Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 11:31am CST
TxDOT scraps Trans-Texas Corridor
Austin Business Journal

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The Texas Department of Transportation said Tuesday the organization has revamped its vision for the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor, a project introduced in 2002.

If maintained in its current form, the Trans-Texas Corridor would have significantly changed the functions of Interstates 35 and 69 by creating transportation corridors that would have sustained multiple modes of transportation. The original plan proposed a corridor that would have been 1,200 feet in width.

TxDOT said Tuesday that because of citizen input the agency is now unveiling the Innovative Connectivity in Texas/Vision 2009 proposal -- a campaign that will focus on altering the width of the Trans-Texas Corridor development, while also paying attention to citizen and community groups that have voiced concerns over whether the original project addressed the real needs of communities surrounding the corridor project.

In a statement, TxDOT said Tuesday, “The original vision for the TTC, outlined in Crossroads of the Americas Trans-Texas Corridor Plan, called for a corridor of up to 1,200 feet in width that would allow for several modes of transportation in addition to utility transmission facilities. Since the concept was publicly introduced in 2002, communities along the TTC-35 and I-69/TTC study areas have frequently voiced concerns over the corridor width, and viewed the idea as a one-size-fits-all-concept, inappropriate for a state as diverse as Texas.â€