TTC-35 plans push on, despite strong opposition in Central Texas
Work On Central Texas Phase Of Trans-Texas Corridor Could Begin By 2010
Trans-Texas Corridor Tolls May Discourage Some Motorists
September 28, 2006
KWTX Channel 10
(Waco, Temple Killeen)
Copyright 2006
Work on the Central Texas portion of the ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor project could begin within four years, the Texas Department of Transportation said Thursday as it released a plan identifying near- mid- and long-term phases of the privately developed toll road.
“The plan will help us take advantage of private sector innovation and investment to relieve congestion on I-35,” said Michael Behrens, TxDOT executive director.
“It will allow us to develop TTC-35 as it is needed and as private sector funding makes it feasible.”
The plan released Thursday identifies portions of the corridor from north of Temple to near Hillsboro and from Georgetown to Temple as among the likely near-term phases of the project, on which work could begin by 2010 and could be completed by 2013.
The Temple-to-Hillsboro leg of the corridor would cost an estimated $1.1 billion to design and build. The Georgetown-to-Temple leg would cost about $1 billion to design and build.
Tolls would range from about 15 cents a mile for cars to as much as 48 cents a mile for big trucks, which means the cost of a trip along the full length of the 370-mile toll road could cost from $56 to more than $216.
The Texas Department of Transportation signed a contract in April 2005 with the Cintra-Zachry consortium for planning on the project, the most ambitious highway construction effort since the Eisenhower administration launched the effort to build an interstate highway system.
The $184 billion plan ultimately calls for a 4,000-mile network of transportation corridors that would crisscross the state with separate highway lanes for passenger vehicles and trucks, passenger rail, freight rain, commuter rail and dedicated utility zones.
Designers envision a corridor with six separate passenger vehicle lanes and four commercial truck lanes; two high speed passenger rail lines, two freight rain lines and two commuter rail lines and a utility zone that will accommodate water, electric, natural gas, petroleum, fiber optic and telecommunications lines.
Cintra, which is an international design and development firm, and the San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corporation, originally agreed to provide more than $7 billion for construction of the first segments of the project, which is now expected to cost nearly $2 billion more to construct.
Cintra originally planned to spend at least $6 billion to build the four-lane toll road on the corridor and planned to pay the state $1.2 billion in return for the exclusive rights to operate the toll road for 50 years.
Other near-term phases include an eastern loop around Dallas from US Highway 75 to Interstate 30; an eastern loop around Dallas from Interstate 30 to Interstate 35E southeast of the city; a southeastern loop around San Antonio from Interstate 10 to Interstate 37; a southeastern loop around San Antonio from Interstate 37 to Interstate 35, and a connection of the corridor from US Highway 75 to Interstate 35 near the Oklahoma border.
The final route won’t be determined until federal environmental impact studies have been completed.
TxDOT held 54 public hearings this summer along the Interstate corridor, seeking public input on the project, to which there is strong opposition in Central Texas.
The toll road project doesn’t lessen the state’s commitment to expanding the Interstate, TxDOT says.
“Everything that TxDOT is working on now and has scheduled over the next 25 years under the traditional gas-tax financed system will continue as planned,” Behrens said.
The state is widening a 94-mile stretch of Interstate from Georgetown to Hillsboro to at least three lanes in each direction in a $1 billion effort to reduce congestion.
The 10-mile-wide study area identified this spring for the Central Texas leg of the project runs generally along and slightly east of Interstate 35.
The report narrows the study area from Gainesville to Laredo, close to Interstate 35 and metropolitan areas north of San Antonio, but centered on Interstate 35 from south of San Antonio to Laredo.
© 2006 Gray Television Group, Inc.: www.kwtx.com
Trans-Texas Corridor Tolls May Discourage Some Motorists
September 28, 2006
KWTX Channel 10
(Waco, Temple Killeen)
Copyright 2006
Work on the Central Texas portion of the ambitious Trans-Texas Corridor project could begin within four years, the Texas Department of Transportation said Thursday as it released a plan identifying near- mid- and long-term phases of the privately developed toll road.
“The plan will help us take advantage of private sector innovation and investment to relieve congestion on I-35,” said Michael Behrens, TxDOT executive director.
“It will allow us to develop TTC-35 as it is needed and as private sector funding makes it feasible.”
The plan released Thursday identifies portions of the corridor from north of Temple to near Hillsboro and from Georgetown to Temple as among the likely near-term phases of the project, on which work could begin by 2010 and could be completed by 2013.
The Temple-to-Hillsboro leg of the corridor would cost an estimated $1.1 billion to design and build. The Georgetown-to-Temple leg would cost about $1 billion to design and build.
Tolls would range from about 15 cents a mile for cars to as much as 48 cents a mile for big trucks, which means the cost of a trip along the full length of the 370-mile toll road could cost from $56 to more than $216.
The Texas Department of Transportation signed a contract in April 2005 with the Cintra-Zachry consortium for planning on the project, the most ambitious highway construction effort since the Eisenhower administration launched the effort to build an interstate highway system.
The $184 billion plan ultimately calls for a 4,000-mile network of transportation corridors that would crisscross the state with separate highway lanes for passenger vehicles and trucks, passenger rail, freight rain, commuter rail and dedicated utility zones.
Designers envision a corridor with six separate passenger vehicle lanes and four commercial truck lanes; two high speed passenger rail lines, two freight rain lines and two commuter rail lines and a utility zone that will accommodate water, electric, natural gas, petroleum, fiber optic and telecommunications lines.
Cintra, which is an international design and development firm, and the San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corporation, originally agreed to provide more than $7 billion for construction of the first segments of the project, which is now expected to cost nearly $2 billion more to construct.
Cintra originally planned to spend at least $6 billion to build the four-lane toll road on the corridor and planned to pay the state $1.2 billion in return for the exclusive rights to operate the toll road for 50 years.
Other near-term phases include an eastern loop around Dallas from US Highway 75 to Interstate 30; an eastern loop around Dallas from Interstate 30 to Interstate 35E southeast of the city; a southeastern loop around San Antonio from Interstate 10 to Interstate 37; a southeastern loop around San Antonio from Interstate 37 to Interstate 35, and a connection of the corridor from US Highway 75 to Interstate 35 near the Oklahoma border.
The final route won’t be determined until federal environmental impact studies have been completed.
TxDOT held 54 public hearings this summer along the Interstate corridor, seeking public input on the project, to which there is strong opposition in Central Texas.
The toll road project doesn’t lessen the state’s commitment to expanding the Interstate, TxDOT says.
“Everything that TxDOT is working on now and has scheduled over the next 25 years under the traditional gas-tax financed system will continue as planned,” Behrens said.
The state is widening a 94-mile stretch of Interstate from Georgetown to Hillsboro to at least three lanes in each direction in a $1 billion effort to reduce congestion.
The 10-mile-wide study area identified this spring for the Central Texas leg of the project runs generally along and slightly east of Interstate 35.
The report narrows the study area from Gainesville to Laredo, close to Interstate 35 and metropolitan areas north of San Antonio, but centered on Interstate 35 from south of San Antonio to Laredo.
© 2006 Gray Television Group, Inc.:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Thursday, September 28, 2006
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