Everything's bigger in Texas...

Bet my bottom dollar the actual cost, were such a project to be undertaken, would be at least double the estimates. Not a reasonable thing at all (at least for a few generations).

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"Within the next generation I believe that the world's leaders will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley

The Texas State Legislature voted for and passed it in June 2003, H.R. 3585.
Looks to be only one portion of a giant Canada-Mexico corridor, I-69.

If they are really going to spend that kind of money, they might
consider making the passenger-train track a highspeed one.
The only way you're going to compete with air-lines.

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Yes, the Texas plan is to start with freight, adding passenger, then high-speed in a progressive manner to end up with 6 tracks:

I would rather this have gone to a Bering Strait Bridge. Since we don't know how to mine coal anymore without getting people killed, I want a conncection to Russia to get more and more fossil fuel from them.

The coal would go to Texas as would the oil. Then and only then would the Texas system be needed. I have seen plans for slurry pipelines going across the nation, as well. The recent Shockwave covered edition of American Scientist has an article that coal can be used to replace petrolium products with new advances in chemistry.

Stalin and others wanted a Russian presence in the far east--but the great-grandchildren of this diaspora are returning to Moscow and becoming a burden. Seeing rails go to Siberia for forestry, coal/lignite and new oil deposits will vastly reduce the need for oil in the middle east.

We need to spend money on transportation--but Bering Strait Bridge/Tunnel needs to come first. With that worst part done, rails/roads can be built to them. A break of gage is dealt with in Europe, and the wider Russian tracks might be adopted across Alaska. If we are going to develop ANWR--why not take a jog to the bridge.

The Russians have staying power. In Christmas of 2002, there was an announcement of the complete electrification of the Trans-Siberian Railway after 74 years of work. Though this massive undertaking--and its Baikal-Amur Mainline clone gutted the Soviet budgets--it proved vital in WWII and would pay for itself with a link to the USA.

We dn't spend enough on transportation--and even when we do--it is on the wrong things.

I want a true Imperial Presidency--but only with an icy technocrat infrastructuralist like myself at the helm.

At least you're honest about it.

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odd, this is the first I have heared of this, and I live in houston

The Discovery Channel just broadcast their Bering Strait Bridge on how this might be done.

I want a pipeline out of Russia in the worst way.

considering the current cost of gasoline, the level of reserves and the considerable technical problems to overcome if hyrdrodgen is to be a fuel, massively expanding the automobile infrastructure is probably unwise at this time.

Exapnding the rail infrastructure (i.e. rebuilding the rail infrastructure) to combat congestion and fuel expenditure is a good idea, if done correctly. I have serious doubts, however, that this is the correct way. Providing additional connections to well connected areas for freight isn't the answer (and what happens when you hit the borders of Texas?). Reinvesting in urban infrastructure is a much better solution.

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But nobody seems to want to live in urban areas--thus the suburbs. The more you tax the city center--the more people leave, and the more the city runs down. Birmingham is a horrible example. Here in Alabama, some fools are trying to build a domed stadium, and have a light rail system that I promise you no one will use.

I think it would be a smarter move if poorer citys/states were to pay for the Bering Strait Bridge and charge a toll for its use. You know that it would be used, seeing that we are losing one containership every year or so--and that rail traffic would aid the US gov't in wartime in troop transfer to reduce air travel.

But the developer-bought city councils still buy into the 'showcase city' nonsense--when in fact the same programs they think to lure citizens away from the suburbs just makes them move farther away. China can afford to do that since that country has something called 'heavy industry' which you see less and less of here. That is why Bejing will look cool, while Detroit looks like a dump. If we don't start getting coal, lignite and oil from Russia--China will get it all.

We have tar sands and oil shale here(and a lot of coal as well)--so a Bering Strait bridge could allow the US to actually become an energy exporter--if we spend more on transportation and less on the military.

Unclear on the concept:
June 12, 2006
"...Mexican trucks will cross border in FAST lanes, checked only electronically by the new “SENTRI” system. The first customs stop will be a Mexican customs office in Kansas City..." HumanEventsOnline
Cool map!

That link HAS to be total BS!

Forgetting the unreality of the underlying concept, getting the neeeded approvals, environmental impact statements, land/right of way acquisition, and funding would be completed about the time Chelsea Clinton's grandkids think about getting into politics....

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...

OK, here's 2,000 others to choose from.

I don't think they can make 600 mph trains and tracks.

They only have to go around 250-300 MPH to be competitive, once one factors in such things as the line at airport security, the wait in traffic getting to the airport, the flights delays due to weather, mechanical problems, etc., and a host of other things that regularly turn a two hour flight into a six+ hour ordeal.

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Yep, and i think think many of 'em support my position. Example:

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Standing on the shoulders of giants...

I-69 and the TTC are not the same thing.

I-69 has been around as a future project for more than a decade now; it's usually proposed route would follow US59. It is now being called "I-69/TTC", but it's scope hasn't changed from a multi-lane highway.

The TTC is the "brainchild" of Gov Rick Perry and a bunch of contractors and developers (and campaign contributors) who stand to make a lot of money off its planning, construction and development. TTC would run through the heart of Texas, generally east of and paralleling I-35. It would have separate highway lanes for auto and truck traffic, high speed rail, and a pipeline corridor.
http://www.corridorwatch.org/ttc/cw-...6map-start.htm

Interstingly, although Perry is the GOP candidate for governor this year, the state GOP platform calls for abandoning the TTC project.

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I recall that this idea started with either Mark White or Ann Richards, but that was about all it was, an idea.

No, White and/or Richards may have supported the development of I-69, but the TTC (now being called TTC-35) was Perry's idea, begun in 2001 and announced in 2002.
http://www.corridorwatch.org/ttc/cw-whosidea.htm

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High speed passenger rail out there would be nice. You could get the Acelas out and really open them up. The Northeast Corridor might be profitable, but the Acelas are forced to use entirely too much track with slow speed conditions due to cost and a few cases of Hysterical Preservation.

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The last time I felt a warm fuzzy feeling, I was informed by my doctor that it was just gas.

I remember something about bullet trains between Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. This was when I was living in Austin (85-89) or just after I got out. At the same time there was also an idea to have another interstate parallel to I-35. But like I said earlier, it was only an idea. It may have just been an idea in search of a politician and now it's found one.

Here's a Pre-Perry article just to show you what I mean.

Around here, at least, any kind of passenger rail would be nice, other than Amtrak, which has more of a limited scope than the commuter rail I'd like to see between here and Seattle or maybe the border.

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The Corridor would be a huge help to a number of problems, I suspect. Railroads and roadways can not handle today's requirements. A recent report stated a number of millions of gallons of gas are wasted each year in congested traffic, as well as, the loss of billions of man-hours idle in delayed traffic. Emissions are also worse in these conditions.

The State is now capable of engaging private entites to get involved, in some cases with private money, but not necessarily private financing in every case. These should be helpful since there has been no new gas tax since 1991 and the money they are getting today has devalued due to inflation, yet the demand is high. San Antonio has more than doubled in congestion hours, exceeding Houston's prior rate. All the other major cities have also increased in congestion problems.

Railroads are reluctant, at best, to haul low cost road base material when they can haul more profitable goods on their limited tracks. Joint venturing of customers, who are normally competitors, has been necessary to make orders large enough to attract the railroad companies.

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board!

I'd love to be able to drive to Fort Worth and NOT have to drive thru Austin! The trip from San Antonio to FW would be considerably shorter and safer.

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I drive from Houston to Fort Worth-Dallas frequently. The worst part of the trip is getting out of Houston. Once past Conroe, I-45 flows very nicely.

And that's the problem with the TTC. It does not address the problem of urban congestion; that's the main source of trouble and it's not caused by through traffic, but local. If you want to address congestion, bypassing the cities won't help anyone but the peolpe on the bypasses, and you can construct those without going to the TTC extreme.

Also, TTC-35 (to use it's new name) does not even give a passing glance at my trip route. There is some talk about adding a connecting route, but going from Houston to Austin (or Waco) to get to FW-D seems counterproductive.

I am, however, very much in favor of high speed rail. As first proposed, this would have been a link basically following I-35 and I-45, with a connector between the two. One of the early ideas involved "ferry cars" so you could put your family car on the train, hop into the coach car, and go. Rapid rail trip, no driving, amenities along the way, plus have your car at the other end.

(Of course, I'd only use it going up. On the drive back, there are the mandatory stops at Russell Stover and Woody's.)

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Isaac Asimov

Good point; arterial congestion is the bigger challenge, likely. The new funding mechanisms are suppose to make a difference based on revised projections of expenditures. High inflation in material costs aren't helping, however. Both cement and asphalt price increases are adversely affecting the hope for better roads.

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What the West really needs is a big ditch, running from the Mississippi River at Memphis, through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Southern California.

The Southwest is very dry and needs the water. If we had all the water that is wasted as the run-off of the River into the Gulf of Mexico below New Orleans, the West could support 50 million more people and many more factories, farms, etc.