Free Republic

AUSTIN - In what sounds like another tall tale told by a Texan, the Lone Star State has embarked on an audacious project to build superhighways so big, so complex, that they will make ordinary interstates look like cow paths. The Trans-Texas Corridor project, as envisioned by Republican Gov. Rick Perry in 2002, would be a 4,000-mile transportation network costing $175 billion over 50 years, financed mostly if not entirely with private money. The builders would charge motorists tolls. But these would not be mere highways. They would be megahighways -- corridors up to a quarter-mile across, consisting of as...

A company selected to build a toll road from Dallas-Fort Worth to San Antonio has a reputation for aggressively collecting money from motorists, treating customers poorly and frequently raising tolls without public input. Those are among the complaints lodged against Cintra -- selected in December to build the first leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor -- by motorists on the company's toll roads in Toronto and Chicago. Across North America, private companies such as Cintra are spending billions of dollars to build roads in exchange for the right to collect tolls for 50 to 100 years -- relieving taxpayers of the...

The next meeting concerning the Trans-Texas Corridor has been set for 5-8 p.m. Feb. 10 at the Gainesville Civic Center. Officials have set forth the corridor as a way to alleviate traffic on the state's major highways by building a system of highways, railroads and utilities that stretch about 1,200-feet wide. Such a corridor also would bypass major metropolitan areas of Dallas, Austin, San Antonio and Houston. From Feb. 7 through March 31, Texas Department of Transportation officials plan to have 47 meetings throughout the Interstate 35 corridor area, which covers 800 miles in length and 77 counties, according to...

The time to speak out and ask questions about the Trans Texas Corridor is near. Residents in Caldwell and Guadalupe counties will get a better understanding of potential impacts to their land usage and future tax revenues next month during Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) public meetings concerning the proposed corridor. The corridor, as envisioned, would consist of a network of brand-new "transportation routes" that would carry passenger vehicles and large trucks in separate lanes and also provide for railway freight, high-speed commuter rail and "infrastructure" for utilities including water, oil, gas, electricity, broadband and "other telecommunications services," TxDOT says....

The Trans-Texas Corridor plan outlines a new vision for transportation in Texas. This proposed multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes will make driving safer, send hazardous cargo around populated areas, and sustain and enhance economic development. (Excerpt from website contents)