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01/04/2005:

"Texas Thinking Big on Transportation"

HOUSTON — Do not mistake the Trans-Texas Corridor for a mere superhighway.
As imagined by Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the $175-billion project will be a transportation behemoth of mind-boggling proportions: 4,000 miles of mostly toll lanes perhaps a quarter-mile wide, capable of carrying cars, trucks, and high-speed freight and commuter trains.

There would be room underground for oil, water, electric and gas pipelines, and the whole works would be built largely with private money.

"It's a blueprint for our transportation and population needs for the next 50 years," Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Gaby Garcia said. "It's the wave of the future to plan for different modes [of transport] in one corridor."

Opponents call the ambitious scheme ill-conceived and absurdly expensive.

"It's so grandiose and outlandish that people at first didn't think it would happen," said David Stall, who founded a group called Corridor Watch to keep tabs on the project. "But they're railroading it through — and most Texans don't even know what it is."

Perry introduced what he called a "visionary transportation plan" during his 2002 reelection campaign, and continued to push for it after he was sworn in. In 2003, he signed a transportation bill that authorized construction of the mammoth roadway.

Full Article: news.yahoo.com