Feds must green-light changes in I-69 route plan

Elected officials praise the proposal to build along the current U.S. 59

June 12, 2008

By RAD SALLEE Houston Chronicle

State highway officials said Wednesday that the first step in carrying out their decision to build a controversial toll road along the present U.S. 59, and not through farm and ranch land, is to get federal approval.

Although no federal funding has been sought for the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, the Texas Department of Transportation is bound by federal environmental law. The project has generated thick volumes about its likely impact on the natural environment and the communities in its path.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) is expected to undergo public review late this year and then get sent to the Federal Highway Administration for approval, TxDOT said.

With federal approval, the agency said, "plans for a separate new corridor would be dropped ... and the existing infrastructure would serve as the study area for future environmental review."

That infrastructure is the right-of-way of U.S. 59 and parts of U.S. 281, U.S. 77 and Texas 44. TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said the change in plans should not require any new environmental studies, since the existing roads already have been evaluated.

"If anything, we'll save money on the studies from here on out," he said.

It was not immediately known how much TxDOT has spent to study other routes, or how the cost of additional right of way along U.S. 59 would compare with that in the rural areas it had considered.

Also unknown was whether the change in plans would make the project less attractive for a private development partner, which TxDOT is seeking to build the road, then maintain and operate it for profit.

Elected officials generally praised the change. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, called it "a major victory for Texas private property owners, businesses, farmers and ranchers."

"By using existing right of way, TxDOT will more efficiently utilize taxpayer dollars while also limiting the negative impact on farm land and businesses," she said in a statement.

U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, who had asked TxDOT to drop plans for the corridor in rural areas, said the change "allows the congressional delegation to work closely with Texas officials to find the resources to bring U.S. 59 up to interstate standards."

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, speaking Wednesday in Houston, said, "The truth is, you can't build toll roads in rural Texas. There's just not enough traffic."