Trans-Texas Corridor

This story was actually published in my local newspaper. It is nothing fancy, just a weekly paper. The story is about a road that was being proposed at the time, but I will not bore you with a lot of details, the story tell the facts. Click here to see the images that accopanied the story.

June 13, 2006 - The cafeteria of Woodbine Intermediate School was filled to capacity with those attending the informational meeting to learn more about the Trans-Texas Corridor Tuesday night. Also across the hall was overflow seating in the gym where attendees watched and listened on closed-circuit television.

Among the speakers were Amy Klein chair-person of Save Our County, Dr. Warren Mayberry of the Texas Farm Bureau, Matt Brockman and Trey Blocker representing Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, State Representative Rick Hardcastle and Independent candidate for governor Carole “Grandma” Strayhorn.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is a transportation system that will be 521 miles long with a width of four football-fields and will pass through western Grayson County. It will contain ten vehicle toll lanes and four train rails along with various electrical and utility lines.

The meeting was intended to address a great many concerns about the TTC, which included access to and across the corridor, loss of revenue from property taxes, and the use of the “quick take” rule.

The corridor will require 580,000 acres across Texas with 5,200 acres in Grayson County alone. All the land necessary for the construction of this system will be acquired through the use of eminent domain laws which allow land to be condemned for use that benefits the public.

Among those likely affected is Daniel Watkins a citizen of Collinsville who said, “My mom and dad, their children, their grandchildren, and even their great-grandchildren [will be affected],” who all live in western Grayson County or eastern Cooke County and are in the path of the preferred route.

Klein began the meeting with a call to action saying, “Your job from here on out is to form your own opinion about whether you want to be in support of or in opposition to the Trans-Texas Corridor and what you want to do about that.”

Klein also encouraged attendees to contact their local, state and national officials and express their opinions and also to become educated on the issue. She then turned the stage over to Blocker and Mayberry who discussed the changes accomplished by House Bill 2702 in the most recent special session.

These changes included conservation easements, taxes, diminished access for property owners whose property is split by the corridor, utility of the roads that already exist and will be cut-off by the corridor, the use of quick take eminent domain law, transportation of groundwater and access to the corridor for emergency vehicles.

Next Brockman spoke, again encouraging attendees to communicate their opinions to their state and local officials by saying, “The letters make a difference.”

Finally Hardcastle took the stage again encouraging citizens to write their officials. He was also quick to point out that, “There are no ‘devils’ in TxDOT at the local level and they’re only doing what the legislation tells them to.”

After the speakers answered a few questions, Strayhorn was invited to speak. She was welcomed with booming applause. She encouraged those in the audience to stand up for their beliefs saying, “TxDOT will not do whatever the hell they want to do.”

A public hearing has been scheduled by TxDOT on July 10 beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Sherman Municipal Ballroom, 405 N. Rusk St. Attendees will be able to get more information about the preferred route.