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  • From: Barbara Lamar <blamar AT satx.rr.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] The Texas corridor?
  • Date: Sat, 04 Dec 2004 12:51:48 -0600

Rob wrote:

This is really different and from what I saw at this web site (they are against it) not the best of ideas.
http://corridorwatch.org/ttc/index.htm

[...]


Anyone know any more about this? Right now it's just a Texas problem but it's a problem that could easily jump state lines if someone starts making money off it.

All I know is what's been made public. No doubt there's a lot of wheeling and dealing going on behind closed doors. The one aspect of the plan I like, at least in theory, is the separation of auto traffic from commercial trucks. The concept of user payments (tolls) would appeal to me if I thought there'd be sound financial planning such that the thing would pay for itself. But of course the probability of this happening is very, very close to zero. Oh sure, there will be payoffs, a few folks are going to get rich off the deal -- but not Texans in general.

I do use the cuotas when I'm driving in Mexico and feel a lot safer than when I'm dodging trucks and busses on the free roads, and Texas highways, especially I-35 between Dallas and Laredo, have become so congested with large-truck traffic that I find it terrifying to drive at certain times of the day; so I'm prepared to believe some of the safety claims made by the supporters of the corridor. Beyond that, it sounds like a huge public rip-off that would have tragic consequences for the land.

My homestead is in the central part of Caldwell County, Texas, and the proposed route of the corridor that runs roughly between San Antonio and Houston passes through the southern tip of the county, about 16 miles south of my place. Since no one knows exactly where the corridor would pass (except that it would be designed to bypass urban areas), my homestead could very well be in danger. I once had a nightmare of waking up in my little house, walking out the front door and beholding the concrete parking lof of a shopping mall. It's quite scary to think that such a nightmare could end up being somehwhat prophetic.

With respect to land use, I see the corridor as "freeway" writ huge. Not only would these titanics of highway engineering disrupt the flow of human traffic from one side of each corridor to the other side -- imagine the effect on wildllife. In some respects I suppose it could be interesting to observe whether subspecies would develop among populations isolated by the corridor -- but a more likely outcome would be that some of the species would simply die off due to inability to access seasonal sources of food & water.

Barbara





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