Dateline: February 26, 2004

TxDOT hearing discusses proposed Trans-Texas Corridor

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

Only eleven Donley County residents showed up for a public hearing Monday night to discuss possible routes for the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor, but that’s actually a good turnout, state officials say.

The local citizens, made up mostly of Howardwick city officials and members of the Commissioners’ Court, represented the largest attendance the Texas Department of Transportation’s Childress District office has had out of ten public hearings, according to District Engineer Terry Keener.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is a conceptual network of roads, rails, and utility lines that will move goods, services, and information around the state faster and safer than ever before. The idea includes separate lanes for cars and trucks with travel speeds of up to 85 mph and high-speed freight and passenger rail services.

The corridor pathways would completely bypass urban centers to relieve traffic congestion and make travel times more reliable. The corridor, which could take up to 50 years to complete, would be paid for with a combination of bonds and private financing, which in turn would be recouped by the collection of tolls.

While all traffic on the corridor would be subject to tolls, TxDOT officials stressed that the state would still maintain its current highway system as it is today and that travelers would always have a “free” alternative route.

“It’s important to realize that US 287 is not going to go away,” Keener said. “It will still be here.”

The corridor concept calls for limited connections to the existing transportation network with exit ramps every 10 to 20 miles. No businesses will be permitted to be in the rights of way of the corridor.

Local officials raised concerns about the impact such a corridor would have on rural economies, and district TxDOT officials said they understood that concern.

It was also mentioned that decreased travel times might actually encourage people to move from urban areas to live in rural areas. That is a trend that is already being seen around the country.

The population of Texas is expected to double in the next 20 years, and Keener said there may come a point where the increased traffic on current highways becomes a safety issue that outweighs the economic benefit of that traffic to a local community.

Implementation of the Trans-Texas Corridor is still many years away, and the current round of hearings is being used as a starting point to determine the feasibility of, desirability of, and routes for the corridor.

While no final routes have been chosen for the corridor, a conceptual map prepared by the state shows two possible corridor pathways through the Texas Panhandle. One parallels US 287, and another parallels I-27.

Two more public hearings are scheduled later this week in the Childress District. The first will be on February 26 at the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, and the second will be February 27 at the Bura Handley Community Building in Wellington. Both meetings begin at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, contact Barbara Seal at  940/937-7145.