A case for the Trans-Texas Corridor

July 22, 2008

By Philip Jankowski, Taylor Daily Press

Taylor used to be a player in Williamson County, with it and Georgetown vying for funds and the attention of passers-through.

But no more, and despite what many city officials will tell you, it will not be a player unless something is done to counteract the rapid growth of surrounding communities.

What needs to be done is, Taylor needs to forget its past and embrace something residents see as so vile, that when I first arrived here I thought its mere mention was a dirty word. I am speaking of Rick Perry’s Trans-Texas Corridor.

The Texas Department of Transportation (another dirty word in Taylor) shows the superhighway running just west of town, next to the airport and up through U.S. 29 just west of S.H. 95 — coincidentally, right through the property of the avid TTC opponent who showed me the possible path.

Certainly this would destroy the farmland of several area farmers. Some it would leave alone. To the losers, any compensation would not make up for these agriculturists losing their most prized possession.

Still, with rising expenses in an already risk-laden enterprise, I wonder how many farmers would object to their land being sold at the highest reasonable value possible. And if negotiated right, those who would be hardest hit by eminent domain (yet another Taylor dirty word; I’m on a roll here!) may end up with incredibly valuable commercial real estate as businesses would clamor to snatch up land adjacent to the highway.

The superhighway would singlehandedly put Taylor back on the map in Williamson County. It’s no secret that west Williamson County is getting all the attention lately with county spending. And this is not due to any vindictiveness of commissioners or a conspiracy. It is pure numbers. People are going to Leander, Cedar Park and Liberty Hill, so that’s where the money is going, too.

The similarity between those three cities? Their location along an expanded toll road. Those cities’ willingness to accept large highways has led to their prosperity, and henceforth greater benefits.

Still not getting the picture? Look at Hutto, which has grown so rapidly that government Web sites still list its population as less than a 10th of its actual size. In less than a decade it has gone from Taylor’s whipping boy to the bully next door.

Taylor may still have a slight advantage over Hutto as of now, but with its continued rapid growth, more than doubling in two years, believe me, soon Taylor will be Hutto’s whipping boy.

And why?

State Highway 130, the toll road (eww dirty!) which opened less than two years ago.

The TxDOT superhighway would send hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks through the area a day, with vast amounts of out-of-towners opening their wallets to local businesses. It would deposit thousands of Austin commuters into residential areas, thus increasing property values and therefore school funding. It would attract businesses that want to be in the metropolitan area but not in the hyper-expensive Austin downtown, thus creating more jobs for Taylor.

In the end it may not be up to us. But to be fundamentally opposed to something that very well could be a boon to the city’s economy is less than unsound, backward thinking — it is self-destructive.

So, naysayers may as well end road repair projects, shoot down any municipal spending, and disband the Taylor Economic Development Corporation. Hey, why not? If you can’t embrace progress, let’s embrace a slow death.