Is the Trans Texas Corridor Dead?

Austin American Statesman ^ | 10.27.2008 | Ben Wear

[wolfcreek]

"Everybody in Austin knows it's dead. Everybody across the state knows it's dead. It's just something to be talking about."

[wolfcreek]

Wishful thinking on my part.

[wolfcreek]

Please ping youe list.

[FES0844]

Maybe Pickens will put up some windmills.

[wolfcreek]

If you’ve been out I-20 towards the west, you’d see somebody has been putting up windmills.

They’re everywhere.

[snoringbear]

“Wishful thinking on my part.”

Well, I don't know if the Corridor is dead or not. I do know that I-35 is just about dead as is and has become a virtual parking lot during peak periods. But, we Texans gotta have a meeting of minds and decide to do something for sure. The Corridor is one option. Another is to bring another north south interstate such as I-25 on down to the border. But, the good folks of the Trans-Pacos/Davis Mountains area don't seem to be very enthusiastic about having their karma disrupted with an interstate running through that area. Soooo, what to do?

[DustyMoment]

We can hope. If it isn’t dead, it has been driven (no pun intended) deep underground.

[DustyMoment]

Soooo, what to do?

Well, here's an idea - TxDOT can stop trying not to do their job by outsourcing all new road construction to toll roads and get back to the job of building, maintaining and upgrading the roads in Texas. Instead of lobbying for toll roads and using taxpayer funds to buy advertising pushing toll roads, they could actually get back to the work of their actual charter.

There's a reason that KSAT declared TxDOT dead - they don't want to do their jobs!

[FES0844]

Isn’t that his plan? (Pickens)

[normy]

There has been construction on I35 for years now. I half suspect to irritate Texans into supporting the TTC. Once they lose the lane closures traffic is fine. It kills the flow when 2 or 3 lanes are closed every week from Dallas to Austin.

My sister in law takes about 3 and a half hours to get to Dallas from Austin and that is during rush hour. I have driven to Austin at 10:00 and had bridge beams being put up and traffic re routed to the frontage road and it takes 6 hours.

[wolfcreek]

How about high-speed rail? Elevated at that.

We are still talking about moving product, Right?

[wolfcreek]

“I half suspect to irritate Texans into supporting the TTC”

You'd be half right but, a lot of the construction (at least between SA and Dallas) is for the benefit of cross traffic and local access.

[normy]

Yeah there needed to be construction from Waco on down. I figure once this is finished the drive will much more pleasurable.

[wolfcreek]

Since they finished most of the work between Austin and SA, (except for the SH45 SE connector) it’s a breeze.

[Wallace T.]

It seems like the DOT has been working on I-35 in Hillsboro for a decade, and it still is incomplete. Furthermore, it took them about as long to widen a 5 mile stretch of I-35E south of I-20 in southern Dallas County. We're not talking about the building of the Hoover Dam or the Golden Gate Bridge, but simple highway widening. I don't know if this was caused by inadequate funding or incompetence, but it needs to stop.

Before motor fuels taxes are raised, the education lobby needs to take its hands out of this revenue source. Toll roads are not the solution for long distance transportation, although they are justified in places like Dallas, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth, and San Antonio, where it serves as user fees for commuter roads like the Dallas North Tollway or the Hardy Toll Road.

[wolfcreek]

I can remember when I was in the 8th grade (early 70’s) and we lived in Richardson. I35E south of Dallas was a mess. Last time we went that way, it was the same.

Something about the DFW area that's just down right strange.

[TXnMA]

TTC: Dead? Not according to TXDOT...

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Trans-Texas Corridor PING!

[Sarajevo]

But can we believe anything coming out of TxDoT?

[zeugma]

Not dead. Crony capitalism reigns in Texas right now. THey’ll shove it down our throats no matter what we say.

[E.G.C.]

BTTT