ISSUES: I-69

I have been asked "if Interstate 69 will be positive or negative for the people of Texas?"

I-69 could be positive but not if it is a super corridor or part of the Trans Texas Corridor. The Trans Texas Corridor is a massive land grab which involves condemnation of hundreds of thousands of acres of land, taking much of it out of the local tax base and local economy up to 60 years before TxDOT expects to use it.

The design of TTC-I-69 (with transportation corridors, pipeline, communication networks and rail running side-by-side) is an dangerous plan. If there is an accident, transportation flow, communication and energy transport could all be interrupted.

Utilization of private partners to finance, build and operate I-69 as a private-public super corridor toll road and granting private partners concessions along the tollway will transfer business from local communities to the toll road operators. This is a massive transfer of wealth from the communities and citizens into the hands of the private partners.

Tolls along the road will escalate upward continuously throughout the long life of the contract. The greatest share of the cost for using I-69, if it is built as part of TTC as a private public partnership toll road, will be passed to future generations, many who have not been born yet, and who will not have had any voice in committing to the debt for the project.

Texans have turned out by the thousands last summer and this year testifying at public hearings, expressing outrage and strong objection to the super corridor plan of TxDOT. TxDOT has answered their objections by spending tax money to finance expensive ad campaigns, trying to sell the people on a toll road project that the people continue to tell TxDOT that they do not want.

There are road improvements that need to be made and I-69 would probably be beneficial if built as a normal interstate highway. It should not be a toll road. It should not be built with private money.

if built, it should be built with public funding and operated as a free road.

Tolls on public roads are taxes and citizens should not be taxed without their consent. If it is built, it should be no wider than 4 lanes; There should be no concession stands, no private partner owned and operated hotels and gas stations and restaurants. Other than the normal public rest stops, travelers should exit to patronize existing or new privately owned businesses which have no relation to the operators fo the I-69.

No land should be condemned years before it is to be used. Expansion of existing roads when possible to build I-69 should be considered.

It is imperative that the least possible land be condemned by eminent domain for road projects. In Texas, transportation planners usually think that the best route for new infrastructure projects is through farm and ranch land because they mistakenly consider farm land less valuable than "developed land." This is shortsighted. Agriculture is the second largest sector of the Texas economy and agriculture is totally dependent upon land. A farmer or rancher cannot move their business down the road because they can rarely find suitable acreage for farming and ranching at a rate which will allow farmers and ranchers to operate in the black.

We have already seen the manufacturing base of Texas deteriorate and move off-shore or close due to foreign competition. If we devastate the Texas Agriculture economy by condemning massive amounts of land for super corridor projects we will further destroy our state's economy.

Also, road projects should be prioritized to meet the needs of people who live in Texas. The Trans Texas Corridor is designed to meet the convenience and enhance the bottom lines of foreign corporations and investors while having Texans foot the bill and forcing Texans to continue paying for it for decades and decades into the future.