Hearing passed without local objection
By Jerry Gaulding Free Press Editor

More than 100 people showed up for a state transportation department hearing on a proposed new roadway through East Texas held at the Lottie and Arthur Temple Civic Center Monday night, but only five made comments about the proposal and none, apparently, were from Diboll.

The hearing conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation was one of a series being held throughout the projected route of the Trans-Texas Corridor, a multi-lane tollway that is being pushed by Gov. Rick Perry and the transportation department. By official count, 111 people signed in at the hearing, although the crows looked larger.

The highway will run from Laredo to Texarkana and its route through East Texas roughly tracks U.S. 59. Current concepts of the future route show the TTC passing just east of Diboll. In some places, the tollway will include rail, pipelines and utility lines and could require rights of way almost one-quarter mile wide.

Studies and hearings now are being conducted under the first phase of a twostep process. Construction of the corridor, if it should come to pass, remains many years in the future.

Of the five speakers, four identified themselves as from Polk County and all of those four expressed their opposition to the TTC. The fifth, Patricia Jones, did not identify her residence but spoke of the corridor's route including Wolf Creek near Lufkin as a cause of concern.

State Rep. Jim McReynolds, DLufkin, in opening remarks noted that 18 percent of Texans occupy 80 percent of its land mass, meaning rural Texans may have less of a voice in what is done with their properties than urban dwellers. McReynolds noted projections of the state's population growth from today's 23 million people to 41 million by 2030. moving those people around will be a "huge, huge, problem," he said.

But alternatives to the TTC exist and will be explored, the legislator said, expressing solidarity with people who have owned the same land for generations and are loath to lose it to a new highway.

Jack Heiss, project manager for the TTC, didn't answer directly when asked if public sentiment to the project continues to be overwhelmingly negative, was there a chance it might be canceled. Heiss said public comments will be considered and it is possible the project could take a form different from what now is planned. All options will be considered, he said.