EDITORIAL: Be Heard

Plans for the TTC aren't set in stone, so speak up

A public hearing on the proposed path of the Trans Texas Corridor-I-69 project through Nacogdoches County will be held Thursday night at The Fredonia.

While it's likely that most people who show up for the meeting will be those who are concerned with what a quarter-mile-wide highway will do to their homes, communities or way of life, they're not the only ones who have a stake in the outcome of this project.

For those unfamiliar with the TTC, it is Gov. Rick Perry's super-sized version of the Interstate 69 project. What was first proposed as a north-south interstate following roughly the path of U.S. Hwy. 59 from Houston to Texarkana, Perry envisions as a quarter-mile-wide corridor large enough to include toll roads, high-speed freight and commuter rail, water lines, oil and gas pipelines, electric transmission lines and telecommunications infrastructure.

Expanding the "footprint" to nearly a quarter of a mile and adding a railroad component to the project, also necessitated a route change (trains don't take well to curves). So where the proposed route for I-69 curved west around Nacogdoches, the "preferred alternative" route for TTC/I-69 is now east of Nacogdoches, running straight through Martinsville, curving along U.S. Hwy. 59 toward Louisiana.

Understandably, the route change has created a great deal of worry in the areas that had not been considered as a location for any highway, much less one the size of the proposed TTC.

That worry is premature for many reasons, not the least of which is that there is no money to build a $220 billion dollar highway. At present, the state of Texas doesn't even have the funding available to improve an access ramp onto the loop around Nacogdoches, much less build a superhighway.

As long as Gov. Perry is dreaming, there's nothing wrong with dreaming big. The dream isn't going to become a reality until it proves feasible, and that's yet to be done.

Where there's likely to be a need for a multi-lane, high-speed commuter toll road in and around Houston, the same can't be said of commuter traffic between Houston and Nacogdoches. Truck traffic, yes, but hardly the amount to support a highway the size of the TTC.

Of course, that's all purely conjecture on our part, but at this point, so is just about everything connected with the TTC. Or I-69. Or any other future transportation plan for the state, which also includes the option of doing nothing.

The point is, if you've got a preference one way or the other, now's the time to express it.

Do be forewarned that this is not a meeting like the "town hall" meetings held in the area a few weeks ago. At the hearings, TxDOT staff will be available to answer project questions during an open house from 5 to 6:30 p.m. A formal presentation about the environmental study begins at 6:30 p.m., followed by comments from the public. Only those who sign up will be allowed to speak.

So go, sign up, and speak out. You have three minutes.