They'll spend more on roadsigns than it's worth.................
Posted on 06/11/2008 5:39:02 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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 Saenz, executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Transportation officials said they would use only existing corridors, such as U.S. 59 in East Texas from Texarkana to Houston and U.S. 77 and U.S. 281 in South Texas, in their environmental studies for the project. If existing roads need to be expanded, only new traffic lanes would be tolled.
Many people said they want the project to be built, but many others were concerned that they would lose land to the superhighway system, Saenz said.
"We are dropping consideration of new corridors that would run west of Houston in addition to other proposals for new highway footprint in other parts of the state," said Ted Houghton, a member of the state transportation commission.
The existing roads policy applies only to the I-69 project and not to the I-35 corridor leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor project, which is separate and under contract, Saenz said.
Opponents of the Trans-Texas Corridor characterize it as the largest government grab of private property in the state's history and an unneeded and improper expansion of toll roads.
Gov. Rick Perry and transportation officials have defended the project as necessary to address future traffic concerns in one of the nation's fastest-growing states. They also say the project is vital because of insufficient road revenues from the state gas tax and the federal government.
The project's cost has been estimated at almost $200 billion, and it could take as long as 50 years to complete.
Supporters of the corridor and toll roads say they are the only way the state's growth can be accommodated without increasing gasoline taxes. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, residents of the fast-growing border area between Brownsville and McAllen have noted with frustration that it is the state's largest metropolitan area without an interstate highway.
Last month, the Texas Transportation Commission adopted guiding policies for developing toll road projects in the Trans-Texas Corridor and the state highway system.
They include limiting tolls to new lanes added to an existing highway and maintaining the number of lanes that are not tolled.
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
They'll spend more on roadsigns than it's worth.................
BTTT
Why are we spending $200 billion to completely gut manufacturing in this country?
“The existing roads policy applies only to the I-69 project and not to the I-35 corridor leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor project, which is separate and under contract”
Under Contract?
When’s the groundbreaking? Are they acquiring land?
Is SH 130 part of the TTC? (currently being completed by Cintra/Zachry)
Must be news to the landowners involved.
Houston PING
“If existing roads need to be expanded, only new traffic lanes would be tolled.”
Why indeed. Suicide by NAFTA.
Gov. Rick Perry and transportation officials have defended the project as necessary to address future traffic concerns in one of the nation's fastest-growing states. They also say the project is vital because of insufficient road revenues from the state gas tax and the federal government.
There won't be any "future traffic concerns" if the price of gasoline heads much higher. If Gov. Goodhair thinks the state isn't receiving sufficient road revenues from the gas tax, maybe he should take that 25% back which is allocated to education.
So then cut SPENDING you pathetic RINOs.
I'm not believing anything these buzzards tell us. When Houston was trying to raise money for the beltway 20 years ago, they said the toll would only last a certain length of time to pay for the toll road. When the time came, a reporter from one of the local TV stations confronted the head of the toll authority, asking if the tolls were going to be stopped.
"If we stop the tolls on the beltway, we'll have to raise taxes some other way to pay for new road improvements elsewhere in Houston," was his excuse.
It's a slippery slope. Once there is an avenue for revenue, the government rarely stops taking it in. They just argue about how to spend the money.
That will take a (state) constitutional amendment.
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