NEWS FLASH - MARCH 11, 2005

See HB-3363 Note Below - Updated March 20, 2005

Without advance public notice, and announced late on the last day for legislative bills to be filed without the Governor's approval, TxDOT Officials joined by Governor Perry and Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters signed a 342-page agreement with Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA (Madrid, Spain) to create a master plan to finance and build the TTC-35 Trans Texas Corridor generally parallel to IH-35 from the Valley to the Red River. Despite growing concerns over the TTC project, Governor Perry and state officials are charging ahead as quickly as possible to build the first 600-mile segment of the 4,000-mile Trans Texas Corridor. Portions of this agreement are being kept secret under the guise that they contain proprietary business information. CorridorWatch.org believes in open and transparent government. CorridorWatch.org believes that this is public business, public infrastructure, and that the public interest and the public's right to know what obligations its government is creating is more important than any purported public benefit derived from protecting proprietary business information. Government conducted in the shadows is never good government. Thousands upon thousands of Texans don't share the Governor's TTC vision. These Texans are extremely concerned about the state creating a transportation, communication, utility and economic development monopoly. They are concerned about a project that will consume 584,000 acres of land impacting land owners, farms, ranches, wildlife, the environment, communities, taxpayers, water rights, local economies, and more. A plan driven almost exclusively by its ability to generate revenue at the expense of open government, private property rights, taxpayers, travelers, private enterprise and thousands of Texas communities. With complete disregard for public will and the citizens of Texas, our government is marching forward. A member of the House Transportation Committee even suggested to TxDOT that a public relations firm like Disney should be hired (with public funds) to "sell" the TTC concept to the public! CorridorWatch.org believes that it is dangerous public policy for the government to attempt to drive public opinion to support its own initiatives. We believe that is the kind of propaganda that undermines a democracy. The impact of the Trans Texas Corridor will be enormous and span generations. As more information becomes widely available legislators are joining citizens in becoming increasingly concerned about the TTC. Several bills have been filed during this session in an attempt to limit, control, and address concerns about the TTC. These include House Bill 1273, House Bill 1794, and Senate Bill 352. We had hoped our legislature would have listened to the people of Texas and resisted the strong-arm tactics and pressure coming from the Governor.