Burnt Orange Report


News, Politics, and Fun From Deep in the Heart of Texas







Support the TDP!





February 09, 2005

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 | TrackBack

Comments

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.

Posted by: Demo Memo at February 9, 2005 07:59 PM

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

Posted by: Porkus Maximus Tex at February 12, 2005 01:34 PM

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.

Posted by: concermed citizen at February 22, 2005 02:32 PM
Post a comment









Remember personal info?








May 2005
Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31        


About Us
About/Contact
Advertising Policies

Donate

Tip Jar!



Archives
Recent Entries
Categories
BOR Edu.
University of Texas
University Democrats

BOR News
The Daily Texan
The Statesman
The Chronicle

BOR Politics
DNC
DNC Blog: Kicking Ass
DSCC
DSCC Blog: From the Roots
DCCC
DCCC Blog: The Stakeholder
Texas Dems
Travis County Dems

U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett
State Sen. Gonzalo Barrientos
State Rep. Dawnna Dukes
State Rep. Elliott Naishtat
State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez
State Rep. Mark Strama
Linked to BOR!
Alexa Rating
Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem
Technoranti Link Cosmos
Blogstreet Blogback
Polling
American Research Group
Annenberg Election Survey
Gallup
Polling Report
Rasmussen Reports
Survey USA
Zogby
Texas Stuff
A Little Pollyana
Austin Bloggers
DFW Bogs
DMN Blog
In the Pink Texas
Inside the Texas Capitol
The Lasso
Pol State TX Archives
Quorum Report Daily Buzz
George Strong Political Analysis
Texas Law Blog
Texas Monthly
Texas Observer
TX Dem Blogs
100 Monkeys Typing
Alandwilliams.com
Alt 7
Annatopia
Appalachia Alumni Association
Barefoot and Naked
BAN News
Betamax Guillotine
Blue Texas
Border Ass News
The Daily DeLay
The Daily Texican
Dos Centavos
Drive Democracy Easter Lemming
Esoterically
Get Donkey
Greg's Opinion
Half the Sins of Mankind
Jim Hightower
Houtopia
Hugo Zoom
Latinos for Texas
Off the Kuff
Ones and Zeros
Panhandle Truth Squad
Aaron Peña's Blog
People's Republic of Seabrook
Pink Dome
The Red State
Rhetoric & Rhythm
Rio Grande Valley Politics
Save Texas Reps
Skeptical Notion
Something's Got to Break
Southpaw
Stout Dem Blog
The Scarlet Left
Tex Prodigy
ToT
View From the Left
Yellow Doggeral Democrat
TX GOP Blogs
Beldar Blog
Blogs of War
Boots and Sabers
Dallas Arena
Jessica's Well
Lone Star Times
Publius TX
Safety for Dummies
The Sake of Arguement
Slightly Rough
Daily Reads
&c.
ABC's The Note
Atrios
BOP News
Daily Kos
Media Matters
MyDD
NBC's First Read
Political State Report
Political Animal
Political Wire
Talking Points Memo
CBS Washington Wrap
Wonkette
Matthew Yglesias
College Blogs
CDA Blog
Get More Ass (Brown)
Dem Apples (Harvard)
KU Dems
U-Delaware Dems
UNO Dems
Stanford Dems
GLBT Blogs
American Blog
BlogActive
Boi From Troy
Margaret Cho
Downtown Lad
Gay Patriot
Raw Story
Stonewall Dems
Andrew Sullivan
More Reads
Living Indefinitely
Blogroll Burnt Orange!
BOR Webrings
< ? Texas Blogs # >
<< ? austinbloggers # >>
« ? MT blog # »
« ? MT # »
« ? Verbosity # »
Election Returns
CNN 1998 Returns
CNN 2000 Returns
CNN 2002 Returns
CNN 2004 Returns

state elections 1992-2005

bexar county elections
collin county elections
dallas county elections
denton county elections
el paso county elections
fort bend county elections
galveston county elections
harris county elections
jefferson county elections
tarrant county elections
travis county elections


Texas Media
abilene
abilene reporter news

alpine
alpine avalanche

amarillo
amarillo globe news

austin
austin american statesman
austin chronicle
daily texan online
keye news (cbs)
kut (npr)
kvue news (abc)
kxan news (nbc)
news 8 austin

beaumont
beaumont enterprise

brownsville
brownsville herald

college station
the battalion (texas a&m)

corpus christi
corpus christi caller times
kris news (fox)
kztv news (cbs)

crawford
crawford lone star iconoclast

dallas-fort worth
dallas morning news
dallas observer
dallas voice
fort worth star-telegram
kdfw news (fox)
kera (npr)
ktvt news (cbs)
nbc5 news
wfaa news (abc)

del rio
del rio news herald

el paso
el paso times
kdbc news (cbs)
kfox news (fox)
ktsm (nbc)
kvia news (abc)

galveston
galveston county daily news

harlingen
valley morning star

houston
houston chronicle
houston press
khou news (cbs)
kprc news (nbc)
ktrk news (abc)

laredo
laredo morning times

lockhart
lockhart post-register

lubbock
lubbock avalanche journal

lufkin
lufkin daily news

marshall
marshall news messenger

mcallen
the monitor

midland - odessa
midland reporter telegram
odessa american

san antonio
san antonio express-news

seguin
seguin gazette-enterprise

texarkana
texarkana gazette

tyler
tyler morning telegraph

victoria
victoria advocate

waco
kxxv news (abc)
kwtx news (cbs)
waco tribune-herald

weslaco
krgv news (nbc)

statewide
texas cable news
texas triangle


World News
ABC News
All Africa News
Arab News
Atlanta Constitution-Journal
News.com Australia
BBC News
Bloomberg
Boston Globe
CBS News
Chicago Tribune
Christian Science Monitor
CNN
Denver Post
FOX News
Google News
The Guardian
Inside China Today
International Herald Tribune
Japan Times
LA Times
Mexico Daily
Miami Herald
MSNBC
New Orleans Times-Picayune
New York Times
El Pais (Spanish)
Salon
San Francisco Chronicle
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Slate
Times of India
Toronto Star
Wall Street Journal
Washington Post



Powered by
Movable Type 3.15