Posted on 11/25/2006 8:20:31 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The controversial Trans-Texas Corridor was a topic of discussion at the Plano Republican Women’s meeting Tuesday morning.
The group of politically motivated women listened and asked questions of Gov. Rick Perry’s transportation advisor, Kris Heckman.
It was confirmed by Heckman that the TTC’s outer loop will encompass Plano, something for which the Collin County Commissioner’s Court members have been lobbying. There is still much planning before the road is constructed and of use to drivers.
“This road is about economic development,” Heckman said.
TTC is a proposed multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways and utility right-of-ways, Heckman said.
Specific routes for the TTC have not been determined. The proposal is 341 miles of a limited access toll road, which will stretch from the Oklahoma-Texas border south to San Antonio.
The road is just a road, said Heckman, and not an easier way for illegal immigrants to gain access into the U.S., or a means of making North America a super-sphere or encourage drug trafficking.
“This is to move traffic and goods quickly,” Heckman said.
The overly congested Interstate 35 is no longer a viable road for the nearly 10 million Texas residents that travel on and live near the interstate. A study from 1997 stated that I-35 would need 18 lanes by 2025 to accommodate all the traffic.
“Those things freaked everybody out,” Heckman said.
Perry presented his idea of the TTC starting in 2002, but only now that it’s on the road to fruition, has it become controversial. Heckman said it’s a valid criticism that the new road will take land away from private ownership, but state officials and residents need to learn from the mistakes of building I-35. Those mistakes, like not buying enough right away around I-35 for expansion and not planning for other modes of transportation to follow the interstate, are reasons the TTC needs to be built.
The TTC will not only be a limited access toll road, but Heckman said, there are plans to move railroad tracks along the highway and include infrastructure for miles of power, water, oil, broadband and transmission lines as well.
“We can provide with this new corridor a track system that is out of our cities,” Heckman said.
Plans call for the TTC to be completed in phases over the next 50 years with routes prioritized according to Texas’ transportation needs. TxDOT will oversee planning, construction and ongoing maintenance, although private vendors, Cintra Zachry, will be responsible for much of the daily operations. It will be toll road, Heckman said, and it is necessary for it to be built by private companies to ensure that it will be completed in a timely manor.
There are still two years of environmental study to be completed, which will determine the exact route of the road, Heckman said. The builders, Cintra Zachary LLP, said that within five years of the completion of the environmental study, a huge portion of the road can be built.
“We want to put as little tax dollars as possible to this project,” Heckman said.
The road will cost about $8 billion to complete, which will be made back through the tolls. No cost has been set concerning the tolls. The state will own the toll road in about 50 years, Heckman said. At that time, the state will decide if the road will stay or a toll or not.
Anything for our friends "south of the border."
"From each according to his means, to each according to his needs"
The state gas tax (what the users pay for the system) make up about 1/5 of the TxDOT budget. All taxpayers, without regard to whether they use the roads or not, pay for the rest.
And all homeowners pay for local streets and roads.
On the other hand, toll roads are a straight 'user pays' system. Don't want to pay to use Hardy? stay on 45. Don't want to pay to use Bush? Use 635.
Don't like toll roads? Stay off of them and see if you can bankrupt them.
Sorry, I didn't see your post in time, or I'd have addressed you in reply 42 as well.
The same thing happened with the transcontinental Railroads. Until 1896 rails was the most important part of the economy.
Obviously, it is the state's authority that is exercised over the hold-outs. But, as you already know, the land and the road are both owned by the state.
If you have sources that indicate otherwise, post them up so we can have a look at them.
Those are not private roads. They are govt toll roads.
No problem. Thanks.
You do realize your thinking labels any taxpayer funded public service communistic, including jails and courthouses? Not everybody uses either one, but taxpayers pay for both.
As far who really pays for the limited access to toll roads, I remain skeptical.
Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean it isn't happening. While most of the NTTA RoW is donated, not purchased, the balance is bought.
Perhaps you might stick to posting on topics that you do know about, rather than engaging in emotional, name calling rants.
The road will never be built as a free road because if they try to raise taxes to do that, there will be a rebellion.
Every day that I don't get mugged, I'm using the jails and prisons to keep proven criminal away from me. Courthouses are used by anyone who owns real property or wants to get married. While there are elements of socialism in both institutions, there is also a large element of 'user pays'. The clerk's office should be entirely fee - supported, for example. (You should use public libraries as an example. There's a municipal institution where the users are insulated from the budget.)
A better counter arguement for my initial point would be that everyone but a self - sustaining ex-hippie uses the highway system to get food and other goods from farmers, factories, and importers.
Here is a link to the only contract currently signed with Centra/Zachry for the construction of SH 130, Segments 5 & 6. Go to section 7 and it details the revenue sharing schedule..... Sec. 7 begins on about page 79 of the link.
http://www.dot.state.tx.us/publications/tta/sh130_bk1_fac_conc_agrmt_exh01-24_062906.pdf
This corridor should be extended across Alaska and all the way to Beijing.
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