Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Group opposing Trans Texas Corridor holds a meeting with TxDOT

NBC KCEN-TV (Waco-Temple Killeen)
Copyright 2007

Some local city leaders sat down with TxDOT Tuesday to get some answers about the proposed Trans Texas Corridor.

The group from Bell County formed the Eastern Central Texas Sub-Regional Planning Commission, and they spent about three hours voicing their concerns Tuesday. Since there is no definite location for the corridor, there were a lot of unanswered questions.

However, one point was made clear: the commission does not want the corridor built through their towns.

The group is made up of mayors and school board officials from Bartlett, Holland, Little River-Academy and Rogers who are concerned about the economic impact and size of the corridor.

They fear it will alter their quality of life and TxDOT is unable to address those issues because they said it's too early in the planning stages.

"There [are] a lot of questions that have not been answered. There’s a lot of impact that has not been studied. And they have agreed to come back with us and to keep working forward with us which we have not heard before now," Holland Mayor Mae Smith said.

"We want to try to impact the fewest number of people possible and we want to try to minimize the impacts to people. At the same time, we want to minimize the impact to the natural environment," Director of Corridor Development Edward Pensock said.

The proposed corridor will cost $25 billion.

The commission said it does recognize the congestion problem, and propose the expansion of I-35 opposed to the construction of the corridor.

© 2007 KCEN-TV: www.kcentv.com
Local Communities Demand Answers Concerning Trans-Texas Corridor

10/23/07

by Sara Talbert
KXXV-TV News (Waco-Temple-Killeen)
Copyright 2007

HOLLAND- Big concerns for many officials at some small Central Texas cities. They demanded answers on Tuesday and about the Trans-Texas Corridor.

TxDOT officials were in Holland to meet with a group of concerned mayors, school board members and citizens who call themselves the Eastern Central Texas Sub-Regional Planning Commission. The ECTSRPC was formed specifically to fight the TTC.

Three TxDOT officials answered what they could to the group who made it very clear they do not want the Trans-Texas Corridor coming through their towns or even the.

The group expressed their concerns about the economic impact the TTC would have on the farmlands, school districts, development and economies in Holland, Rogers and Little river. But when asked about the economic impact, officials did not have a direct answer, simply saying they don't know just yet.

"They don't have all of the answers that we thought they should at this point before they considered doing this," said Mae Smith, Mayor of Holland.

Currently, the estimated amount of land to be used for the proposed TTC in the Rogers/Holland area is 3500 acres and that includes a lot of farmland.

The next meeting for the Eastern Central Texas Sub-Regional Planning Commission is set for November 13.

© 2007 WorldNow and KXXV: www.kxxv.com