5/30/08: Board re-affirms principles for TTC development

New clarifying statement comes in response to widespread public criticism

Recognizing public antipathy toward the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor highway, the Texas Transportation Commission voted Thursday to re-affirm seven development principles addressing the most controversial aspects of the project, including use of foreign developers, creation of new toll lanes and seizure of private land.

The commission, a five-member board appointed by the governor to oversee the Texas Department of Transportation, made no new rulings Thursday, but symbolically adopted the principles in a minute order, "to place special emphasis on the process and procedures to be used," according to text of the order.

The proposed corridor, a 1,200-foot-wide swath with 10 lanes of high-speed traffic, rail and utility lines, has met fierce resistance from East Texans on numerous grounds. Critics of the project argue that it is oversized, unnecessary, and will unfairly take land from private citizens. Others have cited the possible development of the project by a Spanish firm, Cintra, as a threat to American independence.

With its order, the transportation commission attempted to allay some of those objections.

"In an effort to explain more clearly the directives given to the department, the commission has determined it to be necessary to reaffirm basic guidelines for the development, construction, and operation of such projects, particularly under comprehensive development agreements," the order said.

Specifically, the order requires that:

All state highways will be owned by the state and will remain public property, and no agreement will transfer ownership to private developers.

TxDOT may buy back any interests owned by private developers at any time, including private leases of state-owned facilities on the corridor.

The transportation commission will approve initially toll rates and the methodology for increasing those rates at a public meeting, and cooperate with local planning organizations during that process.

Only new lanes will be tolled, and there will be no reduction in the number of non-tolled lanes that exist today.

No decisions about the TTC will limit or prohibit other future transportation projects.

TxDOT will consider existing right-of-way in addition to new locations on all projects.

TxDOT will make all practical efforts to avoid severing property into two or more separate tracts and to preserve the original shape of the property.

The order was partially a response to a letter sent to TxDOT in February by state Rep. Wayne Christian, R-Center, whose legislative caucus, the Texas Conservative Coalition, has repeatedly opposed the corridor project.

"While it may take a while to remove the name from TxDOT literature, I am proud to say that we have put the first nails in the coffin of the Trans-Texas Corridor in East Texas," he said in a statement.