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TxDOT kills Trans-Texas Corridor
By ALEX WUKMAN
After months of hearings and revisions, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced January 6 that the Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is dead. In its place, the agency will proceed with what is being called the “Innovative Connectivity in Texas/Vision 2009 Plan,” which is a much more modest plan to modify already proposed projects.
The announcement was made by TxDOT’s Executive Director Amando Saenz Jr. at the department’s annual Transportation Forum. Saenz also said that the “Innovative Connectivity in Texas/Vision 2009 Plan” will rely more on community input through town hall style meetings and websites.
According to Saenz, TxDOT will continue to move forward with the I-69 project. However, the construction will be limited to the current US 59 footprint and, if more lanes are found to be needed, the state will widen the roadway.
He also stated that if toll lanes are added to existing roadways, tolls would be assessed only on the new lanes, not on the pre-existing portion of the roadway. Saenz went on to say that TxDOT will continue to seek partnerships with private companies for the construction of the individual projects that were a part of the TTC.
Included in the projects that TxDOT is still planning on pursuing with private contractors is the 49-mile-long southern portion of the SH 130 toll road. Forty miles of SH 130 have already been constructed by TxDOT and it parallels I-35 running just southeast of Austin from Mustang Ridge to Georgetown.
The southern extension, which is being called the Central Texas Tollway, will follow US 183 south, loop west of Lockhart and intersect I-10 just east of Seguin. The groundbreaking for this joint Spanish, Australian and American project is scheduled for August 2009.
When the Central Texas Tollway opens in 2012 it will be the only privately-run toll road in the state. However, there will most likely be others.
The specifics of TxDOT’s new plan state that instead of three 1,200-foot-wide corridors filled with automobile and rail traffic, as well as utility and natural gas lines, crisscrossing the state the organization is looking at three 600-foot-wide toll roads. Instead of being referred to as the Trans-Texas Corridor, the new toll roads will use the numerical designations that were originally assigned to them.
TxDOT also said that during the construction the community will have a voice through Corridor Segment Advisory Committees which will help design and build facilities that meet the needs of the region.
The timing of TxDOT’s announcement, along with the inclusion of a thoroughly spelled out plan to make the organization more responsive to the public, has intrigued quite a few government watchers.
The announcement that the TTC had been killed came days before the Texas Legislature convenes for its 2009 session, a session in which TxDOT is scheduled to face a very stringent “Sunset Review.”
Sunset Review is a bi-annual auditing of state governmental departments and agencies in which members of the state House and Senate demand answers from department or agency staff on various issues and determine if the department or agency under review is operating efficiently, needs to be reformed or needs to be eliminated.
Many of those involved in the struggle over the TTC see the decision to kill the project as a TxDOT trying to lessen the intensity of the agency’s “Sunset Review.” Part of this assessment came from TxDOT’s contentiousness during previous TTC hearings as well as statements made by state legislators to TxDOT staff during the hearings.
Part of the assessment is also based on comments the TTC’s chief political sponsor, Governor Rick Perry, made to the media January 6 while touring Iraq.
“The name ‘Trans-Texas Corridor’ is over with. We’re going to continue to build roads in the state of Texas,” Perry said to other media outlets. He also said that toll roads will continue to play a large role in the future of Texas transportation due to limited the possibilities for infrastructure financing.
“Our options are fairly limited, due to Washington’s ineffectiveness from the standpoint of being able to deliver dollars, or for the Legislature to raise the gas tax,” said Perry. Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Chairman John Carona (R-Dallas) told other media outlets that he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment that, if approved, would earmark all of the state’s fuel taxes for road construction.
Carona also stated that he feels that the legislature should consider a bill that raises the gas tax along with inflation. He also told other media that he realizes the difficulty in getting that to pass.
The announcement was made by TxDOT’s Executive Director Amando Saenz Jr. at the department’s annual Transportation Forum. Saenz also said that the “Innovative Connectivity in Texas/Vision 2009 Plan” will rely more on community input through town hall style meetings and websites.
According to Saenz, TxDOT will continue to move forward with the I-69 project. However, the construction will be limited to the current US 59 footprint and, if more lanes are found to be needed, the state will widen the roadway.
He also stated that if toll lanes are added to existing roadways, tolls would be assessed only on the new lanes, not on the pre-existing portion of the roadway. Saenz went on to say that TxDOT will continue to seek partnerships with private companies for the construction of the individual projects that were a part of the TTC.
Included in the projects that TxDOT is still planning on pursuing with private contractors is the 49-mile-long southern portion of the SH 130 toll road. Forty miles of SH 130 have already been constructed by TxDOT and it parallels I-35 running just southeast of Austin from Mustang Ridge to Georgetown.
The southern extension, which is being called the Central Texas Tollway, will follow US 183 south, loop west of Lockhart and intersect I-10 just east of Seguin. The groundbreaking for this joint Spanish, Australian and American project is scheduled for August 2009.
When the Central Texas Tollway opens in 2012 it will be the only privately-run toll road in the state. However, there will most likely be others.
The specifics of TxDOT’s new plan state that instead of three 1,200-foot-wide corridors filled with automobile and rail traffic, as well as utility and natural gas lines, crisscrossing the state the organization is looking at three 600-foot-wide toll roads. Instead of being referred to as the Trans-Texas Corridor, the new toll roads will use the numerical designations that were originally assigned to them.
TxDOT also said that during the construction the community will have a voice through Corridor Segment Advisory Committees which will help design and build facilities that meet the needs of the region.
The timing of TxDOT’s announcement, along with the inclusion of a thoroughly spelled out plan to make the organization more responsive to the public, has intrigued quite a few government watchers.
The announcement that the TTC had been killed came days before the Texas Legislature convenes for its 2009 session, a session in which TxDOT is scheduled to face a very stringent “Sunset Review.”
Sunset Review is a bi-annual auditing of state governmental departments and agencies in which members of the state House and Senate demand answers from department or agency staff on various issues and determine if the department or agency under review is operating efficiently, needs to be reformed or needs to be eliminated.
Many of those involved in the struggle over the TTC see the decision to kill the project as a TxDOT trying to lessen the intensity of the agency’s “Sunset Review.” Part of this assessment came from TxDOT’s contentiousness during previous TTC hearings as well as statements made by state legislators to TxDOT staff during the hearings.
Part of the assessment is also based on comments the TTC’s chief political sponsor, Governor Rick Perry, made to the media January 6 while touring Iraq.
“The name ‘Trans-Texas Corridor’ is over with. We’re going to continue to build roads in the state of Texas,” Perry said to other media outlets. He also said that toll roads will continue to play a large role in the future of Texas transportation due to limited the possibilities for infrastructure financing.
“Our options are fairly limited, due to Washington’s ineffectiveness from the standpoint of being able to deliver dollars, or for the Legislature to raise the gas tax,” said Perry. Texas Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Chairman John Carona (R-Dallas) told other media outlets that he plans to introduce a constitutional amendment that, if approved, would earmark all of the state’s fuel taxes for road construction.
Carona also stated that he feels that the legislature should consider a bill that raises the gas tax along with inflation. He also told other media that he realizes the difficulty in getting that to pass.
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