WACO, Texas (Dec. 6, 2006) — The Waco Tribune-Herald  reported in its Dec. 4 edition that the toll cost for trucks on the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, touted as a solution for congestion on Interstate 35 in central Texas, might deter trucking companies  from using the road. 

The paper reported that according to the Texas Department of Transportation, passenger vehicles could pay 15.2 cents per mile and truck drivers 58.5 cents per mile to drive on the 370-mile corridor. The fees were set as part of a master plan for the 1,200-foot-wide tollway, rail and utility corridor developed by international firm Cintra-Zachry. The company is expected to spend $8.8 billion to build the road and pay the state $1.9 billion for the opportunity, according to the plan. The company then would have rights to recoup its expenses and make a profit by charging tolls for 50 years.

Some national trucking companies also say that they don’t send their drivers on toll roads and that the Trans-Texas Corridor won’t be different.

“We are not in favor of a toll road. That’s the way my company feels about it,” Glen Burnett, manager of the Waco service center for the North Carolina-based Old Dominion Freight Line, told the Waco paper. “If (I-35) is still open and free, we are going to send our trucks on it. Why pay a toll when you can go for free?”

— The Trucker News Services

www.thetrucker.com/News/Stories/2006/12/6/Trans-TexasCorridortollfortrucksmightdeteruseage.aspx