Free Republic

AUSTIN - Advisory committees are being developed to provide public input on where the Trans-Texas Corridor should be located and what it should look like. The committees will enhance public involvement during on-going Trans-Texas Corridor environmental studies and provide guidance on how the corridor can be developed to best serve local communities. “Through the advisory committees, local officials and citizens can be more involved in the planning process than ever before,” said Ted Houghton, member of the Texas Transportation Commission. “They will have a huge say in shaping the Trans-Texas Corridor.” The Texas Transportation Commission today approved rules establishing the...

The Walker County Commissioners Court will hear a presentation on the I-69 Corridor project during a regular session today. Michael Parks will give the presentation to the five-member court at 9 a.m. at the courthouse. Sherri Pegoda, administrative assistant to the County Judge Danny Pierce, said the presentation will educate the court on how the project will affect Walker County. According to Keep Texas Moving Web site, “On November 13, the Texas Department of Transportation, in coordination with the Federal Highway Administration, released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposal for the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor Project.” The project, expected to...

Deficit may top $1.8 billion by fiscal 2012 with current slate of road projects AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation, working to fend off a funding shortfall, intends to cut hundreds of millions of dollars budgeted for everything from consulting engineers to right-of-way purchases. The plan wouldn't affect existing road projects, and it's "difficult to say" what future projects would be delayed as a result, agency spokesman Randall Dillard said Friday. Projections show that if existing plans on awarding contracts and expenditures were to go forward, the department would have at least a $1.8 billion deficit by fiscal year...

IRVING — Just two months after the state's transportation department got its latest marching orders from the Legislature, a leading state senator said Tuesday the agency is as arrogant as ever. At a hearing of the Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee, Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas, accused Texas Department of Transportation officials of circumventing legislative intent and even refusing to explain what they're up to. "What does it take to get TxDOT to listen to the will of the legislators?" he said. "It is a core attitude of arrogance that I believe still exists." Carona made the same complaint last...

MARSHALL — The proposed construction of Interstate 69 has been placed on a short list of projects that could receive preferential treatment over other transportation projects for federal funding, officials said. Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters said this week that a final decision should be made this summer on which projects will be given the funding priority. If I-69 is selected by the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of the Corridors of the Future program, the federal department will aggressively support the project to move it "from the drawing board to completion faster than ever before," Peters said in...

The Texas Department of Transportation's fight to guard the financial details of the Trans-Texas Corridor has sparked a rallying cry for corridor opponents and resulted in a court battle over open records. Corridor watchdogs argue that the state should make public its financial and development master plans with Cintra Zachry LP, the group chosen by the state to help plan and build the first section of a proposed transportation network that would criss-cross the state with roads, railways and utility infrastructure. “This is the largest land grab in Texas history, and to not let the people see the financial details...