Free Republic

t was a quick-and-dirty job, but somebody had to do it. The "it" in this case was a cost comparison between expanding Interstate 35 beyond six lanes and building the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor twin to I-35. The "somebody" was HNTB Corp., which is serving as the Texas Department of Transportation's general engineering consultant on the I-35 corridor project. It was hired to do the comparison after skeptical Texas senators asked questions at a March 1 hearing. It doesn't take a doctorate in ethics to divine that HNTB, which produced a 101-page report plus hernia-inducing exhibits in just three weeks, might...

San Antonio can get new railroad tracks built around the city, but they'd likely be part of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor, state officials said Monday. "I know of no mechanism to relocate rail in rural areas other than the Trans-Texas Corridor," said David Casteel, who heads the Texas Department of Transportation's local office. Casteel and other officials asked the Metropolitan Planning Organization board to authorize a $5 million federal study to select a route for the new tracks, which could take three years. TxDOT would put up a 20 percent local match. "We are listening to what the public is...