Trans-Texas Corridor is dead, TxDOT chief says
By ROSANNA RUIZ Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Jan. 6, 2009, 9:55AM

AUSTIN — In response to public outcry, the ambitious proposal to create the Trans-Texas Corridor network has been dropped and will be replaced with a plan to carry out road projects at an incremental, modest pace, a state transportation official announced today.

"The Trans-Texas Corridor, as it is known, no longer exists," said Amadeo Saenz, Jr., executive director of the Texas Department of Transportation a forum in Austin.

The state, he said, will carry forward with modifications to proposed projects and will rely heavily upon input from Texans through more town hall meetings and an updated Web site.

He also made clear that, should toll lanes be added to various roads, tolls will be assessed only on those, and not existing lanes.

The renewed effort now will operate under the name "Innovative Connectivity Plan."

Saenz also said the state will continue to pursue various projects, including the Interstate 69 project. If, however, more lanes are needed along U.S. 59, the state will simply widen that roadway, Saenz said.

At the start of the year, town hall meetings conducted across the state drew huge crowds but few supporters for Gov. Rick Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan, particularly among rural property owners north and west of Houston.

Last summer, TxDOT announced that the corridor would stick to major highways for most of the route in southeast and South Texas.

The proposal called for a network of broad corridors linking major cities, with toll roads for cars and trucks, rail tracks for freight and passenger trains, and space for pipelines and power lines.

Thousands of residents crowded into public meetings to question and lambaste the plan, complaining it would take too much private land, and bring traffic and crime to small towns and rural areas.

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