Posted on 10/02/2007 5:45:25 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Austin, Tex. – The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced it will form a working group to develop a financial master plan a Ports-to-Plains Corridor, which would create new jobs and economic opportunity for West Texas. Ports-to-Plains is a proposed divided highway corridor stretching from Laredo on the Mexican border, through Midland/Odessa, Lubbock, and Amarillo in West Texas north to Denver, Colorado.
Designated as a High Priority Corridor by Congress in 1998, the Ports-to-Plains corridor is intended to expand economic opportunity and serve international trade from Mexico to Canada. Despite the congressional designation, adequate federal funding has not been provided to cover the cost of the project.
Earlier this year, Cambridge Systematics issued a report to TxDOT outlining the rural development opportunities if Ports-to-Plains is built as part of the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor project. In addition to being be a catalyst for economic development and job creation, the Ports-to-Plains Corridor could provide a way to transfer energy generated by wind turbines in West Texas to other parts of Texas and the southwest. Wind farms are currently located in 14 West Texas counties creating electrical generation capacity rated at 3,676 MW.
Electrical generation capacity is expected to reach 7,038 MW in western counties by 2010, according to the Public Utility Commission of Texas. Additionally, with nearly 40 percent of all U.S. agricultural products being exported, a Ports-to-Plains route would help farmers and ranchers from West Texas and throughout the U.S. Midwest compete in the global marketplace.
PING!
More NAFTA open borders super highway being rammed down the peoples throats.
they never give up on a bad idea.
If they would only put the same efforts in backing all the good ideas floating around, something useful would come out of it.
Does Michael Medved still claim this doesn’t really exist?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904181/posts?page=23#23
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1904181/posts?page=24#24
Aw, c'mon. Everyone has a blind spot. Mine is I don't believe Medved exists.
Apparently, someone in Austin straightened her out.
The Ports to Plains corridor is not a multi-modal corridor, except, as the article points out, it will be used as a right of way to bring the wind power down from the panhandle.
An item of interest: Sharyland Utilities is the company that will build the Panhandle Loop to gather the wind power there and bring it to the Texas grid via the Ports to Plains. Today, it was announced that FERC had OKed Sharyland and another company to connect the Texas grid and the Mexican grid for the commercial transfer of power.
Why is a road needed to transmit power?
I used to have some respect for that guy till I heard his take on keeping illegals in America. He's a shill. I won't even listen to his voice now. Instant radio station change. The little twerp.
BTTT
The logic/justification of multi-modal corridors is that they require less land, as opposed to each mode having a separate corridor/right of way.
Will La Entrada Kill Marfa?
I hate to pose the question in such a blunt way, but this is the sentiment at the heart of the controversial La Entrada Al Pacifico project. Obviously, if you live in the Big Bend area you’ve known for a long time about this proposed trade corridor linking Texas with the Pacific Ocean. However, I suspect that many “friends of Marfa” are still unaware of this important issue. Our readership at Marfa.Org is going through the roof right now as people “tune up” for the upcoming OH Weekend. So I’ll take this opportunity to spread some knowledge and point to some helpful resources where we can get involved and fight this thing.
Actually, at this point, there’s probably no way to stop La Entrada alltogether - the goal now is to control where this major highway is routed. As it stands the route is planned to cut through Marfa and Alpine and bring with it potentially 2500 semi-trucks per day. Obviously the traffic, noise and pollution would drastically change this peaceful and serene part of the world. But, being an architect, I can’t help but think of all the negative side effects to the built environment like chain motels, fast food joints, mega truck-stops.
Organizations like StopThe Trucks.org and the Big Bend Regional Sierra Club are mobilizing to have our voices heard by the decision makers. Ideas at work include creating a relief route that will bypass Marfa, and the possibility of switching the planned corridor from auto to rail.
This link has far more details as has a breakdown of all the specific funding requests (versus high level in the original .pdf) including dollar amounts. The first only included the cover letter.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/side2/4934728.html
The pdf w/ the $13Million line item for I69 is here:
http://images.chron.com/content/news/photos/07/07/01/paul_earmarks/Transportation3.pdf
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