Lawmakers Look Seriously At Trans Texas Corridor
By Vince Leibowitz
I haven't read much on opposition to the Terrible, woops, I mean Trans Texas Corridor this session, but it is out there, according to this AP report.
Many will remember that Governor Perry announced the $184 billion dollar TTC as an election-gimmick back in 2002 when he was running for re-election.
What many don't realize about the TTC is that it will literally cut hughe swaths through some parts of the state and take, via eminent domain, thousands of acres of land all over the state. Like many Texans, I actually thought the concept of the TTC--merging rail, truck traffic, and car traffic into a state-of-the art mega highway--sounded good at the time, until I actually looked over and studied some of the plans.
Here's what AP notes about lawmakers and TTC:
Now legislators have their own issues with the Trans Texas Corridor.
The corridor is Governor Rick Perry's $184 billion plan to build megahighways around the state.
Legislators appear willing to start tinkering with policies on tolls, eminent domain and how wide the corridor will be.
Todd Staples of Palestine chairs the Senate Committee on Transportation and Homeland Security.
Staples said officials want the change to occur in the most user-friendly manner as possible.
Transportation Commissioner Robert Nichols says the corridor is the best answer to solving increasingly congested highways in Texas.
Some farmers fear they'll lose chunks of land if highway splits their property.
Cities like Dallas and Waco are worried that new routes would take commerce away from them.
If you're interested in more TTC-related issues, visit CorridorWatch, one of the most comprehensive sites on the Web dealing with TTC issues.
Posted by Vince Leibowitz at February 9, 2005 06:52 PM
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Not only would the Perry Pike consume land equal to three times the size of Bexar County, the state would allow a *foreign*, private, profit-making corporation to exercise its eminent domain power--taking land from Texans against their will to export profits derived from Texas drivers.
And even that's not all. The state would commit itself to "limit" (can you say, strangle?) "competing" corridors--at least roads, and maybe even non-road systems such as high-speed rail, to guarantee that company's profits.
The only positive aspect of this megalomania is that it is so absurdly expensive ($175 billion for the whole shebang; wanna bet on that being the final tab?) that likely only the first component, from Laredo to Dallas, would ever get built.
Call it "privatization" or "piratization." Whatever it is, few Texas voters knew about the Trans-Texas Corridor until recently. Few even believed such an audacious land grab was possible. Unfortunately, it is--thanks to some stealthy legislation enacted several years ago, which allowed the officials of the Texas Transportation Commission to push the project through in record time--before any one could figure out what hit them.
Feel free to check my blog at: www.transtexascorrdor.blogspot.com
Craddick's new congressional districk has already skimmed most of the oil, water, cattle, pecans, finest people in the state, finest land in the state, the locatons of both Luckenback and Lowake, and the finest climate in the state. Now here comes the trans texas corridor. The corporations building the corridor, immediately after they take possession of the land, will start drilling oil, gas, and water wells, as well as mining the surface in areas where there is sand and gravel. They will suck out all the oil, gas, water, and lord knows what else out from under all the landowners bordering the corridors all over texas.
