I-35 tollway twin dies
TxDOT scraps long-planned tollway from San Antonio to North Texas; part of Texas 130 is plan's legacy.

 By Ben Wear (bwear@statesman.com; 512445-3698), Austin American-Statesman, 10/07/2009 http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/2009/10/07/1007transcorridor.html

The toll road twin to Interstate 35, once the centerpiece of Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan, is officially dead, the Texas Department of Transportation announced Tuesday.

The department, which has spent years and millions of dollars on an environmental study of the corridor between Dallas and San Antonio, will recommend to the Federal Highway Administration that no action be taken on the proposed road.

"I don't think I have ever seen a no-build recommendation in a TxDOT environmental impact study," state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said in a statement. "It says a lot about today's Transportation Commission and their responsiveness to the public."

Perhaps the only tangible legacy of the project will be the southern 40 miles of Texas 130, currently under construction by a consortium led by Spanish toll-road builder Cintra. When finished, probably in 2012, the tollway will connect with a section built by TxDOT and complete the 89-mile road from north of Georgetown to Seguin.

TxDOT officials, arguing for the corridor plan earlier in the decade, said lack of money and tight urban development would prevent expansion of I-35 when current projects to widen it to six lanes from San Antonio to Dallas and Fort Worth are complete.

The environmental study had been in limbo since TxDOT unveiled a 4,000-page draft version with fanfare at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport in April 2006.

A final version of that environmental plan, which narrowed the possible path of the road down to a 10-mile-wide corridor east of I-35, was expected to come out a year or so later. Smaller studies on individual road segments were to follow.

Perry's corridor plan became an issue in the 2006 governor's race as his political opponents and some rural Texans showed up to speak against the proposed road at 54 hearings up and down the corridor.

Then, in early 2007, a majority of the Texas Legislature rebelled against the centerpiece of the plan: the state issuing long-term leases to private companies to build and operate toll roads.

In January, TxDOT killed the Trans-Texas Corridor name and concept, but the only two projects that had emerged from the drawing board lived on: the I-35 twin and Interstate 69, which is still planned as a tollway between the Rio Grande Valley and Texarkana, mainly using existing expanded highways.

But the I-35 corridor plan, given the lack of support among legislators and in rural Texas, was no longer politically viable, a TxDOT official said.

That was underscored by an announcement this week that the Texas Farm Bureau, which for several years has opposed the Trans-Texas Corridor plan because it would require acquiring considerable farmland, is endorsing U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Perry's opponent in the March gubernatorial Republican primary. The group, despite opposing the corridor plan, had endorsed Perry in the 2006 campaign.

Tuesday's TxDOT announcement, which officials say was in process well before the Farm Bureau endorsement, will have no effect on that group's decision, a spokesman said.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but those statutes are still on the books," said Gene Hall of the Farm Bureau, referring to state law authorizing the Trans-Texas Corridor.

HOT: This shows that individual Texans can successfully oppose the powerful lobbyists and special interests of big-money elitists, just as HOT did when we took on the $35 billion Texas homebuilding industry. TxDOT and Governor Rick Perry were complicit in a plan to acquire (steal) private property under the guise of Eminent Domain, force taxpayers to fund construction, and then allow a Spanish firm to impose a private tax on travelers for some 50 years or more. But don't relax yet. With the statutes still on the books, the plan could still be resurrected under a different name and attached to some other bill late next legislative session. That's the way these monied interests work and why consumers need watchdog groups like HOT.

"It was a unanimous vote of the board of directors," Hall said. "It wasn't really a hard decision to make. (Perry's) overall private property rights record is mostly rhetoric, and we don't think it's a good one at all."

In January, TxDOT said it had spent $131 million on planning and environmental work for the Trans-Texas Corridor.

The I-35 project seemed to be on the road to reality in December 2004, when Perry attended a Texas Transportation Commission meeting for the announcement that Cintra-Zachry - led by the Spanish company Cintra and Zachry Construction from San Antonio - would be paid $3.5 million to create a plan for toll roads, rail lines and other facilities for the entire corridor.

If things went as planned, officials said that day, Cintra-Zachry would eventually pay the state $1.2 billion for the right to build more than 300 miles of toll roads, spending another $6 billion of its own money in the process. Then the consortium would operate the roads for a half-century and, it hoped, make a profit.

Cintra-Zachry produced the development plan and is now building those southern 40 miles of Texas 130. That toll road, which will run from Georgetown to Seguin, probably will remain simply Texas 130.

REPRESENTATIVE READER COMMENTS (newest first):

Question? wrote: "In January, TxDOT said it had spent $131 million on planning and environmental work for the Trans-Texas Corridor." QUESTION -- Where did the $131 million go, sounds like a lot for planning and environmental work? I am sure the GOV. will can supply this answer, seeing as how he is a good steward of the Texas taxpayer's money?

IMHO72 wrote: One comment I don't see below is that this is a huge win for small towns and for landholders. The proposed Trans Texas Corridor would have wiped out family farms (that had been in families for generations) as well as eradicating small towns all along its path. The general consensus was this was a move of big government seizing land for a half-baked idea.

whatiswhat wrote: How do you win against Perry: [1] Keep repeating his idiotic comments about Texas seceding. [2] Keep repeating his idiotic line about tolls: “it’s either slow roads, no roads, or toll roads” [3] Keep repeating his other (of many) idiotic lines about tolls: “the gas tax would have to be raised $1 per gallon to offset new toll roads” [4] Keep repeating his “adios mofo” off camera remark (not necessarily disparaging, just funny) [5] Keep repeating how MOST states have term limits and allowing this idiot another 4 years as gov is pretty much akin to a dictatorship (with 14 total years in office) ETC. ETC. ETC.

BeAmerican wrote: The Texas Toll Roads are not user friendly and they are way too high priced. You can drive the full length of the Kansas tollway for the price they want here for cedar park to pflugerville. People without Txtags are not welcome, so no one but the locals are paying for these roads. Not a good thing.

VideoVic wrote: Was this a backdoor deal to pay back Spain for their support for GWB's push into Iraq? Follow the money.

Bitsy wrote: How much was Perry going to make out of the deal? He has to keep the money flowing into his personal pockets somehow. We know that his honest salaries have not been enough to allow him the high figured asset total that he has - so how did he 'earn' the money?

txwoodworker wrote: The major problem with TX toll roads is that they are too expensive. For example, last week I drove from Midway Airport to Aurora, Illinois (60 miles and 40 of it on toll roads I355 and I88) and the total toll was $1.80 each way. That is about what it costs to drive the roughly 4 miles of 183A. I avoid the TX toll roads whenever possible as a small way of protesting our rediculously high toll rates. If we want 130 to be used and to actually help ease I35 congestion, then lower the toll dramatically.

Ydnar wrote: Glad to hear it's dead. Can we taxpayers have our money back please?

hadenough wrote: If this report is accurate, $131 million of our tax dollars was wasted by TxDot and Gov Good Hair on this poorly thought out idea. Time for changes in both the agency and governor's seat in my opinion.

Beth G. wrote: They should attach a toll to the existing I-35 instead and create a free loop around Austin to encourage interstate traffic to stay out of the city's core.

JPt51 wrote: Zachry has a long crony political connection to the Bush families and now Perry. Watch out taxpayers. The Farm Bureau is right. After the election Perry will be back reaching into your pockets to pay for his dream and help his campaign contributors.

Smackb7 wrote: Will Rick now replace the staff at TXDOT?

Bruce7 wrote: Keep working Texans on getting your state back from the Bankers. There has been enough damage in lost jobs, health insurance, pensions, auto's, homes, et al. But do not think for a minute that this isn't a distraction. Be ever vigilant when dealing with the "comfortable" who take from the "afflicted." God is in control. Go Medina and Gilbert.

SaviorofAustin wrote: Good. It was a terrible idea from the start.