Ric Williamson: "This is the best solution and the only solution."
Trans-Texas Corridor may stay close to I-35
April 4, 2006
By TONY HARTZEL
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
A coordinated network of toll roads, rail lines and utility lines should be built on or very near one of the main concrete arteries of Texas commerce, according to a new report and study released Tuesday.
And Texas Transportation officials have chosen “a study area” connected with Interstate 35 as the preferred route for the so-called Trans-Texas Corridor.
Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, said the gigantic public works project will help ease terrible traffic congestion on I-35 as population continues to grow.
“The Interstate 35 corridor is the single-most important economic generator in the state of Texas,” Mr. Williamson said. “We would not have pursued this solution if we were not convinced that this is the best solution and the only solution.”
The draft environmental report, which was more than a year in the making, narrows the corridor’s potential location to a 10-mile-wide study area that, in part, clips the southeast corner of Dallas County, runs just east of Lake Ray Hubbard and winds through much of Rockwall County.
Local leaders throughout the state - and particularly in North Texas - had often expressed worries that the study area would be too far away from urban areas, draw new development away cities and increase traffic in rural areas.
“We are somewhat pleased with what was presented this morning but we feel it still falls a long way short,” said Dallas City Council Member Bill Blaydes.
Additionally, Dallas County Commissioners Ken Mayfield and Maurine Dickey said they felt excluded from the process that resulted in the preferred route that was unveiled Tuesday.
Out of a dozen possible alternatives, the proposed study area unveiled Tuesday would run the closest to the existing I-35.
“The Trans-Texas Corridor was never envisioned to go through communities. It was envisioned to run near or beside urban areas,” said Doug Booher, the environmental manager for the Texas Department of Transportation’s turnpike division.
As proposed in the report, the corridor will run 521 miles from the Red River to the Rio Grande. In areas where roads, rail and utility lines are built together, the corridor will be 800 to 1,200 feet wide.
“Are we able to put a 1,200-foot corridor through the middle of Dallas? The answer would be no,” Mr. Booher said. “But that doesn’t mean the Trans-Texas Corridor will not ultimately connect to Dallas-Fort Worth, because it absolutely has to.”
Several other alternatives still under consideration would take the corridor west of Fort Worth. However, traffic patterns and interstate shipping demands show a larger demand for new roads and rail lines east of Dallas, state officials and project developers say.
One of the future steps for the corridor is to determine how to connect the main corridor route with urban areas. State officials say that North Texas leaders have come up with very good ideas for those road and rail connections - including the proposed construction of toll roads along a southern State Highway 360 extension and Loop 9 in southern Dallas County.
Those state officials say they will listen closely to North Texas leaders during the project’s next planning stage.
The 4,300-page draft environmental report represents a significant but early step in the long process that could lead to construction on the Trans-Texas Corridor.
The public will have its say on the corridor this summer, when the Texas Department of Transportation holds more than 50 public hearings on the draft report. A report outlining the final study area is expected in mid-2007.
After the 10-mile-wide study area is finalized, the state then may begin environmental reviews of specific projects. To build the toll roads from San Antonio to Dallas, for example, is expected to involve about six separate projects.
In general, detailed reviews of those projects can take an average of almost four years to complete, Mr. Booher said.
Gov. Rick Perry first announced plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor in 2002 as a way to solve the state’s increasing highway congestion woes. The project has at times drawn opposition from the Texas Farm Bureau and from three of Mr. Perry’s opponents in this fall’s gubernatorial election.
In late 2004, the state signed a $3.5 million project development agreement with Cintra-Zachry, a partnership between a toll-road construction firm from Spain and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corp.
According to the state transportation department, the corridor plans will not interfere with existing plans to widen I-35 throughout the state. Texas has 24 separate construction projects planned for I-35 at a total value of $1.46 billion, not including projects where work already has started.
One of the subplots in Tuesday’s report was the competition for the project along the Texas border. State officials had considered both Brownsville and Laredo for the project’s southern terminus.
“When you look at those routes from a traffic perspective, those that ended in the Valley did not do as good a job of meeting the goal of handling traffic as did Laredo,” Mr. Booher said.
The plan calls for the route to follow I-35 to Laredo, where it could connect with other transportation projects in Mexico. The state also strongly considered another route that would have been built on new land from San Antonio to Laredo.
“That’s what tipped the scales in favor of this route,” said Mr. Booher. “It was the opportunity to look much more closely at existing infrastructure.”
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co www.dallasnews.com
April 4, 2006
By TONY HARTZEL
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006
A coordinated network of toll roads, rail lines and utility lines should be built on or very near one of the main concrete arteries of Texas commerce, according to a new report and study released Tuesday.
And Texas Transportation officials have chosen “a study area” connected with Interstate 35 as the preferred route for the so-called Trans-Texas Corridor.
Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, said the gigantic public works project will help ease terrible traffic congestion on I-35 as population continues to grow.
“The Interstate 35 corridor is the single-most important economic generator in the state of Texas,” Mr. Williamson said. “We would not have pursued this solution if we were not convinced that this is the best solution and the only solution.”
The draft environmental report, which was more than a year in the making, narrows the corridor’s potential location to a 10-mile-wide study area that, in part, clips the southeast corner of Dallas County, runs just east of Lake Ray Hubbard and winds through much of Rockwall County.
Local leaders throughout the state - and particularly in North Texas - had often expressed worries that the study area would be too far away from urban areas, draw new development away cities and increase traffic in rural areas.
“We are somewhat pleased with what was presented this morning but we feel it still falls a long way short,” said Dallas City Council Member Bill Blaydes.
Additionally, Dallas County Commissioners Ken Mayfield and Maurine Dickey said they felt excluded from the process that resulted in the preferred route that was unveiled Tuesday.
Out of a dozen possible alternatives, the proposed study area unveiled Tuesday would run the closest to the existing I-35.
“The Trans-Texas Corridor was never envisioned to go through communities. It was envisioned to run near or beside urban areas,” said Doug Booher, the environmental manager for the Texas Department of Transportation’s turnpike division.
As proposed in the report, the corridor will run 521 miles from the Red River to the Rio Grande. In areas where roads, rail and utility lines are built together, the corridor will be 800 to 1,200 feet wide.
“Are we able to put a 1,200-foot corridor through the middle of Dallas? The answer would be no,” Mr. Booher said. “But that doesn’t mean the Trans-Texas Corridor will not ultimately connect to Dallas-Fort Worth, because it absolutely has to.”
Several other alternatives still under consideration would take the corridor west of Fort Worth. However, traffic patterns and interstate shipping demands show a larger demand for new roads and rail lines east of Dallas, state officials and project developers say.
One of the future steps for the corridor is to determine how to connect the main corridor route with urban areas. State officials say that North Texas leaders have come up with very good ideas for those road and rail connections - including the proposed construction of toll roads along a southern State Highway 360 extension and Loop 9 in southern Dallas County.
Those state officials say they will listen closely to North Texas leaders during the project’s next planning stage.
The 4,300-page draft environmental report represents a significant but early step in the long process that could lead to construction on the Trans-Texas Corridor.
The public will have its say on the corridor this summer, when the Texas Department of Transportation holds more than 50 public hearings on the draft report. A report outlining the final study area is expected in mid-2007.
After the 10-mile-wide study area is finalized, the state then may begin environmental reviews of specific projects. To build the toll roads from San Antonio to Dallas, for example, is expected to involve about six separate projects.
In general, detailed reviews of those projects can take an average of almost four years to complete, Mr. Booher said.
Gov. Rick Perry first announced plans for the Trans-Texas Corridor in 2002 as a way to solve the state’s increasing highway congestion woes. The project has at times drawn opposition from the Texas Farm Bureau and from three of Mr. Perry’s opponents in this fall’s gubernatorial election.
In late 2004, the state signed a $3.5 million project development agreement with Cintra-Zachry, a partnership between a toll-road construction firm from Spain and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corp.
According to the state transportation department, the corridor plans will not interfere with existing plans to widen I-35 throughout the state. Texas has 24 separate construction projects planned for I-35 at a total value of $1.46 billion, not including projects where work already has started.
One of the subplots in Tuesday’s report was the competition for the project along the Texas border. State officials had considered both Brownsville and Laredo for the project’s southern terminus.
“When you look at those routes from a traffic perspective, those that ended in the Valley did not do as good a job of meeting the goal of handling traffic as did Laredo,” Mr. Booher said.
The plan calls for the route to follow I-35 to Laredo, where it could connect with other transportation projects in Mexico. The state also strongly considered another route that would have been built on new land from San Antonio to Laredo.
“That’s what tipped the scales in favor of this route,” said Mr. Booher. “It was the opportunity to look much more closely at existing infrastructure.”
E-mail thartzel@dallasnews.com
© 2006 The Dallas Morning News Co
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, April 04, 2006
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