"It's just validating all of the terrible things that we thought were going to happen."
Corridor critics are quiet as they examine contract
10/16/2006
Patrick Driscoll
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2006
Secret parts of a contract for the Trans-Texas Corridor have been out for more than two weeks now.
So has a development plan that outlines how state transportation officials and a foreign-led consortium plan to plow the countryside with toll roads and railways to relieve growing traffic on Interstate 35.
That's plenty of time to begin scouring the thousands of pages — on the Web at KeepTexasMoving.com — to find out what the big secret was.
But so far, no one can or will say if there's a detail, some twist or mumbo jumbo that, if found, would blow the lid off the corridor project.
"There is no big secret there," said Gov. Rick Perry, whose neck is on the political chopping block for proposing the corridor idea four years ago. "If you find anything wrong, let us know and we'll address it."
Key details in the contract between the Texas Department of Transportation and a consortium led by Cintra of Spain and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio, were kept secret until the development plan could be finished, Perry said.
And what a ride that gave toll critics, who for a year and a half blasted state officials for allowing secret contracts with foreign countries. Release of the information Sept. 28, less than six weeks before the Nov. 7 election, has slowed that train to a crawl.
Even so, a secret may still lurk in the contract, said transportation planner and toll critic Bill Barker, a volunteer wonk for the San Antonio Toll Party.
Barker recently took on a big consulting job and hasn't had time to look.
"I'm sure I'll read about it in the paper," he said.
But David Stall is looking.
Stall said he formed CorridorWatch.org two years ago because he thought there was something funny about Perry's plan to crisscross the state with 4,000 miles of corridors, shadowing interstates while skirting cities.
Companies such as Cintra and Zachry would profit for 50 years from tolls, gas stations and restaurants, while towns would see their tax bases dip and economic opportunities sucked away, Stall says.
Also, farmers and ranchers would be forced to give up land to feed the 1,200-foot-wide swath of roads, rails and utility lines. And some farm-to-market highways won't connect to the corridor, while other roads won't even cross it.
So Stall has been poring over the contract and development plan to look for cracks.
"We're only about a third of the way of putting it all together," he said. "Of course, we have full-time jobs, which slows it down considerably."
Early on, Stall thought he may have hit on something when it looked like 17 pages of the contract were missing. But it turned out they were just incorrectly numbered. Nevertheless, there are problems, he said.
Traffic estimates show sections of the toll road would be busier than nearby I-35, which defies common sense, he said. And route maps mirror a recommended area in an environmental study now under way, suggesting the study is nothing but a rubber stamp.
"I don't think there's really a line or a sentence in there that's a smoking gun," Stall said. "It's just validating all of the terrible things that we thought were going to happen."
TxDOT spokeswoman Gaby Garcia said routes in the contract and development plan were used merely to estimate finances and that the environmental study, using public input, will determine alignments.
As far as the traffic projections, she said they're likely to be revised anyway.
"We've always said that this plan is going to change," Garcia said.
State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who is challenging Perry for governor, said she has some changes in mind.
"As governor, I would first of all look at that contract that I think ought to be busted."
pdriscoll@express-news.net
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News: www.mysanantonio.com
10/16/2006
Patrick Driscoll
San Antonio Express-News
Copyright 2006
Secret parts of a contract for the Trans-Texas Corridor have been out for more than two weeks now.
So has a development plan that outlines how state transportation officials and a foreign-led consortium plan to plow the countryside with toll roads and railways to relieve growing traffic on Interstate 35.
That's plenty of time to begin scouring the thousands of pages — on the Web at KeepTexasMoving.com — to find out what the big secret was.
But so far, no one can or will say if there's a detail, some twist or mumbo jumbo that, if found, would blow the lid off the corridor project.
"There is no big secret there," said Gov. Rick Perry, whose neck is on the political chopping block for proposing the corridor idea four years ago. "If you find anything wrong, let us know and we'll address it."
Key details in the contract between the Texas Department of Transportation and a consortium led by Cintra of Spain and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio, were kept secret until the development plan could be finished, Perry said.
And what a ride that gave toll critics, who for a year and a half blasted state officials for allowing secret contracts with foreign countries. Release of the information Sept. 28, less than six weeks before the Nov. 7 election, has slowed that train to a crawl.
Even so, a secret may still lurk in the contract, said transportation planner and toll critic Bill Barker, a volunteer wonk for the San Antonio Toll Party.
Barker recently took on a big consulting job and hasn't had time to look.
"I'm sure I'll read about it in the paper," he said.
But David Stall is looking.
Stall said he formed CorridorWatch.org two years ago because he thought there was something funny about Perry's plan to crisscross the state with 4,000 miles of corridors, shadowing interstates while skirting cities.
Companies such as Cintra and Zachry would profit for 50 years from tolls, gas stations and restaurants, while towns would see their tax bases dip and economic opportunities sucked away, Stall says.
Also, farmers and ranchers would be forced to give up land to feed the 1,200-foot-wide swath of roads, rails and utility lines. And some farm-to-market highways won't connect to the corridor, while other roads won't even cross it.
So Stall has been poring over the contract and development plan to look for cracks.
"We're only about a third of the way of putting it all together," he said. "Of course, we have full-time jobs, which slows it down considerably."
Early on, Stall thought he may have hit on something when it looked like 17 pages of the contract were missing. But it turned out they were just incorrectly numbered. Nevertheless, there are problems, he said.
Traffic estimates show sections of the toll road would be busier than nearby I-35, which defies common sense, he said. And route maps mirror a recommended area in an environmental study now under way, suggesting the study is nothing but a rubber stamp.
"I don't think there's really a line or a sentence in there that's a smoking gun," Stall said. "It's just validating all of the terrible things that we thought were going to happen."
TxDOT spokeswoman Gaby Garcia said routes in the contract and development plan were used merely to estimate finances and that the environmental study, using public input, will determine alignments.
As far as the traffic projections, she said they're likely to be revised anyway.
"We've always said that this plan is going to change," Garcia said.
State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who is challenging Perry for governor, said she has some changes in mind.
"As governor, I would first of all look at that contract that I think ought to be busted."
pdriscoll@express-news.net
© 2006 San Antonio Express-News:
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Tuesday, October 17, 2006
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