The Texas Department of Transportation says the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor is dead in its initial form and that plans for the highway network have been scaled down.
As trucker Jerry Jolly pulled out of Central Texas to deliver his cargo of construction materials Tuesday afternoon, he offered some less than constructive criticism about the so-called Trans Texas Corridor, which was supposed to make his hundreds of miles long commute easier someday.
"It's a bunch of bull," he said flatly.
Jolly never was happy with the 50 year plan that would have cost hundreds of billions of dollars to pave vast swaths of private land across the state with super slabs, many of which would have been toll ways.
Responding to unprecedented public opinion against the behemoth blueprint, TxDOT leaders Tuesday morning declared that the corridor has come to a dead end after six years of bickering.
"There were certainly folks who felt like we had bitten off more than we could chew, and that we were focused on solving the wrong components of our transportation problems," said Transportation Department spokesman Chris Lippincott.
Lippincott rejected that notion, and added that much of the corridor is still planned. To make the project less intimidating and more palatable to Texans, the corridor alleys that will criss-cross the state will be a maximum of 600 feet wide instead of the original 1,200 foot wide design.
Additionally, the new version, called Innovative Connectivity in Texas, calls for new road construction in smaller 'bite-sized' segments with more input from affected communities. TxDOT officials acknowledge that many new thoroughfares will still be toll roads, a sore spot with many who opposed the Trans Texas Corridor. Some watchdog groups vow to aggressively work to refine TxDOT's proposals further in the future.
Other groups will be watching as well. In a written statement, Kenneth Dierschke of the Texas Farm Bureau said the "boondoggle" that was the Trans Texas Corridor isn't completely dead. He argues that many farmers could still be forces to give up their land to make way for new highways, even under the pared down plan.
Responding to news of the Corridor's demise, Republican Agriculture Commissioner Todd Staples issued a statement reminding state leaders that whatever happens next, the rights of landowners need to be "at the forefront of the process, not the back."
Fellow Republican, Gov. Rick Perry, who has pushed the Corridor almost as a pet project since its inception in 2002 rejected the notion that scrapping the proposal is a defeat. In writing, Perry noted that this amounts to an evolution of the plan, adding that he looks forward to working with state leaders to implement a revised strategy to update and expand the state's highway capacity.
Amid all the rhetoric, trucker Jerry Jolly says more lanes would be welcome to accommodate more cars and trucks on the roads these days, but given the protracted debate on the matter so far, he's skeptical that any substantial improvements will be completed in his lifetime.
