Sherman hungry for TTC-35 Pork
Sherman pushing TTC-35
8/8/06
By Kathy Williams
Sherman Denison Herald Democrat
Copyright 2006
The Sherman City Council led the way Monday to what seems to be a countywide push to convince the state to bring the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC-35) through the Sherman-Denison area.
County judge-elect Drue Bynum appeared at the council meeting to explain he has invited all the mayors of cities in Grayson County to attend a kind of summit. One such meeting already has occurred and another is planned for Tuesday.
“I came to address the council to give you a little history behind this,” Bynum said, before the council’s unanimous vote to ask Texas Department of Transportation to begin the Trans-Texas Corridor north of Denison where U.S. highways 75 and 69 go into Oklahoma, rather than at I-35 through Gainesville.
“I asked the mayors of the county to together last week. I thought it was a great opportunity for us to formulate a vision as a county,” Bynum said. “TTC-35 has been introduced, it’s coming our direction. I feel our county ought to be able to tell Texas Department of Transportation where we want it to go.”
Bynum said the resolution the council was considering outlined several reasons he also thinks the route is important not only to Grayson County, but also to TxDOT.
The state has been studying proposed routes throughout Texas for several years. It has held public meetings, sometimes heated debates, throughout the state as its focus. The first study areas were 40-mile swaths across Texas. Now it is studying 10-mile strips. Currently, TxDOT has listed its primary preferred route as originating north of Gainesville at I-35. The state is collecting all kinds of environmental data, from ecology to sociology, in a study ar ea to identify factors to consider in its route.
The current 10-mile wide study area runs from I-35 at the Oklahoma border, through Gainesville, Collinsville, Gunter and Van Alstyne to the east of Dallas and then south, roughly parallel and to the east of I-35.
The study area is 10 miles wide, Councilor Cary Wacker pointed out, but the corridor itself will be about 1,200-feet wide. In that space, eventually, the state has envisioned, separate lanes will carry passenger cars, freight trucks, freight trains and high-speed commuter rail lines and utilities like electrical, fiber optics, gas and water lines.
TxDOT touts the plan’s ability to improve traffic safety and provide a cleaner environment. It should also relieve the congestion of highways in the state and provide an intelligent solution to Texas’ long-haul transportation and utility needs well into the future, TxDOT information states.
The project has brought intense controversy over the contract’s being let to a foreign company, Cintra-Zachry of Spain. The Trans-Texas Corridor Web site states that the contract signed in March 2005 authorizes a $3.5 million planning effort only.
Several groups have formed statewide to lobby against the project, including Corridor Watch which calls the TTC “the 4000 mile, 584,000 acre, $184 billion mega-project of TxDOT.”
The state plans to contract with private companies or company to build and manage the corridor. The private investors would charge tolls to pay for its construction and get a return on their investment.
In the council’s agenda packet, background on the issue said reasons to bring the project through Sherman-Denison, Bells and Whitewright would include encouraging economic development in that area. It also would improve shipping and warehousing costs for existing and incoming businesses. It would improve the area’s economic sustainability. And it would save local motorists money by speeding up and shortening their commuter driving.
The signing and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement brought heavy traffic onto I-35. As the “NAFTA Highway,” I-35 links the three parties: Mexico, the United States and Canada. The highway throughout Texas has become congested and dangerous.
In other TxDOT-related actions Monday, Sherman city councilors agreed to serve as a financial conduit for money Woodmont Group of Sherman will pay the state to switch the entrance and exit ramps in front of Sherman Commons shopping center. Woodmont is the developer for Sherman Commons, currently being built on the northeast side of the Loy Lake Road and U.S. Hwy. 75 east access road.
The council voted unanimously in favor of the measure as well as for two other actions to complete the deal. Sherman will not spend any money for the project. It will simply pass money from the retail development corporation to the state.
Copyright © 2006 The Herald Democrat: www.herald-democrat.com
8/8/06
By Kathy Williams
Sherman Denison Herald Democrat
Copyright 2006
The Sherman City Council led the way Monday to what seems to be a countywide push to convince the state to bring the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC-35) through the Sherman-Denison area.
County judge-elect Drue Bynum appeared at the council meeting to explain he has invited all the mayors of cities in Grayson County to attend a kind of summit. One such meeting already has occurred and another is planned for Tuesday.
“I came to address the council to give you a little history behind this,” Bynum said, before the council’s unanimous vote to ask Texas Department of Transportation to begin the Trans-Texas Corridor north of Denison where U.S. highways 75 and 69 go into Oklahoma, rather than at I-35 through Gainesville.
“I asked the mayors of the county to together last week. I thought it was a great opportunity for us to formulate a vision as a county,” Bynum said. “TTC-35 has been introduced, it’s coming our direction. I feel our county ought to be able to tell Texas Department of Transportation where we want it to go.”
Bynum said the resolution the council was considering outlined several reasons he also thinks the route is important not only to Grayson County, but also to TxDOT.
The state has been studying proposed routes throughout Texas for several years. It has held public meetings, sometimes heated debates, throughout the state as its focus. The first study areas were 40-mile swaths across Texas. Now it is studying 10-mile strips. Currently, TxDOT has listed its primary preferred route as originating north of Gainesville at I-35. The state is collecting all kinds of environmental data, from ecology to sociology, in a study ar ea to identify factors to consider in its route.
The current 10-mile wide study area runs from I-35 at the Oklahoma border, through Gainesville, Collinsville, Gunter and Van Alstyne to the east of Dallas and then south, roughly parallel and to the east of I-35.
The study area is 10 miles wide, Councilor Cary Wacker pointed out, but the corridor itself will be about 1,200-feet wide. In that space, eventually, the state has envisioned, separate lanes will carry passenger cars, freight trucks, freight trains and high-speed commuter rail lines and utilities like electrical, fiber optics, gas and water lines.
TxDOT touts the plan’s ability to improve traffic safety and provide a cleaner environment. It should also relieve the congestion of highways in the state and provide an intelligent solution to Texas’ long-haul transportation and utility needs well into the future, TxDOT information states.
The project has brought intense controversy over the contract’s being let to a foreign company, Cintra-Zachry of Spain. The Trans-Texas Corridor Web site states that the contract signed in March 2005 authorizes a $3.5 million planning effort only.
Several groups have formed statewide to lobby against the project, including Corridor Watch which calls the TTC “the 4000 mile, 584,000 acre, $184 billion mega-project of TxDOT.”
The state plans to contract with private companies or company to build and manage the corridor. The private investors would charge tolls to pay for its construction and get a return on their investment.
In the council’s agenda packet, background on the issue said reasons to bring the project through Sherman-Denison, Bells and Whitewright would include encouraging economic development in that area. It also would improve shipping and warehousing costs for existing and incoming businesses. It would improve the area’s economic sustainability. And it would save local motorists money by speeding up and shortening their commuter driving.
The signing and implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement brought heavy traffic onto I-35. As the “NAFTA Highway,” I-35 links the three parties: Mexico, the United States and Canada. The highway throughout Texas has become congested and dangerous.
In other TxDOT-related actions Monday, Sherman city councilors agreed to serve as a financial conduit for money Woodmont Group of Sherman will pay the state to switch the entrance and exit ramps in front of Sherman Commons shopping center. Woodmont is the developer for Sherman Commons, currently being built on the northeast side of the Loy Lake Road and U.S. Hwy. 75 east access road.
The council voted unanimously in favor of the measure as well as for two other actions to complete the deal. Sherman will not spend any money for the project. It will simply pass money from the retail development corporation to the state.
Copyright © 2006 The Herald Democrat:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, August 08, 2006
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