TTC - The Trans-Texas Corridor

DO I oppose the TTC? Boy what a question. DO I oppose what some people seem to believe it is ( an international roadway patrolled by foreign or international police agencies (the Federales or Interpol.) You better believe it. Do I think we should allow a foreign conglomerate to hold Texans hostage with a toll road? Again no. Do I think that Texas farmers and ranchers should have to lose their ancestral properties to this behemoth? Again not really.

Do I think we need improved infrastructure especially in the IH-35 corridor. YES. Do I think we need north- south rail lines that can run a full 65 miles per hour in express service? Again yes. I even believe there should be dedicated lines in EACH direction. On the argument that we would be subsidizing "private companies" (the railroad companies). I would say it isn't that simple. Why is IH-35 so congested? Is it the cars and pickups on pleasure and personal business? Nope, outside the cities, it is commercial trucks: Vehicles owned by "private companies". Even a majority of the light trucks and cars are traveling for business of one sort or another. SO even the free interstate highways are used for the betterment of business. So the rail component of the TTC is no more egregious than any other part of the TTC to me.

I do not believe we can finance these improvements either to the highways or the rail lines any other way except for a HUGE increase in taxes of some sort. So a public-private toll consortium seems like the best model to get it done. While there was some discord over property loss when the Eisenhower Interstate system was initially in the planning stages, it seems the bigger problem was the speculators buying up the property in its path and holding out for windfalls!

The real question is not whether we need the transportation capacity, it whether we believe that the goods it carries are desirable. I will talk more later about the goods carried on these lines and their impact; the alternatives to loss of huge amounts of farm and ranch lands; toll roads generically; and maybe with some questions, something different and perhaps worthwhile.