SuperCorridor Defeat? Don't Bet On It
Friday, June 20, 2008
by Stephen Lendman
The title refers to the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) portion of the North American SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO) project. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced that, for now at least, it nixed this part of the $184 billion scheme calling for:
-- a 4000 mile toll road network of transportation corridors;
-- 10 lanes or 1200 feet wide;
-- two or more trans-Texas corridors being considered; one paralleling I-35 from Laredo through San Antonio, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth to Gainesville; the other an extension following US 59 from Texarkana through Houston to Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley;
-- others would parallel I-45 from Dallas/FortWorth to Houston and I-10 from El Paso to Orange;
-- they'll accommodate car and truck traffic;
-- rail lines;
-- pipelines and utilities; and
-- communication systems.
It's planned across Texas from Mexico to Oklahoma, would have annexed huge private land tracts, and may later on take much of it anyway. Enough to threaten organizations like the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), Texas Farm Bureau and other rural interests. Their member property rights are at stake, so they fought it, and for now, prevailed - at least partly, but the matter is far from settled.
--MORE--
by Stephen Lendman
The title refers to the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) portion of the North American SuperCorridor Coalition (NASCO) project. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) announced that, for now at least, it nixed this part of the $184 billion scheme calling for:
-- a 4000 mile toll road network of transportation corridors;
-- 10 lanes or 1200 feet wide;
-- two or more trans-Texas corridors being considered; one paralleling I-35 from Laredo through San Antonio, Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth to Gainesville; the other an extension following US 59 from Texarkana through Houston to Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley;
-- others would parallel I-45 from Dallas/FortWorth to Houston and I-10 from El Paso to Orange;
-- they'll accommodate car and truck traffic;
-- rail lines;
-- pipelines and utilities; and
-- communication systems.
It's planned across Texas from Mexico to Oklahoma, would have annexed huge private land tracts, and may later on take much of it anyway. Enough to threaten organizations like the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association (TSCRA), Texas Farm Bureau and other rural interests. Their member property rights are at stake, so they fought it, and for now, prevailed - at least partly, but the matter is far from settled.
--MORE--