By RAD SALLEE, Houston Chronicle
Minutes south of Interstate 10 and Sealy, the pastures along FM 1458 are their own silent world in the morning. Mists lift to reveal black cattle, brown and spotted horses, snow-white egrets underfoot in lush green grass.
Then a concrete mixer comes churning down the blacktop.
Just up the road is a small subdivision. More are sure to come as city dwellers, including weekenders and retirees, move out in search of a quieter, simpler life — and relief from city traffic.
Although the gradual influx may bring greater changes in the long run, what disturbs residents most is the planned Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, or I-69/TTC for short.
If it is built, the corridor likely will start out as a four-lane divided tollway. Eventually, the Texas Department of Transportation could expand it to 1,200 feet in places, with toll lanes for cars and trucks; tracks for freight and passenger trains; and space for pipelines, power lines and communications.
Read the whole article HERE.
4/28/2008
Rural residents feel the push from Trans-Texas Corridor
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2 comments:
An excellent piece written about the effect of the TTC on any rural people that fall within the study boundaries. TxDOT says they understand - the only thing they understand is there is a lot of money involved and the people with the most influence are the ones with the deepest pockets. They could care less about what it does to human lives and planning that people are trying to do for their retirement, starting a small business, or any other planning for the future. They don't understand it because "THEY DON'T PLAN SQUAT!" Any agency of the state that doesn't plan any better than TxDOT should be eliminated and reorganized into an agency that puts planning as it's top priority for operation. People should not suffer from the ineptness and insensitivity that TxDOT presents. With this lack of planning, goes lack of foresight. Developing contracts with foreign entities for building roads with a 50-year lease, non-compete clauses, etc. is just flat un-American. Greed, and upfront cash is all that is, period. And our legislators "fiddle while Rome burns". Lacking proper planning, the "no build" option is the only option.
A bunch of government thugs are hijacking our public roads and stealing people's land.
All of us have paid taxes to provide for the infrastructure we enjoy today.
Government's job is to maintain and build these assets for all to use and enjoy, not to own or sell off the public's property.
Rogue agencies and politicos at the federal, state and local levels, and in the Dem and Republican parties, are in collusion on this.
This is the greatest threat to our way of life since WWII. Rooting this out and stopping it will not be easy.
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