(May 24, 2006)—The Texas Department of Transportation released a schedule Wednesday of more than 50 public hearings on the Trans Texas Corridor project.

The hearings, which begin in mid-July and continue for five weeks, will give residents a chance to ask questions and register opinions about the massive transportation project.

“The sole purpose of the public hearings is to get comments from citizens, local governments, business, property owners and other stakeholders,” said Tim Brown, chairman of the Trans-Texas Corridor Advisory Committee.

“Decisions will be made based on those comments, so it’s important that people participate in the process.”

The most likely route of the corridor stretches from Gainesville to Laredo, but other alternatives will be presented as well.

After the hearings, TXDOT staff members will evaculate comments and submit a final environmental impact statement to the Federal Highway Administration, which is expected to make a decision on the project by the summer of 2007 on whether to allow additional environmental studies within a ten-mile-wide study area, based on which the final route of the corridor would be determined.

The 10-mile-wide study area for the Central Texas leg of the $184 billion project runs generally along and slightly east of Interstate 35, state transportation officials announced in April as they released a 4,000-page draft environmental impact study that identifies the study area.

The report narrows the study area from Gainesville to Laredo, close to Interstate 35 and metropolitan areas north of San Antonio, but centered on Interstate 35 from south of San Antonio to Laredo.

The Texas Department of Transportation signed a contract in April 2005 with the Cintra-Zachry consortium for planning on the project, the most ambitious highway construction effort since the Eisenhower administration launched the effort to build an interstate highway system.

The plan ultimately calls for a 4,000-mile network of transportation corridors that would crisscross the state with separate highway lanes for passenger vehicles and trucks, passenger rail, freight rain, commuter rail and dedicated utility zones.

Designers envision a corridor with six separate passenger vehicle lanes and four commercial truck lanes; two high speed passenger rail lines, two freight rain lines and two commuter rail lines and a utility zone that will accommodate water, electric, natural gas, petroleum, fiber optic and telecommunications lines.

Cintra, which is an international engineering and construction firm, and the San Antonio-based Zachry Construction Corporation, have agreed to provide $7.2 billion for construction of the first six segments of the project, the governor’s office said.

Cintra will spend $6 billion to build a four-lane toll road on the corridor and will pay the state $1.2 billion in return for the exclusive rights to operate the toll road for 50 years.

Click Here For Interactive Map Of Proposed Corridor Route

Click Here For Trans-Texas Corridor Web Site

Click Here For Background Information On The Trans-Texas Corridor

Click Here For An Opposing Point Of View From Corridor Watch

Central Texas Hearings
(Each begins with an open house at 5 p.m. followed by a presentation at 6:30 p.m.)

July 13, Hillsboro, Hill College Performing Arts Center Auditorium, 112 Lamar Dr.
July 17, McGregor, McGregor High School Auditorium, 903 Bluebonnet Pkwy.
July 18, Cameron, Cameron ISD Performing Arts Center, 303 E. 12th St.
July 19, Clifton, Clifton High School Cafeteria, 1101 N. Avenue Q
July 19, Hearne, Hearne Junior High School Aud., 401 Wheelock St.
July 20, Corsicana, Drane Intermediate School Auditorium, 100 S. 18th St.
July 20, Groesbeck, Groesbeck High School Auditorium, 1202 N. Ellis St.
July 24, Georgetown, Georgetown High School Klett Center for the Performing Arts, 2211 N. Austin Ave.
July 24, Waco, Waco Convention Center, Brazos Room, 100 Washington Ave.
July 25, Marlin, Marlin High School Auditorium, 1400 Capps
July 26, Temple, Frank W. Mayborn Civic & Convention Center, Main Hall, 3303 N. 3rd St.
July 27, Rockdale, Knights of Columbus Hall, 655 Highway 79 E