What's next for Texas' superhighway?
What's next for Texas' superhighway?
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12
By Nolan Clay
Published: April 20, 2008
For years, Texas has been planning a privately financed super turnpike from Mexico to the Oklahoma border.
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How would it affect Oklahoma?
Still, the critics, including former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul, got the attention of Texas legislators. Last year, legislators approved a partial moratorium on private toll road deals.
How the corridor — if it ever is built in Texas — would affect Oklahoma is unclear.
McCaleb was a consultant for a company that was seeking to build the corridor along I-35. The company proposed extending the corridor through Oklahoma.
"The Oklahoma arm never got off the ground because our proposal was not selected. And the other proposals had no provision for anything in Oklahoma,” McCaleb said.
‘There's a lot of misinformation'
Oklahoma transportation officials say they have no plans to extend the corridor through Oklahoma. They say existing roads could be used to take the traffic.
Oklahoma officials also say most of the planning in Texas is on the stretch of corridor between Dallas and San Antonio.
"It appears to be that's where their focus is,” said David C. Streb, engineering director for the Oklahoma Transportation Department. "These things take a long time.”
Streb said of the criticism, "There's a lot of misinformation.”
Oklahomans organize opposition to plan
Opponents of the corridor going into Oklahoma already have organized. A group, Oklahomans for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, incorporated last year.
"We heard of all the various problems with it,” said George Wallace, president of the group. "In Oklahoma ... at least 33,000 acres would be taken by eminent domain. ... It will be a private company running this and they can set their tolls at whatever they want.”
Wallace is skeptical of claims the corridor may not be built in Oklahoma.
"The corridors that we're talking about in Texas are up to 1,200 feet wide,” Wallace said. "They have lanes dedicated to trucks, lanes dedicated to passenger vehicles, rail lines, power lines, water lines, oil lines ... Let's say it comes up to the Red River. Is it just going to stop?
"Doesn't make much sense, right?”
Nolan Clay, Staff Writer
Related Topics:
Domestic Policy, Political Policy, Politics, U.S. Politics, Elections and Voting, Transportation Policy, U.S. Presidential Election

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What I have said here only scratches the surface of what big construction business is trying to set up at the American's expense. There is much more here that does not readily meet the eye that involves China using the corridors to import to the U.S. using Mexican ports and trucks, bypassing our Ammerican ports and truckers. That translates to more lost jobs for Americans. China is now investing billions in Mexican ports. Like I said, the devil is in the details on this corridor. Get informed Okies and fight this together with us Texicans.
The reason long haul trucking exists at all is the fact that the nation turned away from the railroads back in the 1950's as Eisenhower planned and implemented construction of the National Defense Highway system, (aka... our federally supported interstate highway network). This system is based upon what he saw in Nazi Germany during WWII. However, when was the last time we needed our interstate system for such? The railroads still carry implements of destruction to their various ports for overseas delivery. Why? because the military does not want equipment half used when it reaches the battlefield.
Private investors, such as Warren Buffet, are now investing in true private corporations such as the railroads. It would make more sense to plow your treasures into railroads at this point, even with the USDOT/ODOT/TxDOT imbalance skewed toward the construction of new roads for use by the interstate trucking industry some rational thought must prevail. The taxpayers and users of our existing roads will be forced to wake up when oil reaches $125 a barrel this summer.
Transportation imbalance must end. Hopefully our nation's addiction to foreign oil is ending. Change is hard and those who plan our state/national transportation networks need to wake up and find solutions to our national transportation crisis.
Do you have anything else in your comeback repertoire besides "(insert name here), you're an idiot"?
Probably not.
Why do you even bother?
A. J. Johnson, Jr. Ardmore