The Trans-Texas Corridor

[Micah 16]

There's a massive project underway in Texas. It's a mega version of a super highway. It would be a super-highway unlike anything in the world. It's a 4,200 mile network that will allow Mexican goods to be in the "fast lane" straight towards Dallas. It would connect Texas' biggest cities (two of them with over 1 million people). This project is massive! It's probably one of the biggest projects in the world. 

The plan:

-It will be 1,200 feet wide.

-toll road

-Seperate lanes for trucks, cars, freight trains, a massive electrical powerline system, and even a bullet train.

- It will completely destroy 500,000 acres of some of the most valuable farmland in the world.

-It is to also destroy countless homes and businesses.

-Governer Rick Perry of Texas is allowing a Spanish corporation to build part of the Trans-Texas Corridor.

- There are barely any service roads or off-ramps so that the trucks can speed up to 85 mph directly towards the north. 

Here's a video that was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams about the Trans-Texas Corridor. (I hope it works!)

(Edit: Wait at least 15 seconds for advertisement)

Also, here's a picture so that you can better understand the extent of the project:

(the blue part is the proposed toll road)

What are your thoughts? The worst disaster or the greatest plan for Texas and even America? 

(Please watch the video if it works!)

[paperboy15 4]

1200 feet wide?!?

Then I read what was all included...

There are twelve different route possibilities at this point (on the website at least)...the one listed above is the 'recommended preferred alternative' ...check that here: http://ttc.keeptexasmoving.com/flash/interactive_map/interactive.htm

And this is the official Trans-Texas Corridor website: http://ttc.keeptexasmoving.com/

[Mike the Mayor 51]

It's not good to hear that it's destroying great parts of farmland, that's never a good thing environmentally. And you have to pay! Jeez, this doesn't sound overly good.

[paperboy15 4]

Originally posted by: Mike the Mayor It's not good to hear that it's destroying great parts of farmland, that's never a good thing environmentally.quote>

Not necessarily. 

[RooRocz 0]

Originally posted by: Micah

-Seperate lanes for trucks, cars, freight trains, a massive electrical powerline system, and even a bullet train.

quote>

Lanes for freight trains, eh? That'll be interesting...

[ACEfanatic 7]

My thoughts?

Three Gorges.

Same factors apply. Massive project that isn't really necessary, with environmental and social ramifications that are apparently being ignored. Destruction of that much farmland is bad enough (Texas is constantly chewing away on arable land anyway due to sprawl) but then it cuts Texas more or less in half. There will be social issues arising from that--there's really no way to avoid it.

And that's not even counting the financial problems that would occur.

Besides, in two decades, freight trucking is going to be excessively expensive due to rising fuel costs. End result: your massive, expensive, devastating road is empty.

Don't build it.

-ACE

[Albatross Domain 2]

Here's the good and BAD about having a Trans-Texas Limited Access Road... Many communities will suffer, period... when the Interstate System was being put in place, at the start of President Eisenhower's presidency in the 1950's, many towns literally became Extinct. The Interstate system was to replace the old U.S. Route system, that literally ran outta control, many of them were run-ons of eachother, and were mainly to connect every small town big or small. The Interstate system however, were modelled after the German Autobahn system, (that was successful, into keeping the traffic, and goods going, but also at a cost.), the Interstate, was also mainly for instant access for the military as well... for example... if you were to travel by air following I-5 (Interstate 5) say from Tacoma, WA on south to Olympia --- the Freeway eventually 'doglegs' once you approach McChord AFB... its not uncommon to see many types of military aircraft fly right over head, as they approach the tarmac from the north. This "Texan' sized SuperHighway" with its very limited access roads, may do what the Freeways did, but on a much larger scale.

[Orlandoedwin640 0]

The economical issue is that people are locing $5K or $10K from their salary a year sittin in traffic.

[autoVino 26]

Destructive and costly!  Sounds great!

But really, does Texas really need this?  I say they don't build it.

[joexcooldude 1]

Given the lack of results from NAFTA, spending massive amounts of money on a connection to Mexico seems quite wasteful. So no, hopefully they wont build it.

[ntweather10 0]

Originally posted by: Mike the Mayor It's not good to hear that it's destroying great parts of farmland, that's never a good thing environmentally. And you have to pay! Jeez, this doesn't sound overly good.quote>

You hit the nail on the head.

[edd17 1]

Things like this aren't built without a lot of planning and calculation of current and future needs. Its not just going to be a road, there are also utility and rail lines involved, theres a lot of trade between the US and Mexico so it makes sense for better connections for freight.

Comparing it with the Three Gorges dam is reasonable, both are large projects that have been planned for a long time and have been planned with future needs in mind and yet meet seemingly irrational opposition just because they are so large.

This project will have major effects simply because of the scale, building hundreds of smaller connections would have the same (probably greater) negative effects but would just not attract as much attention.

[Albatross Domain 2]

Here all of this money that is being spent on more freeways , should be used on upgrading the freeways they currently have now... why not spend the money on other infrastructure, that will allow just trucks and freight transport, sort of like HOV lanes for trucks only. instead of having something that will look like a massive river of asphault from space... largely empty.

[Albatross Domain 2]

but here's another problem... the contract is going to a different country... instead of investing into companies here in the U.S.... case in point... the Indiana toll road is being leased to two different countries for the next 75 years.

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706180391

this article was directly from the Indiana Dept. of Transportation

http://www.in.gov/dot/majormoves/faq.html

again... they say it'll create more jobs, but many of those jobs are subcontracted, and there are quite a few jobs here in Indiana that does not include insurance, or any other benefits.

[boefpo 0]

I really don't think they're going to build it. So far I've heard nothing but outcry against it ever since it was proposed. Pretty much everyone agrees that this will end up being a bad thing overall.

[edd17 1]

Originally posted by: Albatross Domain but here's another problem... the contract is going to a different country... instead of investing into companies here in the U.Squote>

Free market? They simply choose the most competitive quote and projects of this scale usually involve international companies, no ones complaining about American companies involved in overseas development.

[hamsterTK 93]

I hate Rick Perry and this freaking project.

We do need a new interstate running parallel to 35. High Speed Rail would be nice too

the rest is just pork for big companies...1200 feet wide? Come on....

[Micah 16]

Originally posted by: boefpo I really don't think they're going to build it. So far I've heard nothing but outcry against it ever since it was proposed. Pretty much everyone agrees that this will end up being a bad thing overall.quote>

 

Indeed. Both Republicans and Democrats are actually agreeing that this is not a good thing at all. However, Rick Perry (the governor of Texas) is already pushing this forward by allowing a Spanish company/contractor called Cintra-Zachry to begin to invest in this mega highway. 

Go here and read the criticism section about the politics of this super corridor:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Texas_Corridor-69

By the way, I forgot to include the cost of the project: $183.5 billion.

[boefpo 0]

Don't blame me, I voted for Kinky!

[LivingInThePast 364]

It's a shame Texas voted for Rick Perry, who seems to be gradually turning socialist...however the other 3 candidates were bozos, so it was a tough call.

[Duke87 1,070]

...because EVERYTHING is bigger in Texas.

[ACEfanatic 7]

Originally posted by: edd17 Things like this aren't built without a lot of planning and calculation of current and future needs. Its not just going to be a road, there are also utility and rail lines involved, theres a lot of trade between the US and Mexico so it makes sense for better connections for freight.

Comparing it with the Three Gorges dam is reasonable, both are large projects that have been planned for a long time and have been planned with future needs in mind and yet meet seemingly irrational opposition just because they are so large.

This project will have major effects simply because of the scale, building hundreds of smaller connections would have the same (probably greater) negative effects but would just not attract as much attention.quote>

Funny thing is, politicians are horrible at predicting the future.

Multiple smaller projects I would support, actually.  Because they would cause less wholesale destruction, and there'd be less of an issue of the connection becoming obsolete.

Frankly, though, anyone who's spending this much money on a highway for the purpose of trade really needs to look into rail.

-ACE

[FavreKev04 13]

This really needs to be built so we can start making tons of goods in Mexico, there fore giving them jobs. Then they won't cross the border looking for jobs because they will have jobs. Basically killing two birds with one stone.

[Haljackey 17,270]

Isn't this project part of the proposed NAFTA superhighway connecting nothern Mexico with southern Canada right through the united states? Ive never heard about this Trans-Texas Corridor before, probially because info like this doesnt reach anywhere outside the States.

[Creathir 3]

Just a word of note, from a TEXAN.

I did vote for Perry, do not care for other toll roads, but on the TTC, I do not feel it is a bad thing. Everyone else on planet earth really has no idea how big Texas really is. If I could pay $20 to drive 90 MPH to get to Dallas from San Antonio, I would do it in a heartbeat. It is a 300 mile drive from where I live to Dallas. 300 miles. Just imagine that length for a second. In the Northeast, you could drive from Maine to Washington DC. In Europe Paris to Bern. This is a long distance. In one state.

We have 5 major cities in Texas, two of which are on the verge of growing together, the other 3 in other parts of the state.

I do not like the NAFTA style no search of cargo of the TTC, but the project itself I do not mind. Interstate 35 needs relief, and it needs it NOW.

By the way, Cintra-Zachry is HALF owned by a San Antonio based company. It is not just a company based in Mexico.

- Creathir

[paperboy15 4]

Originally posted by: autoVino Destructive and costly!  Sounds great!

But really, does Texas really need this?  I say they don't build it.quote>

The entire route isn't needed currently. The kink here is will it be needed 50 years from now?

[Adnoxaei 0]

Originally posted by: paperboy15

Originally posted by: autoVino Destructive and costly!  Sounds great!

But really, does Texas really need this?  I say they don't build it.quote>

The entire route isn't needed currently. The kink here is will it be needed 50 years from now?quote>

 

Good question.

If enough traffic is expected, then it will be built. Someone somewhere calculated hat there will be, so it will be looked into. The money might be any issue though...

Hopefully no one from Caltrans tells them how to run their construction, because if they do, then the thing will be under perpetual construction and become one big pit to dump the budget into. lol.

[how_deep 2]

I'm unsure of this project, but anyone who's driven from San Antonio to Austin knows an alternative to I-35 is BADLY NEEDED. Perhaps for both civilian traffic and for freight a few rail options will help. The two cities are bound to form the next metroplex in a few decades anyway. (from SA, the metro extends to New Braunfels and from Austin to Buda at least, some say to San Marcos)

[joeshmoe 1]

to bad we dont have flying cars (yet). then we wouldnt even have to worry about it.

[GreekMan 246]

WOW and OMG are my thoughts!!!It's amazing!!!!!!!!!!

There are a lot of downsides and toll roads taking over the US. perposterous!!!!! I love the freeways!!!

PS: The video did work! thanks!!!