Monday, August 15, 2011

Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor: Will it continue to be an issue?

Paul Burka has an interesting post asking if Gov. Perry will flip-flop on the Trans-Texas Corridor.

http://www.texasmonthly.com/blogs/burkablog/?p=11103

Burka writes, "Like gay marriage and parental rights, the taking of private property by government is a huge issue with Republican voters. As originally conceived by Ric Williamson, and enthusiastically supported by Perry, the Corridor was a series of toll roads, each with a footprint a quarter of a mile wide, condemning millions of acres of pristine countryside, that would be built and controlled by Cintra, a foreign corporation. The right-of-way would include power lines, pipelines, and high-speed rail lines."

He also notes that some elements of the Corridor are being built individually. "[H]e goofed when he bought into Williamson’s vision of a giant network of toll roads (many of which are being built as I write.)"

See Burka's post and the comments for an update of the Corridor that never quite goes away.