80th Legislature: TxDOT Officials Put On Defensive

As long as the words “Trans-Texas Corridor” are hot buttons, you can expect things like this to happen before the Lege:

Before a crowd of people angry over the Trans-Texas Corridor, state senators grilled transportation commissioners Thursday about the huge toll road project and why Interstate 35 couldn’t be widened instead.

Oh. My. My. My. More:

When Williamson, a Perry appointee, and other transportation commissioners appeared before the Senate panel, Sen. John Carona, the committee chairman, asked questions he said were on the minds of many in the room.

Carona noted that Williamson and Perry were close, and Williamson acknowledged that, while offering praise for the governor’s decision to tackle the state’s transportation problems.

“I do think a great deal of him because I think he stuck his neck way out before an election,” the commissioner said. “And I will say, I find him to be remarkably evenhanded about solving problems.”

Carona wondered about the cost and feasibility of widening I-35, possibly with loops around heavily congested the metropolitan areas.

Williamson showed detailed maps about the population and congestion along I-35. He said 83 percent of the state’s population lives in a crescent covering the urban areas of Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio and Houston.

Carona, a Dallas Republican, also said many Texans have been skeptical of the toll road project because of the aura of secrecy surrounding it.

“When information isn’t shared, when open records are ignored or are challenged in court, people are always led – it’s human nature – people are led to believe that there’s some other agenda,” Carona said.

Some sections of the state’s contract with the Spanish-American consortium Cintra-Zachry to develop the Trans-Texas Corridor were kept secret for 18 months and were the subject of a court case brought by the company and the Texas Department of Transportation. That lawsuit was filed after the attorney general ruled the contract was a public record.

The secret sections of the contract were finally made public in September.

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