Posted on 07/18/2006 6:16:05 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Though many were unsure, no members of the public spoke in favor of the Trans-Texas Corridor plan at a public hearing in Weatherford Thursday.
The plan, unveiled by Gov. Rick Perry, calls for the construction of a transportation network spanning the state from Laredo to Gainesville.
tate transportation department officials say the corridor is needed because current traffic volumes for most segments of I-35 exceed design capacity. According to the Texas Department of Transportation, 45 percent of 21 million Texans live within 50 miles of I-35.
TxDOT Project Developer Jack Heiss also said half the fatalities on I-35 involved large trucks, which would travel on separate lanes if the corridor is approved as recommended.
“The concept consists of six passenger car lanes, four truck lanes, up to six railroad tracks and a 200 foot reservation for utilities,” Heiss said.
After a lengthy draft environmental impact study was released in April, two routes emerged. The recommended preferred corridor alternative would run east of the Metroplex, though its subordinate, a route through East Parker County, is still considered reasonable.
Fort Worth City Council members aren’t happy with either of the two TxDOT alternatives. Members unanimously approved a resolution supporting the Council of Government/Regional Transportation Council favorite last week. The third alternative would run the corridor up Texas 360 near Mansfield and involve a Fort Worth outer loop.
Approximately 150 citizens showed up at Weatherford College’s Alkek Fine Arts Center to view TxDOT maps and fill out formal comment cards.
Doris Hall, a Weatherford resident, said the corridor is not necessary and she is against it.
“We’ve already got NAFTA, and I just can’t see why we need all this,” she added.
Don Dietrich said he was concerned the state legislature has bitten off more than they can chew.
“I think it would be worse for the quality of life here because Parker County doesn’t draw near the traffic that Dallas does,” he said. “The easier it is to get to Parker County, the more people that are going to come.
Attendees could submit formal comments via computer, dictation or on paper.
“If the overwhelming comments we hear say [people] want it west of Fort Worth, well, it could go west of Fort Worth,” Heiss said, though he noted areas west of Fort Worth involve a tremendous amount of oil and gas properties.
“That’s a major expense because [oil and gas] is a business, and you have a tremendous amount of business damages to pay,” he added.
Val Lopez, a pubic information officer with TxDOT’s Fort Worth district, explained expanding I-35 wasn’t viable because the cost of the immediate surrounding land was too expensive.
“Depending on the study you look at, we may need to add something like eight additional lanes on I-35 in Fort Worth and Dallas,” he said. “The reason we can’t do that, is the right of way would be hundreds of millions of dollars.”
Lopez pointed out other factors influencing the preferred route selection process.
“Even just by myself, sitting in my office, I knew this path wouldn’t go through the LBJ National Grasslands north of Decatur because that’s the kind of thing they’re going to try to avoid,” he said. “They’re not going to go through a federal park.”
Because the project is still in preliminary stages, a future time line associated with the Trans-Texas Corridor remains speculative and unclear.
The Federal Highway Administration is expected to approve Tier 1, the project’s current phase, by the spring of next year. Tier II would provide a footprint dictating where the actual concrete would go, Lopez said, and would take two to five years to complete. After that, he said right-of-way acquisition could begin and then detailed planning.
“You wont see dirt move for a while... it could be, more or less, 10 years,” he said.
Heiss said he didn’t think any land acquisition or construction would take place any sooner than five years from now.
“Building in this corridor could be spread over many, many years,” he said. “So many I don’t even want to speculate.”
For more recent stories about or mentioning the Trans-Texas Corridor:
It's just a road guys, and where it parallels "The Big Inch" and "The Little Inch", why that plan was in place back when FDR was President and Commies were running the State Department!
Big Inch and Little Inch? What do those suggestive terms denote?
That's one of the reasons I moved to California. Out here they have all kinds of transportation networks spanning the state. They call them "roads".
I'm just kidding! I was forcibly removed from Texas against my will. I miss the gravel.
The only thing the government can do well is kill people and break things, as for this fiasco, good f'ing luck.
A more recent variation of this right of way concept is for the route to continue on up I-69 in Indiana so that it connects with Canada at Detroit/Windsor rather than over in New York.
You didn't know about 'em?
They were pretty popular in WWII.
I am driving a 100 miles of I-20 everyday and noticing a fair number of ratty tractors and trailers listing El Paso as home.
Thanks for the ping!
"...it could be, more or less, 10 years,” he said."
And the cost of the project would be..................?
BTTT
To taxpayers: Less than $50 million, for initial studies.
Total cost is approx. $6 billion, with virtually all of that being financed privately, along with a $1.2 billion concession fee paid by the private company to the state for the operating lease (the state will maintain ownership.) Part of that $1.2 billion will probably be used by the state to upgrade roads connecting the TTC to urban areas, the remaining surplus for non-related road projects.
bump.
You're welcome.
Thanks for the info.
That's not bad. I'd probably be in favor of that if I lived in that area.
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