trans-Texas corridor

[seanx]

Officials call for 2nd TTC meeting

Saturday, February 2, 2008 9:26 AM CST

Waller County officials are calling for the Texas Department of Transportation to hold another public meeting in their county on a proposed “superhighway,” after a Jan. 22 meeting was so packed that some people couldn’t squeeze into the meeting hall.

TxDOT held a public meeting in Hempstead to gather public input on the Trans Texas Corridor’s proposed I-69 leg which could bring it through Waller and Austin counties, and small portion of Washington County.

More than 800 people surged into the Knights of Columbus Hall in Hempstead. Officials said the hall is located on a narrow, dead end road that was choked with vehicles that had no place to park.

Police were forced to block off access to Mack Washington Street, resulting in some attendees having to park and walk over a quarter mile. Many others went home, unable to find parking on the rain saturated shoulders of FM 1488.

Among those witnessing the crowded conditions was state Sen. Glenn Hegar, whose district includes Washington, Austin and Waller counties.

“I was coming back through Hempstead from Brenham that evening after attending a chamber banquet and I personally realized the overcrowding and the inability of citizens to attend the meeting at the KC Hall,” Hegar said.


Hegar was among those calling on TxDOT to hold an additional “town hall” meeting, along with state Rep. John Zerwas and Waller County Judge Owen Ralston. They were urged to seek an additional hearing by Citizens for a Better Waller County.

All three officials submitted written requests to TxDoT.

In addition, officials also requested that one of the two environmental public meetings on the project scheduled for Feb. 27 be rescheduled to accommodate citizens who many not be able to attend either one.

Both are scheduled on the same day but in different locations.

Gov. Rick Perry first proposed the TTC six years ago. If completed as much as 50 years from now, it would roughly parallel interstate highways with up to a quarter-mile-wide stretch of toll roads, rail lines, pipelines and utility lines. Cost of the project has been estimated at approaching $200 billion, and at 4,000 miles or so it would be the biggest construction project ever in Texas.

Thousands of people have turned out for a series of public meetings, including a large crowd last Monday in Bellville.

The Texas Transportation Commission’s plan outlines 4,000 miles of superhighway corridors that crisscross the state. Four of those corridors have been identified as “priority corridors” to be constructed first, including the I-69 portion.

[seanx]

www.herald-coaster.com/articles/2008/01/31/news/top_story/topstory.txt

Paul: No federal funds for TTC

By Stephen Palkot Thursday, January 31, 2008 3:39 PM CST

Ron Paul, Republican congressman from Lake Jackson who is running a longshot bid for president, has filed a bill in the House of Representatives to prevent the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor from receiving federal dollars.

The TTC is a large transportation network championed by Gov. Rick Perry and the Texas Department of Transportation that would carve a wide swath out of central Texas to add highway lanes, rail lines and other infrastructure to major trade routes in the state.

Paul, who represents District 14, has long opposed the concept. Among the goals of the TTC are improving trade between the U.S. and its North American neighbors. Paul, who opposes U.S. membership in the United Nations, has said the TTC is part of a broader effort to form a North American organization that could supplant aspects of U.S. law and policy.

Paul has further stated his opposition to the superhighway being built by private companies, who would control aspects of the corridors and would charge fees for its use.

“I am particularly concerned about the use of eminent domain to take private land for the construction of this highway,” said Paul, “and this bill would prevent the federal government from participating in this heinous practice.”

Thus far, planning is under way for two major routes of the corridor: TTC-35 (to run along I-35 in Central Texas) and TTC-69 (to run along the path of the future I-69 along the Gulf Coast).


The corridor proposal has run into much criticism. In January, TxDOT officials travelled the state for a series of “town hall meetings,” which were intended to foster discussion about the TTC and what state leaders say are its benefits. The meetings, including one in Rosenberg, brought out large numbers of opponents.

Paul's district includes western and northern Fort Bend County, including Simonton, Fulshear and Cinco Ranch. He faces two primary opponents in his District 14 re-election bid, and is a candidate in the Republican presidential primary.

[seanx]

nope....no conspiracy......just building a big road to separate our country and make it easier to control and round up our citizens......then bring in more Chinese poison products by Mexican truck drivers.....which will also be used to bring in red army troops and Mexican rebels to fight any American patriots who dare show their faces to stand up for their rights....the plans are in place and moving ahead while you all talk about which local bands suck the most............


As Senators Clinton and Obama prepared to debate in their state, Texans were marching in protest over the NAFTA superhighway known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, or I-69, the primary purpose of which is to speed the delivery of goods coming in from Mexico to proposed inland ports.

The TTC is planned to span the state of Texas from Laredo, on the Mexican border, to Texarkana, on the border with Arkansas, to continue north to Canada. The projected cost is $183 billion over fifty years, with no American companies expressing interest in financing it.

With no public approval required to begin construction, repeated calls against the TTC at public meetings, with seldom a word of support, may easily go unheeded.

"This is about international–global companies that are coming in and having their way with our politicians," says Terri Hall of TexasTURF. "It doesn’t matter what does to the people in the path," she continues, "it doesn’t matter what it does to our way of life…"

"Citizens here," says an unidentified man at a public hearing, "are not going to bear the burden so Wal-Mart can get their cargo into the U.S. cheaper and faster."

Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) is among opponents of the TTC, doubting the intentions of those planning its construction. He cites millions of acres subject to eminent domain, which the state promises to use against landowners who protest, and also notes that he has yet to encounter a person that supports the TTC.

"Frankly," says Texas Department of Transportation’s Phil Russell, "we’re in a different day and age right now, and the way we built our roadways fifty years ago simply isn’t keeping up with the congestion that we’re seeing here in Texas now."

"This is really messing with Texas," quips an incredulous Lou Dobbs to anchor Bill Tucker. "You can’t tell me that Governor Rick Perry and the head of the Department of Transportation down there–that they’re dumb enough to say that, because all of this traffic’s coming out of Mexico, that Texas citizens should be funding the highway that is needed as a result of that traffic. That’s absolutely idiotic."

"If people are putting up with this nonsense from their state government, and Governor Rick Perry, and their Department of Transportation," Dobbs continues, "these aren’t the Texans that I know, and who I respect mightily."

[freddyv]

apparently governor perry met with the bilderbergs not too long ago...they mentioned it in alex jones' "endgame." he may be tapped for pres. in the coming elections.