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CorridorWatch, a Fayette County-based group that has been active in opposing the Trans-Texas Corridor plan, wants to go beyond the Sunset Advisory Commission’s recommended shakeup of state transportation leadership. The group, led by David and Linda Stall, recommends that TxDOT answer to an elected six-member board led by a chairman appointed by the governor. CorridorWatch makes it recommendation, along with various other reactions to the Sunset commission staff’s recent report on TxDOT, in written comments submitted as part of the sunset process. TxDOT, like all state agencies, “sunsets” after 12 years unless the Legislature acts to keep it alive. As...

State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst said it’s time for Texas transportation officials to talk about real reforms to address the public outrage over the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. The Brenham Republican’s reaction followed Thursday’s actions taken by the Texas Transportation Commission. The panel adopted a set of guiding principals and policies which will govern the development, construction and operation of all toll road projects on the state highway system and the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. Bob Colwell, Texas Department of Transportation public information officer for the Bryan district, said the adoption of the guidelines does not reflect the final approval of Interstate 69...

Each day, I make the dreaded drive down Interstate 35 to go to work in Fort Worth. Each day, I slug through the snarl and sludge of ceaseless traffic, which intensifies my growing desire to commit hari-kari, or at least incites a vehement curse of the highway gods. Certainly, we in Texas need more lanes, more roads, more rails, more something to deal with the ever-expanding urban population and growing international commerce. Yet how do we solve our transportation needs without carving up the countryside like some congratulatory cake? Or should the construction of a superhighway-rail-utility corridor even concern us?...

Several Oklahoma legislators are concerned that individuals and organizations are quietly working on plans to create a privately-operated tollway in Oklahoma. Many referred to Spain-based Cintra, which has been involved in the development of a proposed Trans-Texas Corridor. Cintra also took over the operation of the Indiana East-West Toll Road from the Indiana Department of Transportation in 2006. Oklahoma State Sen. Randy Brogdon and state representatives Eric Proctor, Richard Morrisette, Scott Inman and Charles Key all expressed concern that efforts to open up Oklahoma to a privately operated tollway system were being kept out of the view of the general...

Topeka — Agreements with Mexico and Canada are setting the stage for construction of a huge highway that will gobble up Kansans’ property and jeopardize U.S. security, representatives from a wide range of groups said Monday. “Through incrementalism, apathy and inattention, our national sovereignty is being sacrificed on a cross of greed, socialism and globalism,� said state Rep. Judy Morrison, R-Shawnee. Morrison has introduced House Concurrent Resolution 5033 urging Congress to withdraw from further participation in the North American Free Trade Agreement and Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. At a hearing before the House Federal and State Affairs...

There's been a lot of talk about the new Trans-Texas Corridor — the next-generation "super-highway" — and opinions are varying. Now the debate is coming to Lufkin's doorstep. On Monday, the American Land Foundation, Stewards of the Range and TURF will hold a workshop at Lufkin's Pitser Garrison Civic Center on how to stop the Trans-Texas Corridor 69. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. A portion of Texas citizens have voiced their opposition to the TTC-69 in public meetings held by the Texas Department of Transportation, but believing they are not being heard, four cities and their...

Austin County residents get their chance Monday to comment on a massive “superhighway� that could be coming through their county. And if the public meeting in Bellville is anything like those already held by the Texas Department of Transportation, it will include hundreds of angry property owners lining up for a chance to lambast the proposed project, called the Trans Texas Corridor. Gov. Rick Perry first proposed the TTC six years ago. If completed as much as 50 years from now, it would roughly parallel interstate highways with up to a quarter-mile-wide stretch of toll roads, rail lines, pipelines and...

As chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, Ric Williamson made major and often controversial decisions about the future of state roads. He died Sunday of a heart attack, at age 55, in his hometown of Weatherford, leaving a legacy as the hard-charging official that steered Gov. Rick Perry's divisive vision of toll roads across Texas into state policy. It was stressful work, and Mr. Williamson suffered two heart attacks while serving. He had known his health was fragile. "I'm trying to avoid the third one, which the doctors tell me will be fatal," he told Texas Monthly in a June...

Road plans in Texas have conspiracy theorists in an uproar I am driving along a mostly empty road in rural Fayette County, Texas, about an hour east of Austin, looking for the NAFTA superhighway -- the one that Stephen Harper, George W. Bush and Felipe Calderón mocked as a conspiracy theory when they were asked about it at their trilateral meeting in Montebello, Que., in August. Critics, who say that behind the leaders' denials lurks a larger, nefarious plan to unite North America, fear that such a roadway will eventually be a four-football-stadium-wide artery connecting Mexico, the U.S. and Canada,...

Just when you think, you have heard it all something else pops up. I have stated my opinion on the state's effort to utilize tolls as the future funding for highways in Texas. Just in case you missed it, I oppose the idea of tolls being the primary source of funding for state highways. I need to clarify my opposition by stating I am not so much opposed to new toll roads, but rather the idea of tolling existing roads. A large portion of the price for a gallon of gas goes to the state and federal folks for highway...

Ric Williamson and his fellow transportation commissioners will find themselves in a tight corner today as they meet in Austin to decide who will build the State Highway 121 toll road. On one level, the commission is simply fulfilling its duty as the Texas Department of Transportation's governing board by deciding whether to award a multibillion-dollar contract to Spanish construction firm Cintra or give it to the North Texas Tollway Authority. But a whole lot more is going on at another level. The Highway 121 decision also pits Mr. Williamson's desire to support Gov. Rick Perry's ambitious highway-building agenda against...

AUSTIN – State Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson is proud that he can still work a bulldozer, a skill he learned early on the ranch and in the gas fields. Others would say he still drives it at meetings, committee hearings and town hall gatherings. Mr. Williamson, 55, is one of the most influential men in Texas. He has the ear of the governor, with whom he speaks almost daily. He is the architect behind the state's road plan for the next 25 years. He is smart, studious, self-made. And critics, who seem as endless as a West Texas highway,...

AUSTIN – Lawmakers broke camp Monday, taking it on faith that Gov. Rick Perry won't slam the brakes on a compromise toll road bill. Monday's session finale came and went without Mr. Perry signing the bill, which imposes a partial two-year freeze on private toll road deals. Lawmakers did not try to override his veto on their initial bill to overhaul the state's toll policies. Many involved in the contentious toll road debate were expecting Mr. Perry to approve the bill by now because his office was closely involved in hammering out the compromise. Perry spokeswoman Krista Moody said the...

Those persuasion skills were key to Ms. Kolkhorst marshaling support for a partial two-year moratorium on private toll roads. The bill could get lawmakers' final blessing today. The Brenham Republican has emerged as a central figure in the Legislature's efforts to slow down the privatization of Texas roads. She has persuaded nearly all of her 149 House colleagues to back the moratorium, which excludes most North Texas toll projects. Ms. Kolkhorst, 42, has parlayed a blend of persistence, fearlessness, smarts and country charm into a more visible role in Austin. In addition to leading the toll road freeze, she has...

More projects exempted from private toll road moratorium in unanimous Senate vote. The Texas Senate, after hours of closed-door negotiations stamped out hot spots of dissent, unanimously passed revamped toll road legislation Monday that would supplant a bill languishing on Gov. Rick Perry's desk. Perry, who has made it clear he would veto the first bill, House Bill 1892, immediately signaled that he would allow Senate Bill 792 to become law if the House passes it in its current form. Lawmakers involved in the negotiations say they hope to get SB 792 to Perry late this week in time to...

AUSTIN — The Texas Senate on Thursday approved a bill placing a two-year moratorium on private toll road contracts and creating a panel to review the terms of those agreements. Gov. Rick Perry had urged the Legislature not to act on the bill. He said the state's current transportation system, which involves public-private partnerships to build toll roads, needs to continue if Texas is to keep attracting big companies and jobs. Critics of Perry's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor and the state's contract with Spanish-American consortium Cintra-Zachry have made some lawmakers nervous about the project. Sen. Robert Nichols supported the corridor as...

WASHINGTON - A new Texas road being planned to accommodate truck traffic between the United States and Mexico has riled Ohio members of Congress who fear it's the first phase of a "NAFTA Superhighway" that would be used to funnel cheap imports to the Midwest as it links Mexico, the United States and Canada. Texas and federal highway officials deny that a proposed North-South toll road running parallel to Inter-state 35 is part of a planned international superhighway, and say there are no plans for a transcontinental road. They insist the new thoroughfare would merely handle some of the extra...

In the political world, rapid change only occurs when the public focuses attention on a specific issue. We have that situation right now in Austin. Public and legislative attention is focused on the Texas Department of Transportation and a proposed moratorium on the Comprehensive Development Agreement process, including the recently announced CDA to construct State Highway 121 in Collin County. This public and legislative attention may offer an opportunity for Texas to reaffirm our commitment to focus government spending on core functions – in this case, transportation. There are many subplots swirling in this complex CDA moratorium issue – reining...

The state representative of a district where support for the Trans-Texas Corridor is hard to find filed legislation this week in hope additional time would allow for a better plan. Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, filed House Bill 3831 in the Texas House of Representatives, which aims to halt the transportation project until improvements have been made on Interstate Highway 35 in Cooke County through the cities of Valley View and Gainesville just south of the Red River. The improvements include widening of the current lanes on I-35 and the construction of additional lanes, which are currently under review by regional...

AUSTIN - Thousands of Texas residents from across the state gathered at the state capitol Thursday and Friday to protest the issues of public private partnerships, the Security and Prosperity Partnership between Canada, Mexico and North America, and the issues surrounding the Trans-Texas Corridor. Only a public all-day hearing conducted by the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security on Thursday and a protest march on Friday by anti-toll parties from across the state settled the angry and frustrated mood of many who entered the capitol doors or stood on the steps. Bus-loads of residents and elected officials descended on...

Hundreds of people angry with the state's toll road contracts sounded off before state senators Thursday. Public hearings on toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor began early Thursday morning. Senators invited public input because state lawmakers will make some important decisions this session about how to pay for highways. So many people showed up that crowds were forced into overflow rooms. The Texas Department of Transportation and toll roads have found many critics, largely because of the private companies hired to build and run them. There are also questions about how much taxpayers pay for the roads. Speakers sounded...

The Trans-Texas Corridor, Gov. Rick Perry’s massive transportation project, hit some speed bumps Friday. A sharply-worded report from the State Auditor’s Office was released - and a member of the Republican leadership in the House filed a bill to repeal the plan, which could encompass up to 8,000 miles. Brenham Rep. Lois Kolkhorst’s bill is almost identical to one already filed by Democrat state Rep. David Leibowitz of Helotes, near San Antonio. With lawmakers from both sides of the aisle questioning the project, organizers of a March 2 are hoping thousands of Texans will make their way to the state...

February 8, 2007 NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING - TEXAS SENATE Transportation & Homeland Security Committee Senator John Carona, Chairman Public Hearing on State Policy For: Toll Roads; Public Private Partnerships; and, The Trans Texas Corridor 8:30 AM – Thursday, March 1, 2007 Capitol Extension Auditorium URGENT NOTICE to CorridorWatch.org Members and Others Challenging the Wisdom of the TTC: We have expended years of effort challenging the TTC and the hard work is starting to payoff. We are getting the attention of those who can make a real change in the direction of the TTC. Now is not the time to...

A San Antonio-area lawmaker has filed a bill to kill the Trans-Texas Corridor. State Rep. David Leibowitz, D-Helotes, told Waco-based KWTX that the massive toll road project would “destroy rural Texas as we know it.” State Rep. Jim Pitts, R-Waxahachie, whose district includes Ellis and Hill counties, both of which would be impacted by the proposed toll road, said he would be supportive of the measure. “I support efforts to get more control over TxDOT (Texas Department of Transportation) and the Trans-Texas Corridor,” Pitts said. “The Trans-Texas Corridor will have enormous effects on this area and the people who live...

CorridorWatch.org JANUARY, 2007 MEMBER NEWSLETTER Happy New Year From CorridorWatch.org 2007 promises to be a great year for CorridorWatch.org, its members, and its efforts to question the wisdom of the Trans Texas Corridor. We have been very, very busy during the last two months despite the holidays. CorridorWatch.org has seen tremendous growth in both December and January. We have jumped from members in 186 counties to members in 199 counties! We had such a surge in new members in December that our newsletter software crashed. Sadly we lost two weeks of newsletter subscriber information. That followed the failure of our...

Toll-road skeptics and others who oppose long-term leases on Texas roads to private companies, especially foreign ones, are citing the work of a Texas Transportation Institute scholar to make their case for traditional road financing with fuel taxes. Ironically, the findings by associate research scientist David Ellis appear in a report by the Governor's Business Council. And the council, reflecting Gov. Rick Perry's own strong views, is very much in favor of tolls. Caught in the middle, Ellis says his work is being misinterpreted. "People find in there what they want to find and read what they want to read,"...

(October 30, 2006)—The multi-billion-dollar Trans Texas Corridor will pump billions of dollars into the state’s economy and will create millions of jobs according to a new study by Waco-based economist Ray Perryman. Click Here To Read The Full Report In “Moving Into Prosperity: The Potential Impact of the Trans-Texas Corridor on Business Activity in Texas,” Perryman says the project will make the state’s economy more competitive. “Because the TTC enhances efficiency, improves logistics, and reduces transportation time and costs, it increases the ability of companies within the region to expand intrastate trade and operations, and, thus, increase market size and...

Secret parts of a contract for the Trans-Texas Corridor have been out for more than two weeks now. So has a development plan that outlines how state transportation officials and a foreign-led consortium plan to plow the countryside with toll roads and railways to relieve growing traffic on Interstate 35. That's plenty of time to begin scouring the thousands of pages — on the Web at KeepTexasMoving.com — to find out what the big secret was. But so far, no one can or will say if there's a detail, some twist or mumbo jumbo that, if found, would blow the...

On Saturday, October 7, 2006, CorridorWatch.org will host their second Toll & Corridor Summit in Austin, Texas. CorridorWatch.org is pleased to announce Dr. Pat Choate as the featured lunch keynote speaker during the daylong Summit II meeting in Austin. A native of Maypearl, Texas, Pat Choate is an independent thinker unafraid to ruffle establishment feathers. With a doctorate in economics focused on the role of government and industries in economic development, Choate has made waves challenging the benefit of free trade. In 1993, he co-authored with H. Ross Perot the best-selling book "Save Your Job, Save Our Country: Why NAFTA...

ENNIS - Corridor Watch, a nonprofit organization designed to inform the public about aspects of the Trans-Texas Corridor, presented its perceptions about the highway project to an Ellis County audience Thursday evening. The event was sponsored by Independent Texans and held at the Ennis Sixth Grade Center. Corridor Watch, which was founded by Linda and David Stall of Fayetteville, is “first and foremost an educational entity,” said David Stall, who added that the group’s “biggest concern is stopping the Trans-Texas Corridor.” Stall, speaking for the anti-TTC Corridor Watch, raised several questions about the TTC, ranging from its origins to its...

The Democratic candidate for state attorney general pledged on the steps of the McLennan County Courthouse Friday to oppose the Trans-Texas Corridor if he’s elected in November. After a 30-minute speech in which he blasted incumbent Texas Attorney General Greg Abbot and other state Republican leaders, David Van Os put his pledge on record at the McLennan County Clerk’s office in the form of a sworn affidavit. In the affidavit, he promised to “use every legal means available to me by (the office of attorney general) to halt and/or invalidate the unconstitutional and illegal . . . Trans-Texas Corridor.” It...

Multiple superhighway plans, illegal immigration could destroy Republic Multiple NAFTA-related superhighways could slice the United States into economic and social regions, facilitate crime including drug trafficking and illegal immigration and shift huge amounts of money to the rich, critics of the paving plans have told WorldNetDaily. One leader even likens the prospects to "slavery" for the American people, because of the loss of control they would experience. "I don't have time to mince words about this. This is subjugation," William Gheen, a spokesman for Americans for Legal Immigration, told WND Wednesday. "What I'm trying to communicate is this: if you're...

A Texas congressman is asking his colleagues as well as American citizens nationwide to join him in opposing a plan that describes itself as seeking more security and more prosperity for the United States, when in fact it may do neither. Rep. Ron Paul has written his weekly "Texas Straight Talk" column about the "Security and Prosperity Partnership Of North America (SSP)," which, he says, "will likely make us far less secure and certainly less prosperous." A key to that plan, he noted, is a massive new NAFTA superhighway about which WorldNetDaily has run a series of reports. "A massive...

AUSTIN - A proposed toll road that would encircle Dallas-Fort Worth has a new nickname: the Doughnut. Texas Transportation Commission members passed out Krispy Kreme doughnuts Thursday to symbolize their support for the outer loop, which would be built in segments from 2011 to 2030 as part of the Trans-Texas Corridor. They also celebrated the commission's approval Thursday of a new road-building partnership among Metroplex cities and counties, the North Texas Tollway Authority and the state. The partnership would also work with any companies wishing to build private toll roads in the area. "We are committed to the Doughnut," commission...

08.18.06 CorridorWatch.org MEMBER BULLETIN CINTRA'S INSIDE MAN - DAN SHELLEY Cintra consultant turned Governor Perry's legislative aide, turned Cintra lobbyist. It's hard to keep up with who is working for who. Or is it? Austin lobbyist Dan Shelley has been one of Governor Perry's aides and Cintra's inside men. Shelley worked for Cintra making introductions to TxDOT just in time to see them get a winning proposal submitted for the Trans Texas Corridor. Then he worked for Governor Perry just in time to lobby the Legislature to protect and strengthen laws benefiting Cintra. Now he's back working for Cintra again...

CorridorWatch.org Media Alert (06.04.06) Media > News Media Bulletins & Press Releases CorridorWatch.org – June 4, 2006 TxDOT denies media credentials for David Stall of CorridorWatch.org to attend and report on the Texas Transportation Forum (June 8 & 9). CorridorWatch.org was notified Friday by e-mail from TxDOT Public Information Director Randall Dillard that "applications for media credentials are being accepted only for mainstream news media." This is the first time I have been denied media credentials to cover a transportation function. Many of you have seen me at Commission meetings or working at events, such as the Texas Transportation Summit...

ZABCIKVILLE - David and Linda Stall of corridorwatch.com aren’t sure that grassroots organizations opposed to the Trans Texas Corridor can stop the multi-billion dollar highway proposal in its tracks, but at a meeting of the Blackland Coalition on Friday night, they urged coalition members to stay involved in the process. “You are the only thing that can change this,” Linda Stall told more than 300 coalition members early in Friday’s two-hour meeting, which also featured an Austin attorney who outlined the eminent domain process. “You can move a gas station a couple of miles away, but you can’t take fertile...

Texans will soon know have a better idea of where the Trans-Texas Corridor might run. At a Statewide level, Look for the Texas Department of Transportation says it will to unveil a narrowed study area for the a proposed Trans-Texas Corridor in two to five weeks. The state could narrow the focus of the project to a 10-mile-wide swath from the Red River to the Rio Grande. As envisioned, right now, the corridor could combine toll roads, truck lanes and rail lines in one 1,200-foot-wide leg. Proposals so far call mostly for toll roads, with a possible rail line relocation...

I-69 is dead. The TTC-69, however, remains alive and well. What exactly is the difference, between the Interstate and the Trans Texas Corridor projects? According to Nacogdoches Mayor Bob Dunn, the only difference is federal funding. And the absence of that funding, according to some, may be a blessing in disguise. Because the project will most likely be a state project, instead of a federal one, Dunn said, the "politics and red tape" will be dramatically reduced. TTC-69, has always been heralded as having enormous potential as a trade route. But Dunn said there is now a new reason that...

(AXcess News) Washington - Drivers who are sick of rush-hour gridlock may one day soon be able to buy their way out by paying to get into toll road lanes. That's the goal of some environmental and transportation groups, one of which made a sweeping call Tuesday for highway planners to consider tolls as an option for every new U.S. road. Led by the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association, lobbyists said toll roads would help improve under-funded transportation projects by connecting them to private investors' capital. "There's a transportation funding crisis in this country," said Patrick D. Jones, the...

A Fayette County resident who has been actively campaigning against efforts for a "super highway" in Texas has announced his candidacy for the state Senate. David Stall, co-founder of CorridorWatch.org, a statewide non-partisan organization opposing the Trans-Texas Corridor project, has announced his candidacy for the Senate District 18 seat now held by Democrat Ken Armbrister. District 18 includes Washington County. Stall, who will be a Republican candidate, acknowledged his campaign has been stimulated by his objections to the Trans-Texas Corridor. Gov. Rick Perry has pushed the corridor, a multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that would incorporate existing...

‘I-69 is dead’ State, federal officials disagree on status of road By Matt Whittaker The Monitor WESLACO, November 9, 2005 — There are not enough federal dollars for an Interstate highway to the Rio Grande Valley, state officials said Tuesday “I-69 is dead in the state of Texas,” Texas Transportation Commissioner Ted Houghton told about 75 area city officials and business leaders at a lunch discussion about transportation issues. “The road fairy has been shot.” But federal lawmakers said the project to create an Interstate linking major commercial centers in Mexico, the United States and Canada is still alive and...

The Texas Department of Transportation's fight to guard the financial details of the Trans-Texas Corridor has sparked a rallying cry for corridor opponents and resulted in a court battle over open records. Corridor watchdogs argue that the state should make public its financial and development master plans with Cintra Zachry LP, the group chosen by the state to help plan and build the first section of a proposed transportation network that would criss-cross the state with roads, railways and utility infrastructure. “This is the largest land grab in Texas history, and to not let the people see the financial details...

CorridorWatch.org – IN THE NEWS (08.25.05) KCEN-TV CHANNEL 6 NBC AFFILIATE TO AIR TTC SPECIAL FRIDAY A locally produced special report, "The Road to Change," will air at 6:30pm Friday, August 26, 2005, immediately following the six o'clock news throughout Central Texas including Waco, Temple, and Killeen. The special will preempt the popular Wheel of Fortune and should attract a large Texas audience. CorridorWatch.org co-founder David Stall and TxDOT Turnpike Authority Director Phillip Russell will discuss the TTC with KCEN-TV anchorwoman Kelley Barr. Also appearing in a segment of the special is Blackland Coalition President Chris Hammel. KCEN-TV has a...

The state Legislature's passage of a property rights bill last week could result in specific protections for landowners who find themselves in the path of the Trans-Texas Corridor and other state tollway projects, observers said. The Legislature gave final approval on Tuesday to the bill, which restricts governments from using the power of eminent domain to acquire property for the benefit a private party or to create economic development. The bill also includes an amendment that prohibits the Texas Department of Transportation from using eminent domain to acquire land for “ancillary facilities,” such as gas stations and convenience stores, on...

The tradeoff of sacrificing open government to attract private investment in toll roads is beginning to sink in for some local elected leaders. And it's not a comfortable feeling, said City Council members who met Thursday. State officials have promised to let local leaders have input on a recent proposal by Spain-based Cintra and locally owned Zachry American Infrastructure to take over planned toll roads in San Antonio. But to protect trade secrets, state law prohibits public discussion of details. "It's absolutely out of the question," said Councilman Chip Haass, who says private sector dollars to solve traffic problems is...

The Texas Department of Transportation is in the process of identifying preliminary routes for its proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, some of which could be located in Montgomery County. According to Gaby Garcia, spokeswoman for TxDOT's Turnpike Authority Division, TxDOT will conduct approximately 38 public meetings this summer, at which time the proposed routes would be unveiled. A public meeting is tentatively scheduled in Montgomery County in August, she said, although the date and time have not yet been determined. The initial study areas of the I-69/TTC corridor, which is to extend from Mexico to northeast Texas, range from 20 to...

LOTS AND LOTS OF CORRIDOR ACTION TO REPORT > MEETING TONIGHT IN HEMPSTEAD – JOHNSON TO SPEAK > BREWSTER CO JOINS COUNTY OPPOSITION > TxDOT TTC ADVISORY BOARD - 1ST MTG YESTERDAY > HB2702 GOING TO CONFERENCE COMMITTEE > GIANT RURAL REVOLT RALLY NEXT WEEK – JUNE 3RD > CORRIDORWATCH SIGNS IN SECOND PRINTING ===================================== MEETING TONIGHT IN HEMPSTEAD Transportation Commissioner Johnny Johnson is scheduled to speak to Waller County Republicans about the Trans-Texas Corridor tonight in Hempstead. Open to the public, the meeting will be held at the Waller County Courthouse starting at 7:30pm. Last year Commissioner Johnson told...

AUSTIN — Rural landowners carrying protest signs and shouting angry slogans gathered at the Capitol to speak their minds. Their goal: Stopping Gov. Rick Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor. Farmers and ranchers say the huge highway project will gobble thousands of acres of their property only to make money for private toll road companies. “The government is out of control. They’re trying to take our property rights away from us,” said Rep. Harvey Hilderbran, R-Kerrville, one of the legislators who spoke at the May 3 rally. Republican Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn —one of Perry’s potential GOP primary opponents in 2006 — joined...

The Trans-Texas Corridor, an ambitious plan to crisscross the state with new highway, rail and utility lines, is generating increasing opposition from rural counties. So far this year, commissioners courts in 25 rural counties have passed resolutions opposing the plan, complaining that the 1,200-foot-wide corridors would divide farms and communities while giving rural areas little but headaches in return. "It's just too much," said Guadalupe County Judge Donald Schraub last week, when his county went on record as opposing the plan. "It's a good concept, maybe, but it's not well thought out at this point." Texas Department of Transportation officials...