State lawmakers refine corridor plan

05/21/2007

Bob Campbell, Staff Writer, Midland Reporter-Telegram

With smooth progress, construction could start in two or three years on the 4,000 mile network from Gainesville near I-35 past Laredo, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Designed to pave Texas' road to the future, the Trans-Texas Corridor system of high speed "super highways" pairing cars, trucks and trains with utility lines is so futuristic its very mention has become controversial.

Entering the final week of their legislative session, state lawmakers have been knotted in the conundrum, passing but then diluting a two-year moratorium on the toll roads it envisions.

"I'm pleased that members of the Legislature, the governor's office, Harris County officials and officials of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex have reached an agreement to move forward with transportation policy," Speaker of the House Tom Craddick of Midland said Friday.

"I know Representatives Wayne Smith of Baytown and Lois Kolkhorst of Brenham, as well as other members, have worked hard on this compromise."

Smith, chairman of the House County Affairs Committee, wrote a bill banning toll roads that was vetoed Friday by Gov. Rick Perry.

Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Randall Dillard said the plan naturally has provoked disagreement, but some opposition groups have mischaracterized key aspects. For example, no right-of-way has been obtained because the routes still are being decided, he said.

"We're trying to improve mobility, public safety and quality of life, reduce congestion and plan for growth," Dillard said Thursday in Austin. "Our population is growing by 1,000 people a day, equivalent to a city the size of San Antonio every three years.

"Forty-five percent of our population is within 50 miles of Interstate 35."

Dillard said TxDOT's roundly maligned $3.5 million planning contract with the Cintra toll road company of Madrid, Spain, and Zachry Construction of San Antonio could lead to billions of dollars in private investments to speed the completion of Central Texas highways like Texas 130. "It was a competitive process," he said.

"There were two other large firms and it cost a lot of money to develop those proposals."

Dillard said travelers of 130 and tolled thoroughfares in Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston stick tags under their rearview mirrors and drive through "toll plazas" without stopping. If their accounts are depleted, he said, their license tags are electronically read and they're mailed a bill.

Pending the Federal Highway Administration's approval of an intermediate environmental study late this year, the projected path east of I-35 will be narrowed from 50 to 10 miles and fretting farmers and ranchers will better know if they are going to be affected, Dillard said.

He said separate car and truck lanes and separate commuter and freight rails will run alongside electric, fiber optic, water, oil and natural gas lines. "We can't expand I-35 wide enough to handle long-term traffic," Dillard said.

"By 2025, it would have to be 16 lanes wide in metro areas and 12 lanes elsewhere. The corridor will be built in segments and at its widest be 1,200 feet. We're looking for ways to narrow that because it's a wide swath."

With smooth progress, construction could start in two or three years on the 4,000 mile network from Gainesville near I-35 past Laredo, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth.

Among other options, an I-69 extension from Texarkana past Houston either to Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley is being viewed with corridors off I-45 from Dallas to Houston and I-10 from El Paso to Orange. Speed limit for cars will be 85 mph.

I-35 runs north to Oklahoma City, Kansas City, Mo., Des Moines, Iowa and Duluth, Minn.

The total cost will be $145-$183 billion with 584,000 acres of right-of-way either to be bought or condemned. The Texas State Auditor's Office estimates Cintra-Zachry in 50 years will collect more than $104 billion just on the I-35 route, called TTC-35, and make a 12 percent profit after taxes, according to the Internet reference Wikipedia.

Sen. Kel Seliger, R-Amarillo, said the expected compromise will not put a moratorium on the corridor but will delay acquisitions of toll roads by private equity concerns. "We want to know what's going on with development agreements with conditions like non-compete clauses and expensive buybacks," he said.

"I don't know if they would be making too much of a profit margin, but the great fear is tolls can be expensive and right now there is not much protection."

Seliger said legislators have the dual concerns of providing good roads while keeping them as inexpensive as possible. "We'll see what's allowed and what's proscribed in the compromise legislation," he said.

"We are concerned with having a good highway system that's worth the money to the people who pay to use it."

A Smith spokesman said a compromise might be achieved this week on Senate Bill 792 to refine the two-year moratorium on toll roads embodied in House Bill 1892, which Perry vetoed. "Everyone is optimistic that a good deal can be worked," Smith's spokesman said.

"That's been the goal all along."