Reply With Quotethat could be texas someday...Originally Posted by mikedsjr
That's because there are hundreds of millions of people up there in sardine cans.
that could be texas someday...
That will be Texas someday.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
From an email I was sent.
FYI, There is a meeting in Dallas on this for the public tonight at 6-9pm at the West Dallas Community Center
Multipurpose Center, 2828 Fish Trap.
__________________________________
Thanks for your interest in Trans-Texas Corridor.
Both projects are designed to improve transportation in Texas. It is
possible the Texas T-bone could be incorporated into the Trans-Texas
Corridor, since it the multi-modal system will connect metropolitan
areas with roads, rail and utilities.
Right now, the development of the Trans-Texas Corridor focused on two
corridors: the Oklahoma-Mexico element and the I-69 element running
through East and South Texas. Environmental studies for these corridors
are underway to determine the best course of action. Based on public
input and a comprehensive environmental analysis, three alternatives
will be considered: build the project to include roads, rail and a
utility zone; improve existing infrastructure or not build the proposed
project.
No final decisions have been made and public input is key to the
decision-making process. If you would like to submit additional
comments on this project or track the status, you may go to
www.transtx.com. You may also submit comments through TxDOT's
website at www.dot.state.tx.us
Both website also have a list of public meetings. Just in case, a
meeting list is attached.
Texas Turnpike Authority Division
Texas Department of Transportation
I know this hasnt been brought up in a LONG time, but the TTC people are doing a series of public meetings.
I think I'll go and check it out. Here the meeting schedual and also Info for you who don't know what it is.
http://www.transtx.com/downloads/Mee...ochure_web.pdf
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Ah yes and I forgot to ask. Question for robertb. This thing is going to plow straight through Kaufman County. Any opposition down there?
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Some people in my office have been working on this for quite a long time. I didn't realize they were at the public meeting stage yet.
Dallas uber alles
Here's a forum:
http://www.corridorwatch.org/phpBB2/index.php
All I had to see was the title at the top of the page and I can tell I don't want to even look at that forum. It's going to bring out the extremist in everyone.
Ugh, Iv'e been to that forum and seen the guy who runs it on the news. I swear, hes obsessed with property rights and has no vision for the future. Hes extremly anti-toll and I just don't think he understands: TXDOT IS BROKE. Also he claims this thing will not be successful and will never make money. Then why are major corporations like Flour proposing to buld this thing and hold the risk...
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
www.CorridorWatch.orgChallenging the Wisdom of the Trans-Texas Corridor
How about this:
Challenging the Already Challenged Future of Texas
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Opposition builds to toll, corridor plans
Cities, groups meet to discuss fighting state transportation projects
09:04 PM CST on Friday, November 12, 2004
By TONY HARTZEL / The Dallas Morning News
While state leaders have pinned their hopes on toll roads to keep Texas road construction moving, a small but growing number of groups and cities ? including Dallas ? are questioning the plans.
Today, about a dozen groups ? some opposing tolls or the Trans-Texas Corridor and environmental groups ? will meet for the first time in Austin to discuss how to fight the state's transportation plans.
Your Turn
Share your suggestions for improving Texas' highway system
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"We have seen each of these groups combating this issue as if it were a local issue," said Fayetteville resident David Stall, co-founder of Corridor Watch. "We can be effective in having our concerns addressed if we work together."
Last year, state leaders passed the largest transportation bill in state history. It calls for converting planned or expanded highways to toll roads, like State Highway 121 in Denton County. The bill also provides initial funding for Gov. Rick Perry's highway and adjacent high-speed passenger and freight rail concept that stands as big as the state itself: the $175 billion Trans-Texas Corridor.
The proposals may not be popular with everyone, but they show the importance the governor places on transportation, said RicWilliamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission and a Perry appointee.
"This governor is not going to let urban Texas rot while doing nothing," Mr. Williamson said.
Parallel to I-35
Dallas, Hillsboro and Laredo have questioned plans to build the 800-mile Trans-Texas Corridor highway to parallel Interstate 35. Opposition also is coming from other areas. Property rights concerns have led the Republican Party of Texas' latest platform to urge the repeal of the Trans-Texas Corridor.
Mr. Stall's effort "started out as a not-in-my-back-yard issue," he said. "But we became concerned about the government's growing role."
Public meeting schedule
The Texas Department of Transportation will conduct public meetings in North Texas next week to collect input on plans to build the Trans-Texas Corridor. The route will parallel Interstate 35 from the Red River to Brownsville. All meetings will be from 5 to 8 p.m.
Monday: Grauwyler Community Center, 7780 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas; and Cleburne High School, 1501 Harlin Drive, Cleburne.
Tuesday: Texas Woman's University, Hubbard Hall, 304 Administration Drive, Denton.
Wednesday: Holiday Inn Ballroom, 1300 N. Central Expressway, McKinney.
Thursday: Terrell High School cafeteria, 400 Poetry Road, Terrell.
Dallas City Council members emphasize that they do not oppose all of the state's plans to build the Trans-Texas Corridor. Dallas officials will not attend today's meeting.
"We are not pro-toll or anti-toll. We have not taken a position against the Trans-Texas Corridor," said Dallas City Council member Sandy Greyson, chairwoman of the council's transportation committee. "We believe the new route will harm all the communities along the I-35 corridor. Our council is very supportive of keeping the traditional route."
Cities including Dallas are pushing the state to study the economic impact of building a parallel road that could take away traffic and tourism from cities along one of the state's busiest highways.
Plans are moving forward. The Texas Department of Transportation could soon choose one of three bids it received from private groups that want to develop the corridor. In addition, the state could soon narrow its study areas to several 10-mile-wide corridors. A single study area could come by the end of 2005. No construction dates have been established.
Recent corridor draft plans showing possible routes near I-35 cities have eased some concerns from Dallas and other city leaders.
"We're not saying you couldn't build a corridor three to five miles outside of town. That would not discourage people from stopping in Hillsboro. But if you go too far, it will," said Hillsboro Mayor Will Lowrance.
With all the attention on the corridor, cities don't want the state to lose sight of other needs. Laredo has more than 100 railroad crossings that need improvement, said Rene Gonzalez of the Laredo Development Foundation and a legislative liaison to Laredo Mayor Elizabeth "Betty" Flores.
"They need to worry about yesterday's projects before they worry about tomorrow's projects," he said, adding that the corridor could bring a new highway to Brownsville and away from Laredo, whose ports still have expansion room.
I-35 will continue to be widened to as many as four lanes in each direction throughout Texas, Mr. Williamson said. But he and other state leaders are looking at the state's needs beyond I-35's peak traffic loads.
"The things that will save urban Texas are the very things we are doing," he said, adding that the cost of fuel will push more freight to rail lines, increasing the need for projects like the Trans-Texas Corridor. "A lot of the corridor is going to get pretty close to existing communities."
Toll battles begin
When the Legislature passed the bill last year, it also included provisions for a major expansion of toll roads in Texas. The first salvos in the toll battle have been fired in Austin, Houston and North Texas.
Opponents of the new toll roads hope to get the attention of lawmakers during the legislative session that begins in January.
"We think we've got a lot of people unhappy with the law that there are going to be some changes," said Randy Jennings, founder of the Web site stop121tolls.com and a co-sponsor of today's meeting. "We all have commonality. We need to leverage that."
In reality, changing a major transportation bill may be difficult, said state Rep. Linda Harper-Brown, R-Irving.
"We are always open and receptive to looking at changes that would enhance what's been done," said Ms. Harper-Brown, a House transportation committee member during the last session. "I don't know if you really want us to change a lot of the creative ideas that allow us to do transportation projects more creatively and efficiently."
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com
Repeal the entire proposal?! Whatever happened to changing it to something more logical that did not involve building parallel to existing highways (or even removing the highway portion altogether, save for truck lanes)? I suspect the fact that rail being involved with the project has something to do with it.
Such people only "feel" this way when it's convinient for them personally.
Last edited by freewaytincan; 14 November 2004 at 09:47 PM. Reason: Oh what the hey.
Strange...the same convo. in two locations.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Same goes for the article.
I went to the TTC-35 meeting in the Holiday Inn Ballroom in Mckinney (whoah!) and found out LOTS of info on this thing.
I don't know, maybe some of you already know this, but I'll clear up some things too because I saw some of the questions on here about it from way back when.
-TTC is being paid for with a private-public partnership, no money will come from us, taxes, or anything out of our pocket. (or your, I dont pay taxes yet)
-It will be built in phases so expect roads first, then railways.
-All components of it (road, rail, pipeline) will be run or funded by different consortiums; rail and the tollways will be privitized.
-There were some misconceptions about this, but high speed rail will be connected to urban centers or airports because they know it will not work if people have to come out to Farmersville to get on it.
-Extremly limited access so it wont generate sprawl
Also there were lots of peole bickering there about SH121 toll which had nothing to do with it, so the TTC people couldn't answer there questions. Made me kinda of mad.
And I don't know what else ya'll want to know but ask me and I'll see if I can remember.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
That really bothers me. I mean, it makes sense, so they could use the roads to construct the rail, but not only am I against a redundant road system, but that would make it easier to get halfway done and not bother with the rail. It's like Reunion: they built the hotel, tower, and arena, but then the rest of it never materialized.
Maybe I'm just being paranoid.
There was more to reunion!? oohhh tell me!!! Well I wouldnt get to paranoid about it, theres a place and market for rail certainly along I35. It probably wont take to long for bids to start coming in for the rail component. I mean, we already have the THSRTC and Kay Baily pushing for it, yet I don't know her platform on trans texas corridor with the republicans opposing it and all.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Ohhh yes, there was. It was supposed to be a significant complex, complete with office towers and such where all the parking is now.
I do like Senator Hutchison. She really thinks and acts for what she believes in rather than the party line. I'd love to see her as governor.
I like her too, but I fear these plans will be scrapped if shes elected. Also I heard shes really "dirty" when it comes to the environment. Other than that, gotta love her for supporting Amtrak.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Why would that happen?
texman, UL, texman, UL, texman, UL, texman, UL, texman, UL, texman, UL, ME!
Sorry. Just thought that it was interesting..
[ xvisionx.com 13 - my photo gallery + journal ] - be sure to check out my new interactive downtown dallas picture map.
She was the lead speaker at the Texas Republican Convention where the GOP of Texas decided to oppose this and the endagered species act. :angryfire
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Oh. That's surprising, I seem to remember that she's a huge supporter of DART.
GAWD, I have to get back to studies but this is too addciting. Yeah, shes a big supporter of all rail, but the good ol' boys of GOP are worried about propery rights of the trans texas corridor.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Ahh, hypocrisy.
http://www.dfwinfo.com/trans/public_...tings%20RH.pdf
^I know I keep posting on here, but I keep digging up stuff. This is from the NCTCOG Frieght bottleneck study, proposes a routing for TTC that has an alignment that hooks up with high speed rail and an "Urban tollway connector" Pretty intresting..
BTW, PDF type file.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
I hate PDFs. That maps kinda scary, considering how close we are to making southern okalahoma a SUBURB..
[ xvisionx.com 13 - my photo gallery + journal ] - be sure to check out my new interactive downtown dallas picture map.
That's better than they deserve.
Ok, does anyone on this forum actually care about this thread or is it just me, urban, and drumguy? Were the only ones posting..
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
^ Yeah, I care texman. My problem is that A.) I don't really care for the current plans B.) I don't think it will happen C.) Perry is a MO-ron.
“We shape our Cities, thereafter they shape us.”
Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Well, I guess I must have as well, because I feel pretty much the same.Well someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed...
...
Last edited by freewaytincan; 22 November 2004 at 06:22 PM.
Sorry I'm late! I've spent too much time watching "New Posts" and getting sidetracked.
I don't know of any organized opposition, but that's probably due to the fact that your average person knows very little about the project. It should be a Big Deal, because the major north-south line on the TxDOT map runs right down the middle of the county, and intersects a proposed Shreveport cutoff somewhere just east of the county seat.
I heard, though, from a friend-of-a-friend, that TxDOT is already approaching landowners in strategic locations through their "Advanced Acquisition Option". A few details of this new power are buried in this press release:In other action, commissioners initiated a new, voluntary right of way acquisition procedure. The measure is expected to save taxpayers money while compensating property owners in the path of future transportation improvements. In a typical example of an agreement called an advance acquisition option, a landowner may agree to be paid to keep the property off the market and forego additional development during the option term. The title, possession, and continued use of the property remains with the landowner until and if purchase by TxDOT is required. If TxDOT exercises its option, the landowner would be paid fair market value for the property. That purchase price will be in addition to the amount previously paid for the option.I had hoped that I could attend the Terrell meeting, but there just wasn't any way to make it. There's no way I'm going to be able to be involved in local politics until I get a local job, but 60% of the county commutes to Dallas -- and computer programmers aren't yet among the 40% that get to stay local.
Last edited by RobertB; 22 November 2004 at 06:19 PM. Reason: Aye kneed too lurn two spel betur.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Big ole fat article in TIME magazine online:
The Next Wave in Superhighways, or A Big, Fat Texas Boondoggle?
The fight is on over a plan to build vast corridors for cars, trucks, trains — and almost everything else
By CATHY BOOTH; THOMAS HUTTO
Monday, Dec. 06, 2004
To see the future of transportation in Texas, you have to drive out to the prairie north of Austin, past the sprawling plants of Dell and Samsung, to the farthest suburbs, where wild grass and cornfields nuzzle up to McMansions with their perfect green lawns. There, giant earthmovers, their wheels taller than a Texan in his boots, are ripping up the gummy, black soil to lay a 49-mile stretch of concrete tollway. State Highway 130, at a cost of $1.5 billion, is the biggest highway project under way in the U.S. today. It is also the first test in concrete for the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC)--a radical rethinking of the nation's Eisenhower-era roadways.
The brainchild of Texas' Republican Governor, Rick Perry, the TTC would, if built, completely transform the state's highways over the next 50 years, creating a 4,000-mile network of multimodal corridors for transporting goods and people by car, truck, rail and utility line. Each corridor would have six lanes for cars, four additional lanes for 18-wheel trucks, half a dozen rail lines and a utility zone for moving oil and water, gas and electricity, even broadband data. The corridors could measure up to a quarter of a mile across. The projected cost, at least $183 billion, is more than the original price tag for the entire U.S. interstate system. But Texas, going it alone, is seeking private companies to take on the mammoth job of constructing, financing, operating and maintaining the network. To pay for the roads, developers will rely on a familiar but long-neglected method of financing: tollbooths.
Depending on whom you talk to, the Trans-Texas Corridor is either an innovative solution to the U.S.'s overcrowded highway system or a Texas-size boondoggle. Backers claim that such corridors are needed to divert road and rail traffic — NAFTA truckers driving up from Mexico, railcars of Chinese goods from Western ports, hazardous cargoes of all kinds — from congested urban areas. Buying land for the system now, decades before it's needed, would cut acquisition costs and might entice businesses to relocate inside the corridors. T. Boone Pickens could ship his West Texas water across the state in pipelines through the corridors; oil and gas could be shipped north from Mexico; even high-speed passenger rail lines could become reality. "The Trans-Texas Corridor is not just a road, not just asphalt," says Perry. "It's a vision."
Opponents of the corridor range from environmentalists (the Sierra Club has called it "evil") to the Texas Republican Party, which has urged the legislature to repeal it. Texas, which is losing more land to sprawl than any other state, would need more than 9,000 sq. mi. of right-of-way for the corridors, affecting critical wetlands and pristine prairie lands. The Big Thicket National Preserve, considered "the biological crossroads of North America" for its mix of habitats, was put on the list of most-endangered parks by the National Parks Conservation Association this year, in part because of the threat from the Perry plan.
Environmentalists have found an unlikely ally in traditionally conservative landowners worried about property rights. David Langford, an activist for the Texas Wildlife Association, is organizing farmers and ranchers whose land could be cut in half or condemned by the Trans-Texas Corridor. An early plan for central Texas showed a corridor passing near the homestead Langford's family settled in 1851. With the state's new "quick claim" ability — granted under TTC legislation — his family homestead could be gone in 90 days, he says, transferred to private investors operating the corridor. Though he would be compensated financially, he's still steamed. "I can't believe Rick Perry's grandfather would want his house and ranch taken and turned over to Paris Hilton's family to build a hotel on one of these roads," he says.
Local politicians are mobilizing too. The TTC legislation, passed after eight hours of debate, in June 2003, drew little attention until Republican activist David Stall, a former city manager of Columbus, in East Texas, discovered a notice for hearings buried in the ads for gravel and road-material bids. He was "horrified" to discover that the corridor, as a limited-access turnpike, would steal business his town gets from travelers. Today public officials from six counties along the corridor route have joined his grass-roots group, CorridorWatch, to oppose the TTC. "There is no legislative oversight, no elected officials overseeing the contracts to build and operate these toll roads," Stall complains.
But the worst ruckus broke out in Austin last summer, when commuters realized that the "innovative" financing authorized by the Trans-Texas legislation meant they would start paying tolls. Traditionally, highways have been financed by gasoline-tax revenues. But that money now barely covers road maintenance, much less new construction, and raising gas taxes is as politically unpalatable in Texas as it is everywhere else. The state, for the first time, can go into debt by issuing bonds for new roads. Although those bonds can be paid back by a number of possible revenue sources (such as steeper fines for drunken driving), Texas policy now is to look first at tolling for all new highway projects.
What's more, the TTC legislation allows existing roads, not just new ones, to be converted to tollways. "They can take any highway anywhere, anytime, and put a tollbooth there," says Sal Costello, whose group, AustinTollParty, argues that putting tollbooths on roads already paid for with gas taxes amounts to "double taxation" of commuters. The political outcry is having an effect. After Austin approved eight new toll projects for roads and bridges, a recall campaign was launched against the Democratic mayor and two city councilmen. "It's been a true grass prairie fire," says Brewster McCracken, one of the city councilmen targeted. He's now against conversions.
Congress in the 1950s expressly rejected tolls as a way of financing the nation's interstate highways. But the Bush Administration, faced with an aging freeway system and a lack of money for building and maintenance, is rethinking the idea. Mary E. Peters, head of the Federal Highway Administration, has called Perry's TTC plan a "bold concept." President Bush has threatened to veto any increase in the nation's 18.4˘ gasoline tax and has expressed support for tolls on interstate highways. Other states, such as California, Missouri and Minnesota, are closely watching the Texas toll experiment.
Perry, a farm boy from West Texas who studied animal science at Texas A&M University, sees the Trans-Texas Corridor as a way to make his mark by tackling the state's growing congestion. Urban rush-hour drivers were stuck in traffic for an average of 46 hr. in 2002, nearly triple the time in 1982, according to a study conducted by the Texas Transportation Institute. Increasingly, tolls are seen as a way to reduce traffic. "We simply can't afford to build our way out of traffic congestion, so we have to better manage it," says Michael Replogle, transportation director of Environmental Defense, a nonprofit group that advocates "time-of-day tolling": tolls that would take effect during rush hours to discourage driving at peak times.
The Trans-Texas Corridor has won accolades from conservatives like Wendell Cox, transportation guru at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who hails it as "the first serious innovative thinking in transportation in a half-century." Texas economist Ray Perryman estimates that the TTC could generate $135 billion in annual personal income for Texans and nearly 2.2 million jobs. But not everyone accepts his projection of $13 billion a year in revenues from the corridors. Kara Kockelman at the University of Texas' Center for Transportation Research warns that NAFTA-generated trade could decline and unforeseen crises, like the terrorist attacks in 2001, could affect travel. The state has had to buy back its first private toll road — promoted by a former Democratic candidate for Governor, Tony Sanchez — for $20 million.
None of that has stopped an array of private companies from trying to get a piece of the new Texas road-building boom. Sometime in December, the Texas Transportation Commission, a five-member board appointed by the Governor, will award a $24 billion contract to develop proposals for the TTC's first multimodal corridor — a 600-mile stretch from Mexico to Oklahoma needed for NAFTA trucking and rail. In the running are three consortiums, one headed by the California-based Fluor Corp., another that includes Halliburton's Kellogg Brown & Root subsidiary and a third headed by the Spanish tollway operator Cintra. Fluor got into the game early. It submitted an unsolicited bid for work on the Trans-Texas Corridor in early 2002, before there was even an approved state plan. "Our work on SH 130 is considered the TTC's precursor," says Fluor vice president Steve Dobbs.
The toll issue could come back to haunt the Governor, who is up for re-election in 2006. Perry's hefty donations from construction firms have been noted by public watchdogs. Since 1997, he has received more than $1 million from highway interests, according to reports filed with the Texas ethics commission. Two Republican rivals — Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and state comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn — have opposed the tolling of existing roads. Perry now says he, too, is against conversions, but notes that those decisions are up to local authorities.
Meanwhile, in the town of Hutto, north of Austin, the construction on State Highway 130 is a sign of things to come. Farmers no longer gather at the cotton gin, but the town's first national chain, Home Depot, has moved in. Mayor Mike Ackerman drives by the construction site every day on his way to work and is sanguine about the changing face of his town. "Anything we can do to get traffic moving north and south, we need to do," he says. The question is whether the rest of Texas agrees with him.
— With reporting by Hilary Hylton/Austin
Road to the Future?
THE VISION: Cars, trucks, and rail and utility lines will travel along the same intrastate corridors, up to a quarter-mile in width. The cost: at least $183 billion, financed primarily by tolls.
THE CASE FOR: A way to move NAFTA traffic and dangerous cargo away from urban areas, relieving congestion. Buying swaths of land now is cheaper in the long run. And with gas taxes unable to support new roads, tolls are needed.
THE OBJECTIONS: The roads will gobble up too much land, may harm the environment and will take business away from the bypassed towns. As for the return of tollbooths — no way!
Whoa. So SH-130 is already under construction and it will basically be the first TTC?
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It appears so.
How can we stop this thing. It WILL be the death of urbanity AND nature in our state. This seriously makes me sick to my stomach. Texas will be a waste land if this comes to fruition.
It could be worse; there could be no rail.
I suppose you're right but then again I don't know. What the heck good is HIGH speed rail if it has terminals way out in the suburbs that you need a hour to drive back and forth to?It could be worse; there could be no rail.
Plain and simple this is the Eisenhower Interstate Highway Act on steriods. What that act did to our American cities in effectively destroying them this will take one step further and kill both our cities and our countryside. This will be the biggest proponent of sprawl we have ever seen and our great state will be a giant sea of gridlocked concrete and steel.
I swear I love Texas so much that I would put my alegiance with it over even the USA. That is why this kills me so much, once it happens there is no turning back, our state will never be the same. It really is tragic.
Ok, I'm looking for the rail in the official site, http://www.sh130.com/
I'm not finding it. Look at the screen scrape below (first image). I don't see anything but the usual feeder ramps. I pulled up one of the plan files for a section further along and found the same thing -- ROW just big enough for the toll road. No rail, no pipelines, no utilities, nothing but toll road.
So far, I don't see anything in this "first segment of the Trans Texas Corridor" but a bunch of broken promises.
Other links found in the search:
"The need for a bypass is indicative of a sick patient and SH 130 is a cure as effective as medieval bloodletting."
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~segue/txblot/tx130.html
An article reprint (with cool map) from Texas' biggest highway fanboy
http://www.texasfreeway.com/Austin/n...approval.shtml
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Sorry to post a second reply so quickly, but you won't believe the breathless excitement in this press release from AASHTO (American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials). Watch out, it's about to get knee-deep.
http://www.transportation.org/aashto/success.nsf/allpages/2003-22Texas
Texas breaks ground on SH 130 - ushering a new era in state transportation
On the morning of Friday, October 3, 2003, along a busy stretch of I-35 near Austin, Texas, a new era in state transportation was ushered in with the groundbreaking of State Highway 130. Described as a highway project of unprecedented scale, SH 130 is currently the single, largest highway contract in the nation - at $1.3 billion and a distance of 49 miles.
This new toll road will parallel I-35 and connect with the interstate just north of Georgetown and extend to U.S.183 in southeast Travis County. It is the first phase of an eventual 90-mile toll road that will continue to I-10 near Seguin.
What is most important to congestion-weary Texans - and other motorists visiting our state - is that this project is on an aggressive four-year construction schedule and will be open by December 2007.
In Texas, its size and speed of construction is marking a new era in project delivery and innovative transportation financing. SH 130 will be used as a model to bring other major highway projects across the state online sooner and faster.
Enabling SH 130 to be designed and constructed in record time is the use of toll financing and a streamlined project delivery method called a comprehensive development agreement (CDA).
While CDAs are used in other states and are similar to design-build projects, SH 130 is the first highway construction project in Texas built in this manner. When compared to other similar design-build type highway projects, SH 130 ranks second in the nation below the I-15 reconstruction in Utah for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The use of a CDA alone can speed up a project, but when toll financing is added, mobility and safety improvements can be delivered even sooner. In the case of SH 130 nearly 25 years sooner.
SH 130, the centerpiece of the Central Texas Turnpike Project, primarily is funded through a Transportation Infrastructure Financing Investment Act loan from the U.S. Department of Transportation and the sale of bonds. With only $700 million of a combined $3.6 billion project coming from state highway funds, this is a worthy investment that will bring a total of 65 miles of toll roads in just a few years.
State transportation officials say the timing is right for a new way of doing business. SH 130 is a model on how to bridge the gap between what Texas needs to keep motorists moving and what it can afford under the current pay-as-you-go plan.
Right now, Texas can fund only about one of every three identified highway projects that may take years to build. Toll roads rank high as solutions to what Texans have been used to: waiting decades for new and safer roads.
With expanded use of new transportation tools - the ability to pay for highway projects through bond sales and faster project delivery methods - Texas will be able to improve safety and mobility faster than ever before. SH 130 is an example of what these tools can bring to the traveling public.
SH 130 is more than a new stretch of roadway. It is the road to the future in Texas.
I'll be away from the keyboard for a moment... I've got to wash the bull**** off my cut-and-paste keys.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
What I want to know is who are the bureaucrats that make this stuff up. Seriously, I think that is where the real problem lies. TxDOT is full of egineerds who know nothing but numbers and functionality. We need to hire more damn urban planners in TxDOT to lobby the idea that roads are not just to get us from A to B but much, much more and that they should not be constructed simply on the principle of cheapest, fastest, most functional. This geeks and bureaucrats are killing us!
We can't fund schools or have a bullet train but we can spend $183 BILLION on this?
This TTC 'Legislation" of "Quick Claim" is a frightening menace to private property rights and invites further county commissioner corruption.
I don't think SH 130 is apart of it, it cant be, it matches nothing of the TTC plan..I like the TTC plan, I thought it was very innovative, but I don't like what these politicians are doing behind our back and I fear it will just become a road plan..rail, and piplines will be thrown out.
I'm going to repost what I was told at the TTC public meeting. Though I don't know if its a load of crap or not:
I went to the TTC-35 meeting in the Holiday Inn Ballroom in Mckinney (whoah!) and found out LOTS of info on this thing.
I don't know, maybe some of you already know this, but I'll clear up some things too because I saw some of the questions on here about it from way back when.
-TTC is being paid for with a private-public partnership, no money will come from us, taxes, or anything out of our pocket. (or your, I dont pay taxes yet )
-It will be built in phases so expect roads first, then railways.
-All components of it (road, rail, pipeline) will be run or funded by different consortiums; rail and the tollways will be privitized.
-There were some misconceptions about this, but high speed rail will be connected to urban centers or airports because they know it will not work if people have to come out to Farmersville to get on it.
-Extremly limited access so it wont generate sprawl
Also there were lots of peole bickering there about SH121 toll which had nothing to do with it, so the TTC people couldn't answer there questions. Made me kinda of mad.
And I don't know what else ya'll want to know but ask me and I'll see if I can remember.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
TANSTAAFL. There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch.
When the government condemns land for a highway project, someone has to pay for it. When an accident occurs, someone has to pay for the emergency response crews. When someone's speeding, someone has to pay for the highway patrolman. That someone, directly or indirectly, is you and me. Just because it's not being paid for from gas taxes doesn't mean it's not getting subsidized by taxpayer dollars.
And you DO pay taxes, no matter your age. Ever buy a candy bar or a Dr Pepper? Your tax rate is somewhere around 8%.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
Never thought about it that way..though I did think about the land taking part and whose gonna pay for that...
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Why couldn't we just have our Texas TGV back in 1993? This would solve all of these problems.
"And we will probably be judged not by the monuments we build but by those we have destroyed."-"Farewell to Penn Station," New York Times Editorial, October 30, 1963
Press Relase from the Texas Farm Bureau:
http://www.txfb.org/News/index.asp
FB delegates oppose Trans Texas Corridor
SAN ANTONIO -- Texas Farm Bureau delegates today (Dec. 6) overwhelmingly rejected the statewide transportation and infrastructure plan put forward by state officials during the business session of the state's largest farm organization's 71st annual convention.
Noting the disproportionate burdens the Trans Texas Corridor plan would impose upon rural Texans, delegates opposed the state acquiring additional farm and ranch lands through the power of eminent domain for the construction of the Corridor.
Those burdens, delegates said, would include: additional time and cost related to moving equipment from one side of a farm or ranch to the other because of division by the corridor; economic damages due to the lack of exits to small Texas towns; additional tax burdens passed on to local taxpayers for property removed from the tax base; and the negative effect on wildlife and hunting in many areas of the state.
"We feel it would be appropriate to improve existing state and federal transportation rights-of-way to help move the Texas transportation system forward," delegates said. "We prefer no new rights-of-way for transportation corridors. However, if new rights-of-way are absolutely necessary, we would prefer additional space for corridors be located adjacent to existing rights-of-way."
Delegates also urged an overhaul of the federal tax system, passing a resolution encouraging the members of the Texas congressional delegation to support a federal retail sales tax as a complete replacement for all forms of income, estate, Social Security and Medicare taxation.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals... Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. - B. Obama 1/20/09
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