Public Safety

Compounding Hazards

Access for emergency services will be a severe challenge. 

The Trans-Texas Corridor will take the term "limited access" to a new height.  Given the severely limited access (by its very design) it will be difficult, if not impossible, for emergency services to respond to emergencies on the TTC. Access points may be 10 miles or further apart the entire length of the corridor.  Rail components of the corridor will make at-grade crossings impossible from at least one side. 

Without feeder roads and frequent crossovers there will be tremendous challenges just getting emergency services to the scene of accidents, fires, spills, pipeline ruptures, train derailments and any other emergencies.

Accidents on two-lane roadways often result in one or both lanes being obstructed. The traditional divided highway schematic provides unobstructed opposite direction (opposing lane) access for emergency responders when the traveled lanes are blocked by an accident. The barriers typically encountered entail a concrete, metal or cable barrier and/or a modestly wide grass median. However, initial development plans for TTC-35 provide for two lanes in each direction that are very widely separated. These initial lanes will eventually become the outside truck lanes between which future six passenger vehicle lanes and travel service centers will be constructed. The result is an extremely wide median area that may or may not be readily traversed by emergency vehicles to approach within reasonable distance to an accident or other emergency scene.

Location will mean slow response time and limited resources.

An additional problem is created simply by placing of the Trans-Texas Corridor away from the urban centers where a high level of emergency services are readily available. What will the response capability be along open stretches of unpopulated rural Texas? Unlike the present Interstate Highway system that's dotted with cities and traveler services, the TTC will not have the same access to local services. A slow emergency response time will be the rule, not the exception.

Rural location may mean more victims.

It seems logical that a train derailment or tractor-trailer truck accident involving hazardous materials that occurs on an isolated stretch of corridor in rural Texas would create a risk to fewer lives. However, lets ask a few questions and consider a few facts. What is the at-risk population density along the existing Interstate Highways? What escape routes are readily available to that population (streets & roads away from the hazard). Contrast that with stacking hundreds, if not thousands, of vehicles in corridor traffic lanes where there are no exit, no feeder roads, and no alternative routes to use for escape. Consider that new victims will be driving into the hazard zone at 80 MPH. Consider that high-speed rail will mean high-fences and barriers that will contain the at-risk motorists within a 180-degree arc. It extremely likely that the entire corridor will have barriers to prevent unauthorized entry thereby preventing exit. Consider that highways that cross the corridor will be elevated for the quarter-mile grade separation and inaccessible to motorists on the corridor .

What is the at-risk population density on the corridor itself? We estimate 6 per 100-feet of passenger car lane and 2 per 100-feet of truck lane. That means a fully developed corridor (10 lanes) could itself put an estimated population of 1,161 within one-half mile of the hazard. Just four lanes could put an estimated population of 633 within one-half mile of the hazard.

Vehicles provide poor shelter from most hazards. Unlike buildings and structures, vehicles provide no protection from radiant heat. Passing a skunk on the highway demonstrates how easily gases enter a vehicle.

Those who abandon their vehicle will be challenged to find shelter. Most travelers will be unfamiliar with their surroundings and may attempt to escape using routes that present new hazards or fail to lead to escape.

Rescuers will face the same challenges. Access will be a nightmare.

Multiple hazards compound the risk.

Transportation, utilities and communications are of vital importance.  In the design of any system it is always ill advised to concentrate vulnerabilities.  The Trans-Texas Corridor does just that. 

We are concerned about the wisdom of building a multimodal transportation corridor that will concentrate multiple transportation accident  hazards (pipeline, rail, trucking, etc.) within a narrow corridor with extremely limited access.

• A train derailment anywhere along the Trans-Texas Corridor will most likely immediately and physically impact adjacent rails and potentially impact highway lanes and/or utilities.

• Present design of the corridor puts any pipeline leak or explosion within 200-feet of commuter/freight rail tracks, within 375-feet of high-speed passenger rail tracks and within 500-feet of highway lanes anywhere along the Trans-Texas Corridor . 

• Present design of the corridor puts any hazardous material leak from a rail car or tank car within 150-feet of high-speed passenger rail tracks and 250-feet of highway lanes anywhere along the Trans-Texas Corridor .

We are concerned about the certainty of significant transportation disruptions that will result from simple accidents within a corridor that has no alternate route capacity as a function of its limited access points and geographic alignment that's distant from the existing highway infrastructure.

• Absent the numerous ramps and parallel highway routes found along the vast majority of Texas Interstate Highways, the Trans-Texas Corridor will leave motorists isolated within the corridor with no means of rerouting around obstacles presented by the inevitable accidents. 

We are concerned about limited emergency responder access.  All emergency services (police, fire, hazmat, EMS) will be required to be located within the corridor or in close proximity to the access points in order to achieve reasonable response times. 

• Given the geographical location of the Trans-Texas Corridor away from major metropolitan areas, the corridor is therefore distant from existing well equipped and staffed emergency responders, even at most access points. 

We are concerned about the numerous highway crossings that will all be required to be grade separated (elevated) for a distance in excess of 1,200 feet. 

• Every overpass will be 4/10-mile or more in length with limited shoulders to allow traffic to detour around accidents, disabled vehicles, or other obstructions. 

• In north Texas freezing temperatures would make these very long overpasses extremely susceptible to dangerous icing.