Despite name change, TTC still exists

Nannette Kilbey-Smith
Wilson County News

ST. HEDWIG — As the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) unveiled its “updated vision” for the Tran-Texas Corridor (TTC) Jan. 6, members of the South Central Texas Sub-Regional Planning Commission (391 Commission) watched with interest.

The commission formed to coordinate with TxDOT on transportation issues and concerns in the local area, primarily the impact of the TTC.

“The Trans-Texas Corridor, as it was originally envisioned, is no more,” TxDOT spokesman Karen Amacker told San Antonio’s WOAI News that day.

“Texans have spoken, and we’ve been listening,” said TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz in Austin, quoted in a TxDOT press release. “… I believe this transformed vision for the TTC and other major corridor development goes a long way toward addressing the concerns we’ve heard over the past several years.”

The local 391 Commission held its regularly scheduled meeting in St. Hedwig the following day. High on the list of updates were the latest revelations on the TTC. Commission President Kathy Palmer of St. Hedwig cautioned all present against celebrating the end of the TTC just yet.

“Yesterday, it was reported that the TTC was dead,” Palmer told members. “Actually, what’s dead is the name. The concept is still in place.

“It’s a little different,” she continued, adding that the width of the proposed transportation corridor has been scaled down from 1,200 feet to no more than 600 feet.

“Now, rather than a single-concept project, this will be a series of projects,” Palmer said. TxDOT will refer to the smaller projects by their segment names, for example, State Highway (S.H.) 130 or Loop 1604.

“They’re still thinking of the corridor as a whole to move goods from seaports to the north,” Palmer said. “San Antonio to Dallas is the priority now.”

The reason for the renaming of the project, Palmer said, is that the Texas Legislature is beginning its new session.

“The TTC had such negative connotations, TxDOT feared the Legislature would pull all funding for it,” Palmer explained. “Unless the draft environmental impact study [now awaiting approval with the Federal Highway Administration] and all funding is pulled, all that we heard in the last four years on this project is still a possibility.”

The new name TxDOT is using for the project is “Innovative Connectivity in Texas|Vision 2009.” View the full document HERE.

New segment committees have been formed to discuss individual projects that comprise the TTC. Palmer told the commission new rules for segment committees had been adopted; new representation would be invited by TxDOT to share citizen concerns with the committees.

New representatives on the 391 Commission include Marion city Councilman James Gray, Guadalupe County commissioners Judy Cope and Cesareo Guadarrama III, and East Central Independent School Board (ISD) President Steve Bryant.

Other entities with invitations to join the commission include the city of La Vernia, the La Vernia ISD, and the Marion ISD.

In other business, members raised issues to discuss with TxDOT during the commission’s next workshop, Feb. 25. Items include:

• The potential increase in traffic from S.H. 130 on I-10 from Seguin to Loop 410 when S.H. 130 is complete.

• Landowner access on stretches of S.H. 130 in Guadalupe County where properties will be split by the proposed roadway.

• The impact on bus routes on small arterial roads within the East Central ISD if TTC construction begins.

• The impact of potential TTC construction on residential access in Wilson and Bexar counties on F.M. 3432 and U.S. 87.

• The impact of potential TTC rail and/or vehicular routes on the city of Marion, its school district, and its emergency services.

Members also agreed to cap the number of entities represented on the local 391 Commission; member entities can be municipalities, school districts, counties, and water utilities. At present, five entities are represented: the cities of St. Hedwig and Marion, Wilson and Guadalupe counties, and the East Central ISD.

Wilson County Pct. 4 Commissioner Larry Wiley expressed concern over the growth of the commission.

“If we get too large, we lose the interconnectivity we have with each other,” he said. “But I want to leave open the prospect for adding other entities that may need to join.”

“Some possible member entities already have a voice, because they have a seat at commissioners court,” Wilson County Judge Marvin Quinney said.

Bryant expressed concerns that Bexar County was not represented at the table, except by his district.

St. Hedwig city Councilman Susann Baker recommended capping the membership at eight entities and an adjustment to the bylaws to reflect this; the item met with full approval by the commission.

The 391 Commission will meet again Wednesday, Feb. 25, at 2 p.m. in the St. Hedwig City Hall. Although the meeting is open to the public, it will be a workshop with TxDOT; therefore, no public input will be permitted, Palmer said.

© 2009 Wilson County News: www.wilsoncountynews.com

We Are Not Going To Back Down

Kathy Palmer, President SCTSRPC


“The Trans Texas Corridor, as it was originally envisioned, is no more,” Karen Amacker (TxDOT spokesperson) told 1200 WOAI news just today.

Before we have “No More TTC Parties” however, let me explain what that means.

• The TTC project instead of being one large project as originally proposed, will now be broken down into many smaller projects with each having their own individual name.

• The width of the route will be changed from 1200 feet to approximately 600 feet in most places.

• The route will still include in some areas, not only vehicular traffic, but rail and truck only lanes.

Please do not misunderstand me, this is a great accomplishment and one that would not have occurred had folks not decided enough was enough. What I hope to prevent however, is folks thinking we won the battle and therefore the war is over. It is far from over.

In TxDOT’s own Vision 2009 document (TxDOT-Vision-2009) page 5, you will see the following:

“What’s in a Name? Quite a lot. The Trans-Texas Corridor name has taken on unintended meaning that can obscure the facts. The Texas Department of Transportation has decided to put the name to rest. Instead, we will implement a corridor program that will house the tools of innovative project development and delivery springing from TTC events, but will use the names generally associated with individual projects from the beginning, such as State Highway 130, Interstate 69, and Loop 9.”

The DEIS (Draft Environmental Impact Statement) for the TTC concept is still under review and awaiting final approval from the Federal Highway Administration. TxDOT does not have any intent to dump that DEIS and start over, which means that if/when it is approved, it will have the original TTC concept in it thus allowing it to be used if TxDOT chooses to revert back to the original concept. I am not saying they will, but if folks do not stay vigilant and make sure they don’t, depending on who is in office and what the Texas Legislature allows or disallows, anything can happen.

Now you may ask, how does the Legislature have anything to do with the TTC Concept continuing?

The Legislature is who dictates the funding. If they withdraw the funding, then and only then will the project die. At that point, in order for any part of the project to move forward, funding must be found, whether it be state money, federal money or a combination thereof.

For those of us that have been involved in this for some time, we saw the writing on the wall of the name change when the Corridor Advisory Committee reports (See TTC I-35 report link HERE) stated that the TTC name evoked negative images in most Texan’s minds. We knew the only logical thing TxDOT could do was to dump the TTC name in the hopes that folks would then begin to back off.

I know I am not alone when I say that backing off now is the farthest thing from my mind.

I will be addressing the SCTSRPC in our meeting tomorrow and again tomorrow night at the East Central Citizen’s Forum to reiterate that now more than ever we need to stick to our guns and make sure our cities and the folks that live within them are protected.

It might take more effort now than before, since there may be more than one project related to the old “TTC” that will require coordination, but we did not form the Commission just to turn around and dissolve it at the drop of a hat.

I look forward to continuing working with TxDOT as we strive to assist them in providing for the transportation needs of the future while protecting what we have worked so hard to build in the past. Stay strong, stay focused, do your homework and research what you hear. Remember that knowledge is power.

Have a very Happy New Year!