09.28.06
Cintra/Zachry Allow Your Government To Release TTC Plans Today
Today Cintra/Zachry and their wholly owned subsidiary, TxDOT, allowed the State of Texas to release more details on the TTC. Cintra/Zachry still hasn’t released the documents “relating to financial and development plans” the story says that the Texas AG is suing over. Here’s the story from the DMN, Trans-Texas Corridor plans revealed.
Remember this is not a commuter road this is a road built for corporations to move there products from the Mexico, Central and South America through the US and Canada. Whether or not this road will ease traffic in the major metropolitan areas is the only line they have to use to sell this to the average person and is speculative at best. The consultant studies paid for by toll road builders have been shown to overestimate the money these roads will generate. Not to worry, the corporation’s profit is guaranteed by the state, aka you tax money. That’s right, the state has guaranteed the corporations profit, whether or not the traffic materializes like the consultants predicted. Isn’t the free market great!?
It will cost a is going to cost .50¢/mile for 18-wheelers to drive, $216 one way. Is that enough incentive to keep a trucker off of I-35? That 200 mile trip from Austin to Dallas will cost you an extra $30. But that will probably rise:
Final toll rates will be set when the state negotiates contract terms on each section of the toll road.
And, of course, the final route won’t be revealed until after the November election:
The corridor’s exact route won’t be announced until early next year.
At least there’s no politics involved in this.