Posted on 10/25/2006 4:24:55 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Texas Department of Transportation should submit a request for more detailed proposals within the next couple of months to work on the Interstate 69 section of the massive Trans-Texas Corridor project.
Earlier this year, two teams of private investors indicated their interest in the I-69 portion by submitting requests for qualifications: Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors and the ZAI ACS TTC-69 Team.
Bluebonnet’s equity partner is Cintra, while ZAI ACS is led by Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure Development. Cintra-Zachry signed a comprehensive development agreement to develop TTC-35, which would go from the Dallas area to Mexico.
“We shortlisted both teams in September and the commission gave us the authority to issue a request for detailed proposals, and the staff is now putting that together to extend that to the shortlisted teams,” said TxDOT’s Gabriela Garcia, public information officer.
The I-69 corridor section, about 650 miles long, would extend from Texarkana and the Shreveport area to the Rio Grande Valley or Laredo. The plans call for additional transportation options to be considered, such as rail and utilities, with a maximum width of 1,200 feet.
Detailed proposals will give a thorough and lengthy analysis of a project with transportation and financial modeling, Garcia said. An environmental study is ongoing.
Garcia said the estimated price tag a couple of years ago for just the highway section of the project was between $12 billion and $15 billion.
Bowie County Judge James Carlow said private financing must be considered and the project is important to Bowie County and Texarkana. He said Bowie County will be joining the Northeast Texas Regional Mobility Authority to create a vehicle for additional funding.
“It’s just another tool for getting different modes of transportation funded,” said Carlow, adding that’s not just for highways.
But one driver to join the RMA is getting a northern highway loop on the Texas side to meet up with the future Interstate 49 as it heads north out of Texarkana, he said.
But one driver to join the RMA is getting a northern highway loop on the Texas side to meet up with the future Interstate 49 as it heads north out of Texarkana, he said.
[Could you repeat that, please? --TSR]
Jeff Sandford, president of the Texarkana Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber supports development of I-69/TTC and private funding is one option that should be considered.
“The chamber certainly recognizes that TTC 69 has the potential to positively impact the community by increasing the already expansive transportation opportunities in this region,” Sandford said.
He said the chamber has taken no official position on private funding of the project but it should be examined as an option in “an effort to find the quickest, most feasible way of getting it done.”
The Trans-Texas Corridor project has met with opposition from groups such as Corridor Watch, which sees the possibility for a closed toll corridor that bypasses communities and funnels economic benefits to the state and private companies.
According to the group’s Website, the Trans-Texas Corridor would negatively affect local economies as traveler access is curtailed and business is taken away from communities.
Also, Corridor Watch charges that the plan “makes no direct connections to regional traffic generators nor destinations.”
Sandford said it’s far enough out from starting work on the project to plan in the best possible way the impact to local communities.
“I think that’s a legitimate issue to look at ... we have to be careful to do everything we can to ensure the best for our neighboring towns,” he said.
Carlow said there’s “always negatives to progress” and it’s important to complete the project.
“I’d try to accommodate as many small cities as I could because that’s vital to their future too,” he added.
Tripod.
Our nemesis.
It's more powerful than all of us.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.