Path of TTC-35 to be released after the Texas Primary
Coming soon: Path of I-35's toll twin
February 20, 2006
Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
Want to know the path of Gov. Rick Perry's first Trans-Texas Corridor toll road? Sometime in the next few weeks, we should have a pretty good idea where it will fall.
This is just one step in a long and bewildering process of getting federal environmental approval for the toll road alternative to Interstate 35, but it could be among the most dramatic.
When the Federal Highway Administration gives its OK — anytime between now and early spring — the Texas Department of Transportation will release a report showing a 10-mile-wide corridor from Oklahoma to Mexico where the TTC-35 would be built.
Ranchers, farmers, elected officials and business people from Gainesville to Pflugerville to Brownsville will be very, very interested to see that path.
Some questions the document will answer:
•Will the toll road go to Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley, or both?
•Will TTC-35 fall east of I-35 (highly likely) or west?
•Will it split south of the Metroplex, as I-35 does, and go both east of Dallas and west of Fort Worth? Or will it cut a single path to one side of Dallas-Fort Worth?
•Will it include Texas 130, the toll road being built along Austin's east frontier?
The assumption up to now has been that, yes, Texas 130 will be a part of it. But state officials say that's not necessarily the case.
And even if it is, the opening of Texas 130 next year from Georgetown to Mustang Ridge wouldn't be the end of the TTC-35 story for Central Texas.
Remember, Perry's vision of the Trans-Texas Corridor is to have not only new highway lanes for cars but eventually also separate truck lanes, plus railroad tracks for freight and passenger rail and paths available for pipelines and electric lines.
So rural folks in Central Texas will have a real interest in the map as well.
•How far away from I-35 will this corridor be?
This particular question has been important enough that it spawned something called the River of Trade Coalition, which advocates for I-35 and the business development attached to it. This group, including the political leadership of Dallas, wants the road close to I-35 so as not to deliver a punishing economic blow to towns along the interstate.
Given that I-35 would remain free to drive and TTC-35 would cost you upward of $20 one-way to Dallas, the interstate is unlikely to become a ghost road. But the equation would change, and that makes people nervous.
•Which rural lands will be affected, and which will be left alone?
Narrowing the path from 10 miles down to a specific line won't occur for two or three more years, as the environmental review moves along. But this announcement will make it clear which landowners can relax and which ones need to remain alert.
The interstates in the 1950s and 1960s mostly followed established highway routes; I-35, for instance, tracked U.S. 81.
But this road will cut a fresh path. Where it goes and doesn't go will determine, to a great degree, where Texas goes for decades to come.
Getting There appears Mondays. For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.
© 2005 Austin American-Statesman: www.statesman.com
February 20, 2006
Ben Wear
Austin American-Statesman
Copyright 2006
Want to know the path of Gov. Rick Perry's first Trans-Texas Corridor toll road? Sometime in the next few weeks, we should have a pretty good idea where it will fall.
This is just one step in a long and bewildering process of getting federal environmental approval for the toll road alternative to Interstate 35, but it could be among the most dramatic.
When the Federal Highway Administration gives its OK — anytime between now and early spring — the Texas Department of Transportation will release a report showing a 10-mile-wide corridor from Oklahoma to Mexico where the TTC-35 would be built.
Ranchers, farmers, elected officials and business people from Gainesville to Pflugerville to Brownsville will be very, very interested to see that path.
Some questions the document will answer:
•Will the toll road go to Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley, or both?
•Will TTC-35 fall east of I-35 (highly likely) or west?
•Will it split south of the Metroplex, as I-35 does, and go both east of Dallas and west of Fort Worth? Or will it cut a single path to one side of Dallas-Fort Worth?
•Will it include Texas 130, the toll road being built along Austin's east frontier?
The assumption up to now has been that, yes, Texas 130 will be a part of it. But state officials say that's not necessarily the case.
And even if it is, the opening of Texas 130 next year from Georgetown to Mustang Ridge wouldn't be the end of the TTC-35 story for Central Texas.
Remember, Perry's vision of the Trans-Texas Corridor is to have not only new highway lanes for cars but eventually also separate truck lanes, plus railroad tracks for freight and passenger rail and paths available for pipelines and electric lines.
So rural folks in Central Texas will have a real interest in the map as well.
•How far away from I-35 will this corridor be?
This particular question has been important enough that it spawned something called the River of Trade Coalition, which advocates for I-35 and the business development attached to it. This group, including the political leadership of Dallas, wants the road close to I-35 so as not to deliver a punishing economic blow to towns along the interstate.
Given that I-35 would remain free to drive and TTC-35 would cost you upward of $20 one-way to Dallas, the interstate is unlikely to become a ghost road. But the equation would change, and that makes people nervous.
•Which rural lands will be affected, and which will be left alone?
Narrowing the path from 10 miles down to a specific line won't occur for two or three more years, as the environmental review moves along. But this announcement will make it clear which landowners can relax and which ones need to remain alert.
The interstates in the 1950s and 1960s mostly followed established highway routes; I-35, for instance, tracked U.S. 81.
But this road will cut a fresh path. Where it goes and doesn't go will determine, to a great degree, where Texas goes for decades to come.
Getting There appears Mondays. For questions, tips or story ideas, contact Getting There at 445-3698 or bwear@statesman.com.
© 2005 Austin American-Statesman:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, February 21, 2006
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