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Britton:
Possible toll road talk has larger meaning
Dear
Editor,
As part of
a blitzkrieg of public hearings held across the state this year
since the passage of HB 3588, Texas Department of Transportation's
Director of Transportation Planning Robert Appleton held a March 11
meeting in Wellborn on the conversion of seven miles of Texas
Highway 6 into a toll road.
While
presenting the project as a small-scale opportunity to assist
College Station in generating needed revenue to improve local
projects, Appleton, Brazos County's elected officials, and Texas
High Speed Rail and Transportation Corporation representatives
neglectfully allowed uninformed citizens to pepper the meeting with
what will soon be irrelevant questions, such as how they will be
able to get on and off of the feeder roads from property adjacent to
the toll road. Irrelevant because the conversion of the toll road is
just the first step toward making the monolithic Trans Texas
Corridor and its regional underling, the proposed Brazos Express
High Speed Rail, a reality here in Central Texas. Irrelevant because
the Brazos Express, an east-west flowing rail, will at some point
snake its way from Fort Hood to Houston, crossing of course, right
through southern Brazos County. Irrelevant because, as this project
goes forward, it's likely that some, if not all of the land these
people call home today, will soon be condemned and under
construction.
Although
earnest participation was shown, the sad fact is participants simply
didn't ask the right questions. The question they should have asked
was addressed in the March 4 edition of Country World News. In
discussing how this new system will impact rural communities,
Appleton stated, "This is going to affect rural areas. You can look
at it as taking big city problems and moving them to the country."
For more on the impact of HB 3588, log onto www.corridorwatch.org.
Tonya
Britton
Navasota
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