Posted on 12/09/2005 9:34:42 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Perry Announces Plan to Accelerate Interstate 69
Ambitious Transportation Corridor Will Create Jobs, Trade Opportunities
HOUSTON - Gov. Rick Perry today announced an ambitious plan to partner with the private sector to develop an interstate-quality highway corridor with additional rail freight capacity that connects the Lower Rio Grande River Valley to I-37 and continues along the south and east portions of Texas from Corpus Christi through Houston all the way to northeast Texas. The visionary transportation project, TTC-69, will connect industrial hubs in South Texas and the Midwest.
“When construction is complete, Texas will benefit from unprecedented trade opportunities, a faster, more reliable transportation system, and thousands of new jobs,” Perry said. “For decades Texas has relied on the private sector to finance and build our telecommunications and utility infrastructure. It’s time we harnessed the private sector to finance our roads and railroads, too.”
Perry made the announcement at the annual meeting of the I-69 Alliance, a non-profit group of public and private sector leaders from east and south Texas. The Alliance was formed 12 years ago to advance the goal of developing the I-69 corridor. I-69 is the combination of two federally designated High Priority Corridors, which together form the shortest route between the industrial northeast and the South Texas border with Mexico.
“Instead of baby steps, I say it’s time for Texas to take a giant leap forward. We can build the needed corridors that will connect the Texas cities and towns along the proposed I-69 route,” Perry told the group.
Perry pointed out that Texas received scant support to design and construct transportation routes in the last two federal transportation bills. A recent overhaul of the Texas transportation code expanded the authority of TxDOT in both highway and rail infrastructure development.
“Texas has never been a state that waits for others to lead or innovate, and we’ve never been afraid to try something new when the old ways don’t work anymore,” Perry said. “We have no better choice than public-private partnerships. They are the wave of the future because they are faster, cheaper and fairer, charging a cost only to those who use toll roads.”
Perry previously advanced the development of I-69 in 2002, when transportation secretary Norman Mineta asked Texas to propose a highway project for accelerated environmental review. Since then, the Texas Department of Transportation has been studying the corridor to determine how to minimize the project’s environmental impact. The study is approaching the half-way point.
“We don’t know exactly what needs to be built and where it will go until after the environmental study is complete. But I-69 was always envisioned as an upgrade of the existing infrastructure into interstate quality roads,” Perry added. “Widening existing roads, adding truck lanes beside existing lanes, adding additional freight rail capacity, they are all components of the I-69 dream that the Trans Texas Corridor model can build much, much sooner.”
Perry unveiled his Trans Texas Corridor plan in 2002. The plan is a new vision for transportation that leverages the resources of the private sector to build needed infrastructure more quickly. The Corridor will be built as the state grows over the next 50 years and is expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs, save commuters time with speed limits up to 85 mph, take hazardous cargo out of our most populated areas, provide for passenger rail between cities, and significantly reduce air pollution.
The U.S. Department of Transportation has said that the Trans Texas Corridor is helping make Texas "a national example for all states" for innovative transportation solutions.
Perry wants private support for I-69 corridor
Push on to move Farm Bureau conventions out of Waco
Highways, drought part of Texas Farm Bureau mix
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
good grief this stupid idea just wont die.
The Corrider is crap. Who the hell needs high speed and commuter trains that do not go into the major cities of Texas??? What a waste of money. We should call it "The Train to Nowhere"
This meeting was not about what I expected :)
Politics-- pure and simple. Perry is not much of a governor.
" I-69 is the combination of two federally designated High Priority Corridors"
One would have thought "I-69" would have gotten the highest possible attention during the Clinton years.
The NAFTA highway is intended to drive a stake directly into America's heartland, transforming us into a Third World Banana Republic.
BTTT
Thanks for the ping!
Clinton was more into I-68, IOW "I owe you one"
You're welcome. :-)
Any maps available?
The only I-69 I'm familiar with has terminations in Port Huron, MI and Indy, IN.
But it is being extended all the way to the Mexican border while going through as many states an congressional districts as possible. Yes, Trent Lott did make sure it will go through Mississippi.
Nobody wants this thing EXCEPT big business. Perry needs to sit down and shut up till his term's over. Otherwise we're gonna have a democrat governor before too long.
I was on the future I-69 Corridor this afternoon for a 120 miles or so. They are working on sections of US 59 now south of Houston towards Victoria.
This piece meal approach to road construction needs to be solved. I don't know if private industry is the answer but this bit of building 6 to 8 miles of highway over a couple of years and then letting another 6 to 8 mile contract is crap.
They are expanding I-10 east of Beaumont to the State line to six lanes. They have been working on this expansion for a few years now. There was an article a few days ago announcing another 4.3 mile section to begin construction in 06. They estimate the completion of the entire project to be at least another 10 years.
The section of I-45 from Corsicana to Dallas has been under construction for widening for the last several years in 6 mile or so segments. It seems they will never get it completed. Texas has some 75,000+ centerline miles of roadway.... That's a lot to maintain and rebuild.
Is it just me...?
eminant domain?
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