"This is a political white elephant."
Trans-Texas Corridor stirs taxpayers
By Robert Nathan
Killeen Daily Herald
Copyright 2006
The multiuse transportation network designed to accommodate transportation needs for a growing population has generated some misleading information among residents and state officials, Texas Department of Transportation officials said last week.
TxDOT's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, or TTC-35, is intended to relieve congestion on Interstate 35. It will parallel I-35 and extend from Oklahoma to Mexico with possible connections to the Gulf Coast. It will not only separate car and truck lanes, but it will also include railroads and underground utilities, such as telephone, water and gas pipelines.
During a July 26 public hearing on the corridor in Temple, residents, candidates and officials of Central Texas cities criticized the state's decision to give the project's contract to Cintra-Zachry Corp. Several people said they view the decision as a political payoff to politicians and argued the contracted entity should not have been a European corporation.
State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a gubernatorial candidate, told the nearly 2,000 people at the hearing that the contract between the state of Texas and Cintra-Zachry is being held "secret" from the general public.
"Hard-working Texas taxpayers have the right to read the full details of the contract they are going to be stuck with for the next 50 years," Strayhorn said.
The corporate partnership
Zachry Construction Corp. formed a partnership for the corridor project with a Spanish corporation called Cintra. The partnership pledged to invest $7 billion for the right to design, construct, operate, maintain and toll the corridor highway for 50 years.
In March 2005, TxDOT and Cintra-Zachry signed a comprehensive development agreement for the corridor. The agreement authorized a $3.5 million planning effort.
Zachry Construction Corp. is a privately held corporation founded in 1924 with headquarters in San Antonio. The corporation provides services in construction, project development and construction management to domestic and international customers.
"The information that has not been made available to the public is the information that pertains to the operations of these companies, which is not information that is available to the public anyway," said Ken Roberts, TxDOT Waco District public information officer. "It really has nothing to do with the state of Texas and this investor."
Roberts said when the state builds a highway, it first seeks bids. A bidding company, he said, will say it can take on the project for a certain amount of money.
"The state would choose the company (that) came in within the estimated bid price and that is the company that would be hired and the state would pay them," Roberts said.
Roberts said the corporate partnership was chosen because "they brought the most money to the table." He added the project bid was not a matter of how much the state wanted to pay, but was a matter of how much the company brought as an investment in the state of Texas transportation corridor.
"This is a political white elephant," says Tom Pappas, a Salado resident. "It's a payoff to Zachry Corp., a big multimillion-dollar supporter of Texas politicians."
Holland resident David Skrabanek described the corporate partnership with the state as one of Gov. Rick Perry's pet projects. Skrabanek is the chairman of the Blackland Coalition, which is an activist group opposing the highway project.
"He had this vision about four or five years ago, and it passed legislation kind of quickly to get things rolling before anybody got wind of it," Skrabanek said of Perry's involvement.
Why a Trans-Texas Corridor?
Roberts said a 1999 transportation analysis determined in order to accommodate state growth over the next 30 to 50 years, several additional lanes on Interstate 35 would be needed. The cost, he added, would be tremendous.
"We had to look at a possible separate facility," Roberts said
The study looked at the costs of the corridor versus widening Interstate 35 and the impact on the environment.
Roberts said TxDOT conducted more than 100 meetings over the past year and a half to present transportation issues to the public.
"One of the things the general public said was to keep it as close as possible to Interstate 35," Roberts said.
TxDOT officials said I-35 will continue to be maintained and upgraded, if necessary, as the TTC-35 project moves forward.
"Interstate 35 will remain a vital artery through Texas," Roberts said. "It will be a roadway that is free. It would have less trucks than we currently see at this point."
Roberts said with the growth anticipated on Interstate 35 over the next 30 years, the number of vehicles that could be pulled off the highway is going to be significant. He said 80,000 vehicles per day – a third of which are trucks – travel I-35 through Central Texas.
"One of the things the Trans-Texas Corridor will do is allow those vehicles that wish to transit the state to do that, high-speed unimpeded, on their own lanes in their separate facility," Roberts said.
Construction phases
TxDOT officials said plans call for the huge highway constructin project to be constructed in phases over the next 50 years, with the development of specific projects to be prioritized according to state transportation needs.
Before the project's right-of-way acquisition and construction can begin, TTC-35 must first gain federal environmental approval for a final route alignment, TxDOT officials said.
TxDOT officials said the project is expected to create more than 140,000 direct and indirect Texas jobs through its contract with the state of Texas.
The first step, TxDOT officials said, is to complete the ongoing environmental study, which focuses on narrowing the possible final routes. A decision on the project's location from the Federal Highway Administration is expected to be announced as early as September 2007.
"As we indicated previously, we don't know where the corridor is going to go," Roberts said. "That is going to determine what exits are going to be constructed for what towns and cities along the way."
Contact Robert Nathan at ranathan@kdhnews.com
© 2006 Killeen Daily Herald: www.kdhnews.com
By Robert Nathan
Killeen Daily Herald
Copyright 2006
The multiuse transportation network designed to accommodate transportation needs for a growing population has generated some misleading information among residents and state officials, Texas Department of Transportation officials said last week.
TxDOT's proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, or TTC-35, is intended to relieve congestion on Interstate 35. It will parallel I-35 and extend from Oklahoma to Mexico with possible connections to the Gulf Coast. It will not only separate car and truck lanes, but it will also include railroads and underground utilities, such as telephone, water and gas pipelines.
During a July 26 public hearing on the corridor in Temple, residents, candidates and officials of Central Texas cities criticized the state's decision to give the project's contract to Cintra-Zachry Corp. Several people said they view the decision as a political payoff to politicians and argued the contracted entity should not have been a European corporation.
State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, a gubernatorial candidate, told the nearly 2,000 people at the hearing that the contract between the state of Texas and Cintra-Zachry is being held "secret" from the general public.
"Hard-working Texas taxpayers have the right to read the full details of the contract they are going to be stuck with for the next 50 years," Strayhorn said.
The corporate partnership
Zachry Construction Corp. formed a partnership for the corridor project with a Spanish corporation called Cintra. The partnership pledged to invest $7 billion for the right to design, construct, operate, maintain and toll the corridor highway for 50 years.
In March 2005, TxDOT and Cintra-Zachry signed a comprehensive development agreement for the corridor. The agreement authorized a $3.5 million planning effort.
Zachry Construction Corp. is a privately held corporation founded in 1924 with headquarters in San Antonio. The corporation provides services in construction, project development and construction management to domestic and international customers.
"The information that has not been made available to the public is the information that pertains to the operations of these companies, which is not information that is available to the public anyway," said Ken Roberts, TxDOT Waco District public information officer. "It really has nothing to do with the state of Texas and this investor."
Roberts said when the state builds a highway, it first seeks bids. A bidding company, he said, will say it can take on the project for a certain amount of money.
"The state would choose the company (that) came in within the estimated bid price and that is the company that would be hired and the state would pay them," Roberts said.
Roberts said the corporate partnership was chosen because "they brought the most money to the table." He added the project bid was not a matter of how much the state wanted to pay, but was a matter of how much the company brought as an investment in the state of Texas transportation corridor.
"This is a political white elephant," says Tom Pappas, a Salado resident. "It's a payoff to Zachry Corp., a big multimillion-dollar supporter of Texas politicians."
Holland resident David Skrabanek described the corporate partnership with the state as one of Gov. Rick Perry's pet projects. Skrabanek is the chairman of the Blackland Coalition, which is an activist group opposing the highway project.
"He had this vision about four or five years ago, and it passed legislation kind of quickly to get things rolling before anybody got wind of it," Skrabanek said of Perry's involvement.
Why a Trans-Texas Corridor?
Roberts said a 1999 transportation analysis determined in order to accommodate state growth over the next 30 to 50 years, several additional lanes on Interstate 35 would be needed. The cost, he added, would be tremendous.
"We had to look at a possible separate facility," Roberts said
The study looked at the costs of the corridor versus widening Interstate 35 and the impact on the environment.
Roberts said TxDOT conducted more than 100 meetings over the past year and a half to present transportation issues to the public.
"One of the things the general public said was to keep it as close as possible to Interstate 35," Roberts said.
TxDOT officials said I-35 will continue to be maintained and upgraded, if necessary, as the TTC-35 project moves forward.
"Interstate 35 will remain a vital artery through Texas," Roberts said. "It will be a roadway that is free. It would have less trucks than we currently see at this point."
Roberts said with the growth anticipated on Interstate 35 over the next 30 years, the number of vehicles that could be pulled off the highway is going to be significant. He said 80,000 vehicles per day – a third of which are trucks – travel I-35 through Central Texas.
"One of the things the Trans-Texas Corridor will do is allow those vehicles that wish to transit the state to do that, high-speed unimpeded, on their own lanes in their separate facility," Roberts said.
Construction phases
TxDOT officials said plans call for the huge highway constructin project to be constructed in phases over the next 50 years, with the development of specific projects to be prioritized according to state transportation needs.
Before the project's right-of-way acquisition and construction can begin, TTC-35 must first gain federal environmental approval for a final route alignment, TxDOT officials said.
TxDOT officials said the project is expected to create more than 140,000 direct and indirect Texas jobs through its contract with the state of Texas.
The first step, TxDOT officials said, is to complete the ongoing environmental study, which focuses on narrowing the possible final routes. A decision on the project's location from the Federal Highway Administration is expected to be announced as early as September 2007.
"As we indicated previously, we don't know where the corridor is going to go," Roberts said. "That is going to determine what exits are going to be constructed for what towns and cities along the way."
Contact Robert Nathan at ranathan@kdhnews.com
© 2006 Killeen Daily Herald:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Monday, July 31, 2006
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