Free Republic

The Pineywoods Sub-Regional Planning Commission met Thursday to hear a presentation by the commission's president, Hank Gilbert, who said the plans to move the Trans-Texas Corridor to the current U.S. Hwy. 59 location may not come to fruition. The Texas Department of Transportation initially planned to build a new highway system, which would have been as large as 1,200-feet wide, that would run through rural areas of East Texas, including Nacogdoches County. However, TxDOT scrapped those plans in June and announced a new proposal to build the TTC along the existing route of U.S. Hwy 59. But Gilbert, of the...

It has been roughly three months since residents of Huntsville and Walker County attended town hall meetings to voice their opinion on the Trans-Texas Corridor/I-69 project to the Texas Department of Transportation. There was no question then that there was strong opposition to the proposed 1,600-mile national highway, and it seems as though residents’ efforts to stop it has not lost any of its momentum. Several residents attended the Walker County Commissioners Court on Monday morning, expressing concerns about the project and encouraged the court to take another step of action. The five-member court agrees with the majority of the...

Texas spirit was alive and well at the Navasota DEIS public hearing on Feb. 28. Opposition groups, such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, came from as far as Washington, D.C. to give recorded testimony, and get a first hand look at TxDOT process procedures. Assistant Director of Communications, Leigh Strope, who attended the meeting on behalf of the 34,000 Texas Teamsters Union members, says, “Teamsters want to stop the dangerous trend of selling our roads and bridges to foreign investors so they can slap tolls on the driving public. We are also concerned because the Trans-Texas Corridor would form...

NACOGDOCHES — The rows of extra chairs brought into the The Fredonia's biggest meeting room Thursday night were not enough to accommodate more than 750 people who attended an open house and public hearing on the proposed TTC-69 highway. Texas Department of Transportation officials heard hours of public testimony that continued late into the night overwhelmingly opposed to the construction of new roadways through East Texas. Applause throughout the hours-long meeting never swelled as loudly as it did when the first speaker of the night, state Rep. Wayne Christian, told TxDOT representatives emphatically that "our answer is 'no' on the...

The majority of residents from Walker and area counties made it clear Wednesday night how they feel about the proposed I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor. They are strongly opposed to it. An estimated 800 people took action on the controversial issue. The second town hall meeting in Huntsville, offering a chance for open dialogue between residents and the Texas Department of Transportation, took on a different tone than the initial meeting Jan. 23 at the Walker Education Center. With the main building at the Walker County Fairgrounds able to accommodate the large crowd, property owners and other residents expressed their dissatisfaction with Gov....

More than 800 people packed a meeting hall in Hempstead for a public meeting on the Trans-Texas Corridor. Seven more public sessions are scheduled. Residents are speaking out about a controversial highway that would cut right through the state. The state plans to build a 4,000-mile network of super-highway toll roads. In Hempstead on Tuesday, many residents said that road could cost them their property. Odis Styers owns hundreds of acres north, east and west of town. But the traffic that now travels through on State Highway 290 could interrupt his peace. A TxDOT super highway could soon plow through...

McALLEN — State transportation officials are still months from making a final decision about the location of the much-heralded Interstate 69 superhighway from Canada to Mexico. Still deep in the preliminary study phases of an environmental impact assessment, Texas Department of Transportation officials are making headway toward a decision on whether to use existing U.S. highways 77 to Harlingen, 281 to Edinburg or 57, which connects to Laredo, or build an entirely new road. I-69, known as Trans-Texas Corridor 69 in the state of Texas, is a proposal for a 2,600-mile highway system running from Canada to Mexico. About 1,000...

Rural Texas on edge as state prepares to reveal general route of TTC-35 MALONE — On this particular morning, fog has Texas 171 socked in for the whole 15 miles east from Hillsboro to this tiny German farm town. While you can tell that the winter-bare black loam is mostly flat moving toward the invisible horizon, you can only guess what might lie beyond. Barger Geltmeier and Benny Mynar and their fellow Hill County farmers have a pretty good idea, however, what might be forming out in the fog near Austin and heading their way, and they don't much like...

Residents eye proposal for new highway project Dozens of area residents examined maps of proposed routes and discussed the implications of the proposed I-69 Trans-Texas Corridor at an open house Wednesday in Calallen. Still in its preliminary stages, the proposed highway will stretch from Mexico to Canada. In Texas, it generally will follow U.S. Highway 59 from Texarkana to Victoria. From there it will split and go to both Laredo and the Rio Grande Valley, roughly following U.S. Highways 59 and 77. The project is undergoing an environmental impact study, said Doug Booher, TXDOT environmental manager. Fred Wollmann, who lives...

2/17 CORRIDOR OPEN HOUSE HITS TOWN AGAIN: North-south route at midway point of planning process, official says By LOYD COOK/Daily Sun Staff In the latest step in the evolution of Gov. Rick Perry's Trans Texas Corridor project, area residents examined large-scale maps, explanatory informational graphics and talked with Texas Department of Transportation representatives Wednesday. It was all part of an open house held in the commons area of Corsicana High School. Doug Booher, an TxDOT environmental manager, said the project is about halfway through the multi-step planning process. The Trans Texas Corridor is envisioned as a multi-modal effort that would...

Paris and Lamar County are still in the loop as the Texas Department of Transportation proceeds toward a new 800-mile-long route to more efficiently move traffic from Mexico to Oklahoma, the project manager for the so-called Trans-Texas Corridor says. TxDOT officials were at Paris Junior College from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday for the second time in four months to listen to concerns about Gov. Rick Perry’s pet project. The meeting was one of 47 being held from the Rio Grande to the Red River from Feb. 7 to Feb. 24 in North Texas, Feb. 10 through March 10 in...

Making tacks By Kathy Williams Herald Democrat Editor's note: This is the first in an occasional series on the Trans-Texas Corridor and how it will affect Texoma drivers. State officials held public hearings in Sherman and Gainesville this week on proposed paths of the Trans-Texas Corridor. The Corridor is a futuristic infrastructure promoters of the concept say will move people, freight and utilities as efficiently, safely and quickly as possible. Texas Gov. Rick Perry introduced the concept in January 2002, estimating its total cost at $145.2 billion to $183.5 billion. The Texas Department of Transportation took the concept and developed...