Free Republic

Listen to proponents, and the Trans Texas Corridor sounds like the greatest thing since sliced bread. Talk to opponents, however—including many rural Texans—and that sliced bread has turned stale and moldy, way past the time it needs thrown out. Proponents say the Trans Texas Corridor will allow for much faster and safer transportation of people and freight. It will relieve Texas' congested roadways, fed by Texas' booming population—21 million residents today projected to rise to 50 million over the next few decades—and the exchange of goods with Mexico that has been accelerated since 1994 by the North American Free Trade...

Activists taking shots at the planned Trans Texas Corridor have found some legislators willing to take a stab at trimming the colossal super-highway and ensuring that state authorities control the toll rates. Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, who sits on the appropriations committee and is vice chairman of the House Rural Caucus, said she filed House Bill 1273 in an attempt to balance the huge scope of the corridor with grass-root concerns. "My goal is to better the concept," she said. "I will be very saddened for Texas if we don't have some assurances in place." Kolkhorst was joined by co-authors...