowledge of the economic realities of freight he wouldn't make such foolish statements.
If I were Osama Bin Laden or another terrorist leader, I would hang portraits of Rick Perry on the walls of my cave and thank Allah five times a day at prayer that Texas is being led down the primrose path by a dupe of the enemies of America.
So the highway is really the plan of the enemies of America and Perry has been duped by them. Did Osama visit Perry in his office and sell this idea? If not the weirdbeard, then who? The Spanish? The Spanish who fought the Muslims for 700 years and were attacked by al-Qaida are not serving the cavemeister by duping Perry?
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if it were discovered that some of the money being poured into Perry's campaign coffers by promoters of the "Highway to Hell" originated in Iraq, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan.
Afghanistan? Is Osama sending money by PayPal? Has he nothing else to spend money on but this highway?
This article has more sheer stupidity in it than any article I have ever seen. The author is a complete moonbat. I sincerely hope he gets help.
Ping to the NAU Foreman -- this is the all-time article in the stupid category. Read and enjoy.
High-speed trains, economic insantity, sheer paranoia, xenophobia and a great distance from reality -- this reads like a very long Willie Green post.
Or tiny-minded people like you.
PINGing the head of the NAU as well...
Thanks for the ping!
Hee Hee
69
Hee Hee
You're welcome.
Uh huh-huh you said "sixty-nine." Uh-huh-huh...
BTTT
DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS! We really appreciate suggestions on how our state should be run but, I suggest people in other states clean up their own messes before worrying about Texas.
bump.
I have no plans on messing with Texas (or any other state for that matter).
I have no plans on messing with Texas (or any other state for that matter).
Thanks for letting me know but, I wasn't necessarily posting in your direction. I do feel Texas is the battleground for this issue.
The dreaded Tripod hosting notice. It is truly a sad sight to see.
I see the image loud and clear. And you, as NAU Emperor, certainly have some all-powerful way of making the image show.
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.