TXDot announced Wednesday the project is officially done, dead, kaput. Woohoo.. And good riddence. Governor Perry pushed this boondoggle and hopefully his re-election has the same fate.
My biggest problem with the TTC, beside the land grab, was it's proposed construction/operation by a firm in Spain. Here's a $184 billion dollor project and a foreign company was going to rake in public cash at the expense of domestic firms?
"The idea drew criticism from the start, criticism that intensified after Perry announced the state had contracted with a Spanish consortium to build and operate one of the sections of the controversial network."
With the poor state of Texas roads I think we should pour more money into rebuilding and maintaining our current highway system in Texas. Let's make those great roads in the Hill Country even better
I'm glad this is dead. I'm no fan of Rick Perry. I hate the thought of Kay Bailey being governor even more.
The TTC is dead , long live the TTC!
This thing has graft and corruption written all over it. I sure would like to see a list of the new land owners along the proposed route and their connection with the TTC.
The TTC is dead , long live the TTC!
This thing has graft and corruption written all over it. I sure would like to see a list of the new land owners along the proposed route and their connection with the TTC.
I'm glad this is dead. I'm no fan of Rick Perry. I hate the thought of Kay Bailey being governor even more.
While I agree that there are problems associated with the TTC, we desperately need to do something. I live 2 miles off of I-35, near the little town of West. Nearly every Friday evening and Sunday evening, the road is clogged here. Holiday weekends are a disaster.
I was driving on I-35 today around 12:30 p.m. between Waco and West, the traffic was heavy and was slowed to 55 m.p.h.
What are we going to do 10 years from now when Texas has another million or two people. I told my wife that it looked like we would have to find an alternate route to go an visit our children in Hurst and Celina.
For what it is worth. Don't flame me. Just an alternate view. tom
Because open land is cheaper to acquire than developed land and building new is faster/cheaper than rebuilding. That was the thinking behind the TTC, plus with it being a toll road they are generally fully funded at the start of construction instead of doled out piecemeal every year with the possibility that the funding could be cut at anytime, that is why toll roads are built faster. Look at all those little town built right on top of the existing I-35 (some are worse than West) which means many businesses would have to be bought and closed or moved elsewhere, which is much more expansive than buying farmland or taking it through eminent domain.Why not just expand the existing infrastructure that we currently have? 35e between Dallas and Hillsboro has been under perpetual construction since the 80's and still hasn't managed to be more than two lanes each way. Why not actually get the stuff done that we started instead of starting all new messes that we can finish?
We got 5 toll roads in less than three years. All with non-competition agreements preventing improvement or expansion of existing roads.
Because open land is cheaper to acquire than developed land and building new is faster/cheaper than rebuilding. That was the thinking behind the TTC, plus with it being a toll road they are generally fully funded at the start of construction instead of doled out piecemeal every year with the possibility that the funding could be cut at anytime, that is why toll roads are built faster. Look at all those little town built right on top of the existing I-35 (some are worse than West) which means many businesses would have to be bought and closed or moved elsewhere, which is much more expansive than buying farmland or taking it through eminent domain.
As far as the Cintra deal, their partner in building it was to be Zachry Construction based out of San Antonio, Cintra was the finance partner and operator. So it has affected more than just some foreign corporation.
I saw positives and negatives in the deal, something needs to be done and the TTC made the most sense in a pure cost/financing perspective. It will be another 50 years before something is done if it is to be fixed with gas tax money.
My biggest problem with the TTC, beside the land grab, was it's proposed construction/operation by a firm in Spain. Here's a $184 billion dollor project and a foreign company was going to rake in public cash at the expense of domestic firms?
With the poor state of Texas roads I think we should pour more money into rebuilding and maintaining our current highway system in Texas. Let's make those great roads in the Hill Country even better
Every year the state legislature steals money from the fuel tax that is supposed to build and maintain our roads and puts it into the general revenue fund. It ought to be against the law. The tax rate that the DOT is supposed to get hasn't risen in years and still our leg. takes part of it.
Maybe if we could somehow gather the illegal aliens and send them home it might help. QUOTE]
how about all the Yankee's???
Maybe if we could somehow gather the illegal aliens and send them home it might help. QUOTE]
how about all the Yankee's???
Careful, if it gets too crowded here in Texas, we may have to migrate north. no habla espanol