Trans-Texas Corridor: the downsides

The Trans-Texas Corridor is a scheme to build a massive toll highway running through Texas from Mexico. It will be up to one-quarter of a mile wide, with four lanes for cars and trucks, rail lines, and oil and gas lines.

As detailed here (reprinted here), it might only rarely have overpasses, splitting farms and ranches in two and forcing people to drive many miles in order to pass over it. The tolls might be as much as 44 cents per mile, making the cost of a trip from Dallas to San Antonio up to $118 in tolls alone.

And, it will be owned by a Spanish company, Cintra. Their contract includes a no-compete clause forbidding renovations to potentially competing roads, which could cause FM (farm-to-market) roads or even existing highways to fall into disrepair.

And, it will require somewhere between 500,000 and 1,000,000 acres to be seized under eminent domain.

Many more "ands" at the link.

NAU · Mon, 01/15/2007 - 04:17 · · Importance: 1