Lawmakers passed the first transportation bill by staggering margins in both the House and Senate, riding a wave of popular sentiment against private toll roads. In theory, they have enough votes to override Mr. Perry's veto.

But if that happens, the governor has threatened to call a special session to force lawmakers to produce a bill he will sign.

Key senators expressed optimism Friday that the lingering issues can be resolved quickly next week.

"I don't think this is a days-long process," Mr. Williams said. "This is a few hours to get this worked out."

Friday's veto had "no practical effect, because all of us, including the governor, are intent on reaching a solution to this," said Sen. John Carona, the Dallas Republican who chairs the Senate transportation committee.

"None of us want to be here in special session, and all of us want the ability to build roads," Mr. Carona said.

Most North Texas toll projects would be exempted from the two-year moratorium on private toll-road deals.

But critics of other Texas toll projects raised fears Friday that their hard-fought efforts to halt toll roads could evaporate in the conference committee's closed negotiations.

"Have we been sold out? Afraid so!" screamed a headline in a bulletin distributed by CorridorWatch, a grass-roots group that opposes the Trans-Texas Corridor initiative, which includes a toll road that would roughly parallel Interstate 35.

"We're not too sure we can save ourselves from the Trans-Texas Corridor," the bulletin said.

'Facility agreements'

CorridorWatch raised concerns that lawmakers may jettison an amendment that would prohibit the state from using semantic gymnastics to develop toll roads in separate projects called "facility agreements."

Such agreements are essentially subcontracts for larger projects, and critics fear that if they are allowed, the state could use them to get around the moratorium and move forward with the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Other sticking points could include a number of amendments involving El Paso County, as well as a provision that would prevent a company from financing a toll-road project if it also helped determine the project's original value.

The bill's House sponsor, Rep. Wayne Smith, R-Baytown, said lawmakers were still sorting through the amendments Friday.

"We're beginning to get some consensus of which ones we need to keep and which ones we need to keep out," Mr. Smith said.

As a last resort, the Legislature can wield the prospect of overriding Mr. Perry's veto to enact its original bill. No governor has had a veto overturned since 1979.

"I'm not spoiling for a veto override fight," Mr. Williams said.

"It's still a possibility. The votes are still there. But if we can get it worked out without doing that, that'll save a lot of needless bloodshed – some of which might be mine."

FAIR USE NOTICE. This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. CorridorWatch.org is making this article available for academic research purposes in our non-commercial, non-profit, effort to advance the understanding of government accountability, civil liberties, citizen rights, social and environmental justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. CorridorWatch.org does not express or imply that CorridorWatch.org holds any claim of copyright on such material as may appear on this page.