Does The Trans-Texas Corridor Have A Future?

"The Trans-Texas Corridor, the Goliath of Texas road projects, is taking a real bruising from the slingshot crowd these days, with so many Davids piling up stones that critics and supporters alike are beginning to believe it may be stoppable.

In the last few weeks, more than a dozen bills have been introduced in the both the Texas State and House to either stop the project cold or put enough restrictions on it to chill the interest of private investors. In late February, a state audit report revealed that millions of public dollars have secretly been spent on the project and that hundreds of millions more might be needed. At least one legislator is considering calling for an investigation of the Texas Department of Transportation. And thousands of opponents from around the state showed up last week in Austin to march in opposition to the giant toll-road proposal and to testify against it at a public hearing.

Gov. Rick Perry, Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson, and other top- ranking state politicos are still pushing to get ground broken on the 4,000-mile network of privatized toll highways planned throughout Texas in the next several decades. But with opposition growing on both sides of the aisle, critics are suggesting that supporters of the TTC may find they have a price to pay at the ballot box next time around."