Trans-Texas public talks begin

January 16, 2008

MICHAEL GRACZYK / The Associated Press

TEXARKANA, Texas -- State transportation officials tried Tuesday night to ease the fears of people in the path of a proposed toll road through East Texas that could be part of a gigantic superhighway project crisscrossing much of the state.

"It's a tough process," Phil Russell, an assistant executive director for the Texas Department of Transportation, told more than 150 people at the first town hall meeting about the Trans-Texas Corridor. "I know it's difficult."

Today's town hall meeting will be in Carthage, and Thursday's will be in Lufkin. All are communities that would be affected by a major leg of the corridor along the Interstate 69 route long sought by East Texas officials.

Officials said they hoped the unprecedented sessions over the next month would answer questions and improve communication between their agency and residents.

Gov. Rick Perry first proposed the corridor six years ago. While embraced by many, it's being fought by some who describe it as unneeded and improper.

If completed as much as 50 years from now, the corridor would roughly parallel interstate highways with up to a quarter-mile-wide stretch of toll roads, rail lines, pipelines and utility lines. Its cost has been estimated at nearly $200 billion.

The corridor could also require the state to acquire nearly 600,000 acres of private land, much from farmers and ranchers.

A procession of more than two dozen people who approached a microphone at a Texarkana high school cafeteria worried about land acquisition, toll roads versus free roads, construction timetables and environmental impact. They also suggested that existing highways be improved to alleviate the need for toll roads.

Russell said existing highway lanes won't be tolled, but additional ones will be.

Agency officials said toll roads were the alternative because existing funding sources will soon go entirely to maintenance, not new construction.