The Dallas-Houston outfit has already said that if they can’t make it work without government subsidy of any kind, they’re not going to do it.
Nobody’s expecting SWA to go down without a fight, but surprisingly SWA doesn’t seem to care all that much so far. They’re just happy the Wright Amendment is gone and they can now fly interstate without an intervening stop.
Keep in mind, though that both the Dallas-Houston and Austin-Dallas proposed lines have an aspect that makes them desirable - both intend to run freight on them, which will take a lot of truck traffic off 45 and 35 (respectively). In turn, that will allow more time for the state to decide what they want to do to fix those two highways, or at least reduce the state’s maintenance costs as it is. The Dallas-Houston one wouldn’t run heavy freight, just USPS/UPS/FedEx/LSO type light freight and packages to pay the bills - IIRC, there was a study that showed that fully 30 percent of truck traffic on 45 belonged to such organizations. If that much truck traffic goes away, it’s a plus for everyone. The Austin-Dallas one (the one that’s seeking government money to provide this benefit) is planning to do piggyback trailers on flatbed cars and containers on cars, very much heavier freight items. That sounds more like a candidate for the next Amtrak candidate to me.
Thanks for the info. Seems to me like at one point there was going to be a multi-lane north/south highway all the way from the border through to Canada - I69 comes to mind? - and it was to run parallel to I-35. Part of Highway 59 south of Houston was expanded, I though for this purpose, but then we never did hear much about it or I did and have forgotten. Just too much to keep up with anymore.
I just know that Texas has wasted a whole lot of money on Strauss’ and Dewhurst’s pet projects. Even with a change in leadership with Patrick instead of Dewhurst I don’t trust any of them. Republicans may control the legislative process in Texas because there are more R’s than D’s, but that doesn’t say much because most of the R’s are either in the center or to the left in their voting behavior. Just way too squishy.
Re SWA, now that Hobby has been declared an international airport and expansion appears to be almost complete, I would suspect they have their plate full with picking up South and Central America markets. Houston to Dallas may now be small potatoes.