Tex-DOT Drops “Trans-Texas Corridor” Name
The ambitious network of toll roads and rail projects championed by Governor Rick Perry was officially declared “dead” by the Texas Department of Transportation January 6.
Chris Lippincott is a Tex-DOT spokesperson.“We’ll continue to develop transportation projects across the state, but we’ll do them on a case-by-case basis to meet our state’s transportation needs,” said Chris Lippincott, a Tex-DOT spokesperson.
The project called for transportation corridors 12-hundred feet wide to take pressure of the state�s existing highway and rail system. But the large swaths of land required to build the corridor project infuriated land owners.
While the name is gone, the constituent parts of the corridor will still be built over time and with a footprint only half the size.
David Stall is co-founder of “Corridor Watch,” a grassroots group that opposed the project. He says he’s satisfied with Tex-DOT’s decision.
“It certainly addresses a lot of the property rights. And it addresses some of the scale and the scope. And, our concerns still remain that we not use transportation as a revenue generator.”
In its new vision statement for the project, Tex-DOT sets out a list of promises. That list includes not tolling new lanes on existing highways and at least some ownership of all state highway projects.
