Trans-Texas Corridor

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section contains information about planned or expected future infrastructure.
It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the construction and/or completion of the infrastructure approaches, and more information becomes available on it.

The Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC) is a transportation network in the planning and early construction stages in the U.S. state of Texas. The supercorridor, as planned, would use swaths of land up to 1,200 feet (365 m) wide to carry parallel links of freeways, rails, and utility lines. The expressway portion would be divided into two separate elements: truck lanes and lanes for passenger vehicles. Similarly, the rail lines in the corridor would be divided among freight, commuter, and high-speed rail. Services expected to be carried in the utility corridor include water, electricity, natural gas, petroleum, fiber optic lines, and other telecommunications services. The legislation enabling the Trans-Texas Corridor allows passenger vehicular speed limits of up to 85 mph (140 km/h).^[1]

1 Corridors
- 1.1 TTC-35
2 Criticisms
3 Funding
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Corridors

There are two initial TTC corridors under consideration: One would parallel Interstate 35, from Gainesville to Laredo and passing Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. The other would be an extension of Interstate 69, from Texarkana past Houston to either Laredo or the Rio Grande Valley.

[edit] TTC-35

Trans-Texas Corridor-35's (TTC-35) proposed alignment generally parallels Interstate 35 (I-35) to the east. There are currently 12 different alternatives for the route from Laredo to the Oklahoma border north of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. There are four variances along the route, the first is from Laredo to San Antonio. One alignment uses the current I-35 alignment, then curves off to the east, south of the San Antonio. The second alignment follows a more direct route to the east and joins the first alignment southeast of San Antonio. The corridor will continue to the northeast, paralleling I-35 to the east. A second variance has a western alignment that passes close to the Austin area, with the eastern alignment off to the east of Austin. The third variance has one alignment passing to the west of Fort Worth and the other passing to the east of Dallas. The final variance is actually a variance of the alignment that circles around Dallas to the east. The western alignment rejoins I-35 near the Oklahoma border and the eastern alignment ends at the Oklahoma border near U.S. Highway 75.

On June 28, 2006, Cintra-Zachry, the TTC developer, reached a $1.3 billion agreement with the state to build segments 5 and 6 of SH 130. SH 130 is widely expected to serve as the TTC segment through the Austin area.

[edit] Criticisms

The system has been criticized for a number of reasons. Among the most significant is the fact that the TTC will be extremely expensive. Additionally the system will require about 9,000 square miles (23,300 km²) of land to be purchased or acquired through the state's assertion of eminent domain. Environmentalists are concerned about the effects of such wide corridors, and private land owners have expressed disgust at the idea that their land may be seized and in turn be sold in exclusive agreements to other developers in order to help pay for the transit links.^[2]^[3]

Ironically, while Governor Rick Perry is supportive of the plan, the Republican Party of Texas 2006 platform opposes the Corridor. ^[4]

[edit] Funding

To help pay for building the roads and rails, the highways will be partially financed through private investment. The investors will then operate the highways as toll roads. The current 4,000 mile (6,400 km) plan has a projected cost of about US$183 billion.