Heritage, Summer 2003 Page: 14
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broader in scope than the state's portion of the interstate highway
system.
The interstate system was a nationwide effort, primarily
funded with federal dollars. The Trans Texas Corridor is Texas'
idea. No other state has proposed such an ambitious project.
The concept is simple. Texas will be connected by a 4,000-mile
series of corridors up to 1,200 feet wide containing three separate
high-speed toll lanes in each direction for passenger vehicles and
trucks. The corridor also will contain three rail lines in each
direction, one for high-speed passenger rail between cities, one for
high-speed freight, and one for commuter and freight. The third
component of the corridor will be a utility easement.
The Trans Texas Corridor will allow for much faster and safer
transportation. It will relieve congested roadway systems. It will
mean cleaner air, and a safer, more reliable utility transmission
system. It will keep the economy vibrant by creating businesses
and jobs. Finally, as the Camino Real and the railroad did in previous
centuries, the corridor system will lead to the founding of
new cities while increasing the importance of existing ones.
Funding for the corridor will be as innovative as the system
itself. Texas voters provided the framework on November 6,2001, when they approved Proposition 15. That constitutional
amendment allows Texas more flexibility than it has ever had to
fund transportation projects through a variety of means. These
include public-private sector partnerships called exclusive development
agreements, toll equity, the Texas Mobility Fund, and
regional mobility authorities. With preliminary planning work
under way on the Trans Texas Corridor, much research remains
to be done on the state's early transportation routes.
"The roads of a nation have been aptly described as the backbone
of a nation," Jewel Davis Scarborough wrote in a DAR publication
in 1929, "and Texas has a bewildering array of historic
roads--Indian trails, cattle trails, post roads, military roads-that
have never been accurately marked or fully appreciated. There
could be no greater task.. .than the collecting of data concerning
these old roads that have meant so much in the lives of our people,
and the placing of suitable markers....Let us begin the work
while the trails are fresh."
Mike Cox, of Austin, the author of 11 books and a member of the
Texas Institute of Letters, is communications manager for the Texas
Department of Transportation.HERITAGE SUMMER 2003
M A RLOW
IN D USTRIES
A Texas company that proudly
supports historical preservation
Texas' Founders: Raymond and Elizabeth Starr Marlow
Thermoelectric Innovation Through Research
10451 Vista Park Road * Dallas, TX 75238-1645
Telephone: 214/340-4900 * Fax 214/341-5212I
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Summer 2003, periodical, Summer 2003; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45377/m1/14/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.