Yeah. Thanks, Rick.
Maybe with your Coyote Corridor you can up it to TEN thousand per day.
Posted on 02/19/2008 1:37:06 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
TYLER - Heated debates are cropping up in rural East Texas communities as the Texas Department of Transportation hold hearings on the proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor.
It's the first construction project of it's kind in the country. The Texas Department of Transportation says they want it to make room for a growing state.
"A thousand people a day move to texas," says spokesman Larry Krantz,"where are these people going to drive? The population in Texas is going to explode by 60% in the year 2030."
Their plans involve moving commercial trucks off existing interstate highways and onto one of two Trans-Texas Corridors.
One corridor extends alongside Interstate 35 from Laredo to Grapevine, near dallas.
The other runs from the Rio Grande Valley up -- through Deep East Texas counties -- all the way to Texarkana.
"Nobody's denying that we need more infrastructure in the state," says Hank Gilbert.
Gilbert's group, Texas Turf, is leading efforts in East Texas against the corridor project.
He says the Trans-Texas Corridor is no way to solve growth issues.
"We can do something a lot more friendlier to the environment, a lot less painful to the traveling public, a commuter rail and alternative a lot traffic on this interstate highway," Gilbert said.
In TX-DOT projections, you see the corridors extending up to 1200 feet wide. The super-highways would include lanes for the trucking traffic, several lanes going both ways; rail traffic; and room for future utility lines like electricity and water. It's what they call the ultimate design; not the reality for the entire stretch of the corridors.
Gilbert calls it a land grab,"they're going to divide our state into little segments. It's going to deny access in communities from one place to another."
TX-DOT officials say the corridors will have traditional on- and off-ramps as well as over-passes for communities.
But those with farms, ranches and homes in the projected highway trail are packing public hearings. They say the size of the projects makes it personal.
"This land has been in my husband's family since 1925," one woman said in tears at a hearing in Nacogdoches.
"What we have now is not going to be enough. So, if TTC projects are not the answer, we need to the public get involved to tell us what is. Simply saying 'no' is not enough," Krantz said.
TX-DOT says, no matter how it's paid for, tolls will pay back the cost of construction; not tax dollars.
Something Gilbert says is not a consolation.
Krantz stresses these options are only the beginning of the plan, which can change. They are accepting public comments right now online and by mail.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
BTTT
Yeah. Thanks, Rick.
Maybe with your Coyote Corridor you can up it to TEN thousand per day.
Interesting that they use the term “debates.” All previous accounts I’ve heard of the TX-DOT presentations there were no audience participants in favor. The only one speaking in favor were TX-DOT employees. Maybe they are getting more TX-DOT employees in the audience than before. Maybe the reporter doesn’t understand the meaning of “debate.”
1. “Their plans involve moving commercial trucks off existing interstate highways and onto one of two Trans-Texas Corridors”
2. “TX-DOT says, no matter how it’s paid for, tolls will pay back the cost of construction; not tax dollars”
So do the trucks get their thousands of dollars in highway use taxes back since they’ll be paying tolls? Yeah sure.
Bookmark
Oh goodie, it's another Chey Guevara Corridor thread.LOL! Take away the beret and give him a shave and a haircut and he could be Rick Perry’s twin!
Heh heh heh...
Now tell me.. how can they have public meetings on something that alot of naysayers say doesn’t exist?
Just go back to sleep America, we’ll do what is best for you.
I’ve been in meetings all over Texas for the last month, and I can tell everyone that without a doubt, the TTC is about as popular as an infestation of fire ants.
You gotta love George Bush and his Socialist NAU buddies! ;O)
From the truckers I’ve talked to, all the fears about Mexican truckers are coming to fruition. (junk trucks, no inspection, underpaid drivers, no insurance, 16 to 20 hour hauls, no speakee English, etc.)
Luv that Tag line!!
Umm... Che doesn’t have a “y” on the end.
Will you add me to your ping list please?
Yes, you’re right. Unfortunately I pulled that spelling from a list of Che Guevara’s where several of the first ones were spelled that way. Oops.
Commerical trucks from Mexico already come into the country up Hwy.35 and Hwy.59. Our population is growing so much in those areas, cars and all commercial trucks are jamming the highways. Hwy. 35 through Austin is jammed every hour of the day and there are many car accidents. Highways have to be expanded. Citizens can drive the original highway or pay a toll for the new highways. Toll highways eliminate Texans having to pay more taxes to construct these highways.
A state senator friend of mine is on the State Highway Commission committee and no one knows highway construction more than he does. He rides “shotgun” on these projects to be sure Texans are protected.
I’m sure there was objection to the construction of US 59, 45, and 35 when that happened many years ago.
The point is, cars and commercial trucks already travel our highways and the glut will keep increasing and deaths will rise due to the congestion. New highways have to happen.
That’s a neat screen name. Devil hound?
I live in East Texas, have personally attended a couple of these hearings, and can tell you first hand that there was NO debate occurring at the ones I attended! There was instead universal contempt for the idea amoungst those citizens in attendance! I doubt that you could have found a single supporter!
They’re trying to do the same thing in eastern Colorado, twenty to thirty miles from the mountains, a north-south corridor, with right of way 5 miles from centerline and absolute commercial control of all real estate at the intersections or junctions. It’s being called the land grab. Violently opposed by locals, the locals are being told that it’s gonna happen so get over it. First rule of analysis: follow the money.
I don’t quite see why anybody would be against getting semis off the main roads.
Sounds great to me.
Right. Some thought Mussolini making the trains run on time was wonderful, too. And how about those great German autobahns!
The people of Texas don’t want it.
Do you still believe in government of, by and for the people?
More likely......landowners afraid to give up 10 feet of land don’t want it.
That is the people who show up to these meetings complaining in every state in the union.
That said, if voters went to the polls (which should be the way to do it) and rejected the idea, the state should not build the highways. Period. To do so anyway would be a violation of the trust of the people.
Most Freepers would wait until the highways look like LA across the entire country before taking any action.
Most Freepers would wait until the highways look like LA across the entire country before taking any action.
You’re really out of touch with what’s happening, I’m afraid to say. Our elites are now too arrogant to let the mere will of the people stop them from pushing forward with their grand plans.
If you came on down here to East Texas and voiced such an ignorant opinion, you'd quickly learn that your opinions are in a tiny minority. It would take about two minutes.
Granted, all I know is what the article said. If this plan is a bigger land grab than it sounds like, I would understand all the violent opposition.
And I would be opposed to doing this over the will of the people.
Unfortunately, state departments of transportation rarely care what the peons think.
You’ve been added.
I thought that one had been defeated. Or have they brought it back?
The Texas taxpayers.
I'm working on a detailed report, which I may post here as a FR after-action report. TSR, are you ready to ping something like that out to your list?
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Not to steal my own thunder, but, from talking with (mostly engineering) folks from top to bottom in TXDOT, it appears that the departure of Ric Willamson has allowed the folks who actually build things at TXDOT to (off-mike, at least) admit to the idiocy of the multi-mode corridor political scam (not "design") they were handed. They are now trying to address the issue in a way that is tailored to the lifestyles and needs of the specific counties through which the route passes.
As a highly-placed TXDOT engineer told me in confidence back in '05, "That monstrosity, (the 'everything in one, fenced mega-corridor') in all probability, will never be built". Now, more TXDOT folks are beginning to say that more openly...
If we (the public) do our part by insisting that the political hacks (starting with RINO RickGoodhair) be purged (and, if possible, indicted) -- I'm beginning to be hopeful that the folks who actually design and build roads at TXDOT really want to do what is best for all of Texas (both rural and urban).
If you ping me to your report, I’ll ping the list.
bumPing!
KELO'd
“A thousand people a day move to texas,” says spokesman Larry Krantz,”where are these people going to drive?
____________________________________________________
DUH
Down into Mexico and home ???
Thanks for the PINGy
I live in Longview and I’ve never heard a thing about this locally. Only when I listen to the Dallas AM station - which I don’t do much now that I’ve got Sirius.
Strange.
Hank
yes ma’am!!
: )
This isn’t just a new highway. Are you aware of the big picture?
That’s the literal translation yes. It’s the name given to the Marines after the battle of Belleau Wood in WW1 by the Germans.
They called us tuffel hunden, or Devil Dogs as we are known today. Not 100% sure of the spelling, but it’s close.
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