http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/us281/ en-us Mon, 3 Nov 2008 01:40:04 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2123014/posts U.S. Highway 281 Presentation >> Priority 1: Spend $75 million to build five overpasses in Falfurrias.>> Priority 2: A $13 million Ben Bolt overpass at Farm-to-Market Road 2508 is proposed to create a safer school zone and eliminate another traffic barrier.>> Priority 3: Dedicate anywhere from $40 million to $104 million to build tolled relief route around Premont or upgrade the existing route with tolled freeway lanes.>> Priority 4: A $50 million project in George West to build connectors to U.S. Highway 59 and Interstate 37.McALLEN -- Whether the route is eventually called Interstate 69 or the Trans-Texas Corridor, four... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2123014/posts#comment Mon, 3 Nov 2008 01:40:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056164/posts The Texas Transportation Commission approves the staff recommendation for a proposal by Zachry American Infrastructure and ACS Infrastructure (ZAI/ACS) to develop the Texas portion of Interstate 69. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) selected the ZAI/ACS proposal over a proposal from Bluebonnet Infrastructure Investors. The proposed ZAI/ACS master plan would develop the southern section of U.S. Highway 77 to interstate standards without tolling that portion of the road. The proposal advances planning for I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC). The selection of ZAI/ACS for a development contract has no impact on TxDOT's environmental study that will determine the route for I-69/TTC. TxDOT will... Associated Construction Publications http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2056164/posts#comment Mon, 4 Aug 2008 13:13:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054816/posts “Regardless of losing funding, TxDOT is moving ahead,” said Larry Tegtmeyer, district engineer for the Wichita Falls District of the Texas Department of Transportation during his report Thursday morning to the Texas Transportation Commission. The Texas Transportation Commission is a five-member board appointed by the governor to oversee TxDOT. The commission met Thursday in the J.S. Bridwell Auditorium at Midwestern State University. It was the first time in 12 years that the commission had met in Wichita Falls. Tegtmeyer was enthusiastic about reporting the district’s accomplishments under a tight budget. In November, the Texas Department of Transportation announced budget cuts... The Wichita Falls Times Record News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2054816/posts#comment Fri, 1 Aug 2008 13:04:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046301/posts Member of the Texas Sunset Commission today recommended 'radical' changes in the administration of the Texas Department of Transportation, including placing the troubled and controversial agency into a four year legislative 'receivership' and abolishing the Texas Transportation Commission, which runs TexDOT, and appointment of a Transportation Commissioner who would be answerable to the Legislature, 1200 WOAI news reports. But Sunset Commission member Rep. Ruth Jones McClendon (D-San Antonio) suggested going one step further. "What I am hearing form the public is that they are wanting to see an elected commissioner," she said to loud applause from the TexDOT opponents who... WOAI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046301/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:24:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045728/posts Toll road opponents today will ask the Sunset Advisory Committee of the Texas Legislature to abolish the Texas Department of Transportation, saying the agency has become too corrupt and too dysfunctional to fix, 1200 WOAI news reports. "We want to see elected leadership at the helm of Tex-DOT," says long time toll road opponent Terri Hall, the founder of the citizen action group Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom. "We are done with this unelected beaurocracy that is just an arm of private road building companies and the lackeys of this governor." The idea of eliminating TexDOT and establishing a... WOAI http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2045728/posts#comment Tue, 15 Jul 2008 13:24:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029994/posts State highway officials said Wednesday that the first step in carrying out their decision to build a controversial toll road along the present U.S. 59, and not through farm and ranch land, is to get federal approval. Although no federal funding has been sought for the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, the Texas Department of Transportation is bound by federal environmental law. The project has generated thick volumes about its likely impact on the natural environment and the communities in its path. The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is expected to undergo public review late this year and then get sent to... The Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029994/posts#comment Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:19:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029355/posts Responding to concerns that a superhighway project running from East Texas to the border with Mexico could cut through private lands, state transportation officials said Tuesday that they will only consider putting it along existing roads. State officials have held almost 50 public meetings and received about 28,000 responses from residents about the proposed Interstate 69 project, which would be part of the so-called Trans-Texas Corridor network of toll roads. The "overwhelming sentiment" of the comments from the public was that the state should focus on using existing roads instead of carving new ones out of the countryside, said Amadeo... The Austin American-Statesman http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2029355/posts#comment Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:39:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027714/posts WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady lead a group of nine Texas lawmakers on Friday, from both political parties, in urging the Texas Department of Transportation to remove the Interstate 69 project from the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor and return it to its original route which brings existing highways U.S. 59, U.S. 281 and U.S 77 up to interstate standards. In a letter to Deirdre Delisi, the new chair of the Texas Transportation Commission, the lawmakers maintain that "public support for the original I-69 project - which focused on bringing existing highways up to interstate standards and existed long before... KBTX.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2027714/posts#comment Sat, 7 Jun 2008 23:43:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2019138/posts McALLEN -- State senators on Tuesday ordered transportation officials to assess Texas' highway system and prioritize which regions are most in need of new roads. "We're expecting a full report, not some two-page letter," said state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security. "You can't begin addressing the funding problems until you know when the roads are expected to come on line." The transportation committee, which met Tuesday morning at McAllen City Hall, has been at odds with the Texas Department of Transportation since earlier this year, when the agency announced the halt... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2019138/posts#comment Wed, 21 May 2008 14:38:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001110/posts Despite the uproar over the state's proposal to build Trans-Texas Corridor 69 through East Texas, Lufkin's mayor says he supports the highway — as long as it follows the path of the current U.S. Highway 59. The Trans Texas Corridor/I-69 project is a statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways and utility right-of-ways. Anyone wishing to comment on the proposed road can go online to www.keeptexasmoving.com. TxDOT has expanded its public comment period for TTC-69 to Friday, April 18. Gov. Rick Perry appointed Gorden, along with 17 other Texans, to an I-69... The Lufkin Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2001110/posts#comment Mon, 14 Apr 2008 00:44:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990404/posts South Texas is not only going to get its first interstate - it is also going to get a second and a third. State transportation officials knew one of three southern highways - U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County, U.S. Highway 77 in Cameron County or U.S. Highway 59 in Webb County - would eventually become part of an interstate stretching from the Texas-Mexico border to Texarkana, in the northeast part of the state. Only Webb County is currently served by an interstate. The state's Trans-Texas Corridor plan calls for an Interstate 69 extension linking South Texas to points north,... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990404/posts#comment Sun, 23 Mar 2008 23:49:55 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1985893/posts Officials with the Spanish toll road operator Cintra have announced that the company has secured $430 million in loans from the U.S. government to build and operate two segments of a toll road in central Texas. Cintra officials announced the company’s financial plan for the $1.36 billion Highway 130 segments on Monday, March 10. OOIDA Senior Government Affairs Representative Mike Joyce told Land Line that the Association does raise red flags when federal dollars are used to subsidize private investors. Officials with the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association are not, however, categorically opposed to a state using future toll revenue to... Land Line Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1985893/posts#comment Fri, 14 Mar 2008 23:23:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1969263/posts Trucks hauling everything from cars to produce use Southeast Texas roads to deliver their goods, and when a proposed Interstate 69/Trans Texas Corridor is completed, local drivers could see even more of them, local transportation officials said. The proposed I-69 corridor stretches from Michigan down to Texas. Once in Texas, the corridor goes about 650 miles from Texarkana to Brownsville and Laredo and includes separate lanes for cars and semis and areas for trains and utilities. It doesn't cut through Beaumont, but local arteries like U.S. 69 and Interstate 10 would connect to it. Travelers and truckers just need to... Beaumont Enterprise http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1969263/posts#comment Tue, 12 Feb 2008 22:04:34 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968867/posts McALLEN — In other parts of the state, transportation officials try to allay property owners' fears that a superhighway from Laredo north to Texarkana will result in a massive land grab. But in the lower Rio Grande Valley, the state's road builders spend more time assuring local leaders that they have a shot at being included. People in the fast-growing border area between Brownsville and McAllen have developed something of an inferiority complex about being the state's largest metropolitan area without an interstate highway. One after another, Valley leaders stepped to a microphone at public meetings last week and made... Houston Chronicle http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1968867/posts#comment Tue, 12 Feb 2008 02:19:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963594/posts WESLACO — Nearly 80 people filled a lecture hall here Thursday for a town hall forum with Texas Department of Transportation officials on a potential interstate highway designation in the region. The forum at South Texas College’s Mid-Valley Campus was the first of four planned public meetings in the Rio Grande Valley addressing the state’s Trans-Texas Corridor plan for an Interstate 69 extension linking South Texas to points north. TxDOT is developing plans for the first interstate in eastern Texas to connect Texarkana to one of three points in the south: U.S. Highway 281 in Hidalgo County, U.S. Highway 77... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1963594/posts#comment Sat, 2 Feb 2008 02:10:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1962257/posts Some Texans are afraid of losing their land to the Trans-Texas Corridor while others loathe the thought of a quarter-mile-wide swath of toll roads and railway lines transforming the countryside into a superhighway. People continue to turn out in droves at public meetings concerning the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor proposal, specifically the portion known as the TTC-69 proposed from Brownsville to Texarkana. A meeting Monday, Jan. 28, at the fairgrounds in Austin County was no exception, drawing more than 1,000 people. Opposition to the proposed corridor has come from people in all walks of life, said Chris Steinbach, chief of staff... Land Line Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1962257/posts#comment Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:09:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1955829/posts Hundreds showed up to a town hall meeting Thursday night in Lufkin, many with questions for Texas Department of Transportation officials about the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor that could run through or around Lufkin, Nacogdoches, Huntsville and other East Texas towns. As it's drawn up, I-69/TTC would include toll roads, high-speed freight and commuter rail, water lines, oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and telecommunications infrastructure in one corridor running north/south through Texas. One primary purpose of the corridor would be to help with the state's projected traffic congestion. Although TxDOT directors assured everyone that nothing is set in stone and... Lufkin Daily News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1955829/posts#comment Fri, 18 Jan 2008 17:51:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926902/posts The much touted — and disputed — Trans-Texas Corridor may be one step away from a pipe dream and one step closer to a reality. The group this week released its Tier 1 Environmental Impact study, a look at how building the highway, dubbed I-69, running from Texarkana to Laredo, would affect the 50 or so counties it would run through. Bryan Wood, district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation in Bryan, said the first study only looks at how the many initially proposed component of the highway would impact the surrounding areas. “We’re still a long ways away... Huntsville Item http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1926902/posts#comment Fri, 16 Nov 2007 22:09:45 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925977/posts The new Interstate 69 should be built in Texas mostly along existing highways – including U.S. 59, U.S. 77 and U.S. 281 – according to a draft environmental report released Tuesday. The federal environmental report recommends that the new interstate enter Texas from the east at Shreveport, La., travel south near Houston and head west to near Laredo. At the eastern part of the state, it would also connect north to Interstate 30 near Texarkana. Tuesday's report – called a draft environmental impact statement – is far from the final word on exactly where the interstate will go. The draft... Dallas Morning News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925977/posts#comment Thu, 15 Nov 2007 04:24:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919810/posts Coin trays in Texas cars may actually get to see the faces of dead presidents. The much-discussed and controversial Trans-Texas Corridor, or TTC, has breathed life into the debate of toll roads in Texas. Plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor include TTC-Instate 35, which starts in Laredo and extends north to Gainesville, running along the eastern part of Texas; and Interstate 69/TCC, which has three openings in Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville and follows the coast to Texarkana. Much of the TTC will be privately operated toll roads, run by the Spanish firm Cintra. The TTC will not run through San Antonio,... The Ranger http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1919810/posts#comment Fri, 2 Nov 2007 00:54:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1916457/posts Three private groups are now in the hunt to build U.S. 281 toll lanes, but two big foreign companies competing just a short while ago to build and lease a larger toll network here have dropped out. The Alamo Regional Mobility Authority board voted Wednesday to let all three teams submit plans to rebuild U.S. 281 north of Loop 1604 into a tollway with free access roads by 2012. It's the fledging agency's first project. "Goodness knows we have been two and a half years getting here," board member Bob Thompson said. "Maybe it's even more important to see the... San Antonio Express-News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1916457/posts#comment Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:47:09 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1908963/posts 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... The Monitor http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1908963/posts#comment Wed, 10 Oct 2007 01:35:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1896192/posts The Interstate 69 corridor, a Mexico-to-Canada concept discussed since 1991, has received government recognition as a "corridor of the future," a designation that immediately means $800,000 in federal money for studies. Local officials say it could mean more trade in South Texas. The corridor -- a 2,680-mile international trade route from Mexico to Canada also known as the Trans-Texas Corridor-69 -- was one of two designated Tuesday as corridors of the future. Interstate 10 from California to Florida also received recognition. Hailed as a route that would facilitate trade resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement, I-69's Texas portion... Corpus Christi Caller-Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1896192/posts#comment Fri, 14 Sep 2007 01:02:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893719/posts Transportation was a hot subject during the recent legislative session - and it continues to be so in the interim. This week, several Texas lawmakers, Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson and state Reps. Joe Farias, David Leibowitz, Nathan Macias and others held a press conference in San Antonio in protest against current transportation policy and the Texas Department of Transportation. Key among their concerns are recent reports the state agency has launched a public relations plan to promote the Trans-Texas Corridor and to lobby for toll roads. Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom founder Terri Hall is among those criticizing... Waxahachie Daily Light http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1893719/posts#comment Mon, 10 Sep 2007 00:32:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844804/posts Now that legislators have gone home and trumpeted how they passed a bill to freeze private financing of toll roads, the governor's office has some bubble-busting news. There isn't much of a moratorium in Senate Bill 792. "Of any kind, that we can tell," said Robert Black, spokesman for Gov. Rick Perry. "Unless there was something screwy that happened." Actually, there were plenty of screwy machinations in the Legislature as lawmakers hammered out bills to rein in tolling powers of the Texas Department of Transportation. Slapping a two-year moratorium on privatization contracts started out simple. But skittish lawmakers carved out... San Antonio Express-News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1844804/posts#comment Mon, 4 Jun 2007 23:24:13 GMT