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January 7, 2009

Brown pleased with altered corridor plan

State representative says eminent domain issues need to be addressed

By Lauren Ricks STAFF WRITER

The Texas Department of Transportation announced Tuesday it is scaling back its massive Trans-Texas Corridor project.

And because of that, State Representative Betty Brown is plenty pleased.

“I was happy. I was pleased that TxDOT realized it was not right to go forward with the plan as it was,” Brown said.

Amadeo Saenz Jr., TxDOT’s executive director, said the transformed vision for the TTC and other major corridor development goes a long way toward addressing the concerns Texans may have had about the project.

The new plan, Innovative Connectivity in Texas/Vision 2009, was unveiled at the fourth annual Texas Transportation Forum on Tuesday. A TxDOT press release states the major corridor projects will now be comprised of several small segments closer to 600 feet wide.

The TTC had called for a corridor of up to 1,200 feet in width to allow several modes of transportation in addition to utility transmission facilities.

“They don’t need to go about the plan as it was,” Brown said. “We still need infrastructure, but I think it took up too much land.”

Some of that land would have been scooped up from Texans through eminent domain laws. Partly in response, Brown filed 81R-HB 369, a eminent domain bill that intends to ensure those who had land taken away from them for various projects would be fairly compensated.

Governor Rick Perry vetoed a similar bill during the last section.

Brown said Texas needs better legislation for taking land to be used in public projects.

“I want to make sure the property owner is fairly compensated,” Brown said.

If passed, Brown’s bill would allow devaluation of an owner’s adjoining property to be considered in compensation.

“That can’t be considered now if it wasn’t part of the land that was taken,” Brown said. “It winds up the landowner is subsidizing the project. That’s just simply not right.”

She said TxDOT will have to come back to the legislature for funding of any new projects.

Critics of the project called it an expensive boondoggle.

“The days of the Trans-Texas Corridor are over, it’s finished up,” said Gov. Rick Perry, who had proposed the idea as a way to relieve highway congestion in Texas. Speaking on a conference call from Iraq, Perry said, “The name ’Trans-Texas Corridor’ is over with.”

Saenz unveiled new guidelines Tuesday for developing a network of toll roads, rails and pipelines that have grown ever-more controversial since Perry began promoting the idea in 2002. Associates of the governor have said for weeks the corridor would not take shape as originally envisioned.

Perry said projects like Interstate 69 — which would run from northeast Texas to the Rio Grande Valley — and highways that will run parallel to north-south I-35 will continue, he said. He also said Texas’ commitment to building roads is what attracts many companies and their jobs to the state, he said.

“I think the concept of the Trans-Texas Corridor is frankly one that got misunderstood,” Perry said.

The governor said it’s not a public relations failure on his part or a rejection of his views. He said Texans realize, as he’s been pointing out, that there’s major congestion along I-35 and other highways. He said Texans want to see their leaders have broad visions and not be “sticking our heads in the sand.”

“I’m not afraid of taking on big and tough issues,” Perry said.

Road-building is a cornerstone of Perry’s administration and is certain to be an issue in his 2010 re-election bid. His potential primary opponent, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, also has said transportation should be one of the state’s top priorities.

The Trans-Texas Corridor was envisioned as a huge set of highways, rail and utility lines crisscrossing the state, but it came under fire almost since its inception. Rural landowners in particular were opposed to giving up their property for the project.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

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