Posted on 06/10/2008 5:55:17 PM PDT by mnehring
Longview Mayor Jay Dean said he is disappointed that the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor won't be built near the city.
Instead, the road will follow the existing U.S. 59 route, the Texas Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. U.S. 59 runs through Carthage, Marshall and Jefferson.
"The thing is, every community in East Texas would love to have that corridor run through or very near our communities," Dean said. "But common sense tells me that because of construction costs and where TxDOT is financially at this time, that it makes sense to run through existing infrastructure."
The corridor is a proposed statewide transportation network.
Longview leaders have said they desire a route between Marshall and Hallsville that would make I-69 a 20-minute drive from Gregg County.
"The way I look at these types of projects is what's good for one community in East Texas is good for all communities in East Texas," Dean said. "We will have some residual economic benefits, surely. But not as much as if it was closer."
I know our mayor personally, and he isn't a NAU schill, he is a good, Conservative man, but like a lot of other supporters, he was looking at community profit first.
Local and TTC ping.
Instead, the road will follow the existing U.S. 59 route, the Texas Department of Transportation announced Tuesday. U.S. 59 runs through Carthage, Marshall and Jefferson.
Sounds like Mayor Jay Dean has never been to Longview. It is less than 30 miles from Marshall, and he says it isn't near? I can't imagine what his concept of near amounts to.
I’m just glad it isn’t likely to come any closer to Toledo Bend than that. Wayne Christian claims he’s going to keep it away from here. I hope he can. We don’t care much for strangers around here.
Another allusion to TXDOT being so short of funds in this piece. Texans should demand to know how much money the state is getting with oil at $135/bbl.
We know that the money from our off-shore platforms is put into the Permanent University Fund, and is used only for Texas A&M and the University of Texas...and it is amazing that these greedy university systems keep hiking tuition rates for middle class students when the administrators of the fund are sitting on about $90 BILLION. Someone needs to find out how much money is being made by them for investing that very lucrative fund.
Our liberal newspapers are not interested in finding out where the windfall oil profits of the state of Texas are going.
Wow, you have a mayor who isn’t trying to pocket profits from it? Jay is pushing for new stadiums, parks, sports arenas, etc. Even after we have all of those things built, he wants more all to hope for the potential tourist revenue.
When I was down in the Cleveland area this past March and April, they were working like gangbusters building the thing. Pretty much every mile south of New Caney to Houston is under construction. It’s probably gone farther north since then.
I wonder if it will follow Hwy 59 all the way from Houston, thru Cleveland, thru Livingston, thru Lufkin, thru Nachodoches,etc. I live in Lufkin and am not looking forward to it.
Wayne Christian isn’t a mayor, he is my state representative. We don’t have a mayor where I live.
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