06.27.07
The Moratorium Doesn’t Affect TTC-35
So says TxDOT Chief Ric Williamson:
“The moratorium doesn’t affect TTC-35,” Williamson said. “I don’t know what else to say.”
State Rep. Lois Kolkhorst, R-Brenham, got an assurance read into the House record for SB 792 last month that says no construction of TTC-35 projects, except for Loop 9 around Dallas-Fort Worth, would start over the next two years.
Gov. Rick Perry’s office told her that work couldn’t start within two years anyway because environmental studies won’t be finished.
But today, in a conference call Williamson and other officials held with reporters, Texas Department of Transportation Assistant Director Amadeo Saenz said otherwise.
A big-picture environmental study for TTC-35 could get federal clearance this summer and the first second-phase studies to determine specific alignments could be finished in a year or year and a half, Saenz said.
TxDOT announced two weeks ago that they’re ready to pursue 87 toll projects statewide, including three four-lane TTC-35 tollways — one from I-35 south of San Antonio to I-10 near Seguin, a segment from Austin to Dallas and another from Dallas to Oklahoma.
Williamson said today that a construction contract could be ready within two years for the toll-road from Austin to Dallas.
I hope that clears it up for anyone that still believed it did.