I-69 plans topic of pair of Austin meetings

CORRIGAN -- Polk County Judge John Thompson trav-eled to the state capital Tues-day, June 5 as part of an inter-national highway project that could greatly benefi t the area economy. The proposed I-69 Corri-dor, once constructed, would create a transportation artery from Canada to Mexico cross-ing through southern Texas and eventually reaching east-ern Michigan. Thompson met Wednesday morning and eve-ning as part of two separate I-69 committees to strategize promotion and how best to tai-lor an I-69 corridor plan to the communities it would effect. Thompson’s committee cre-ates a segment plan based on information gathered during meetings with the community in question. The corridor has been di-vided into 32 segments of inde-pendent utilities (SIU) with 16 SIU’s located in the state. The committee then submits its SIU plans to the Texas Highway Commission, whom submits the plan to state legislators. Thompson meets later that eve-ning to discuss how best to pro-mote the I-69 corridor project, which continues to generate controversy due to confusion with a proposed Trans Texas Corridor (TTC). However, denouncers of the TTC say the I-69 Corridor dif-fers greatly from the TTC and organizations such as Corridor Watch support creation of an international highway system. Corridor Watch Co-Founder David Stall said TTC planners proposed seizing private prop-erty similar to railroad barons from the 1800s and did not al-low for public input. TTC highway construction was for a tollway fi rst, Stall said. “A lot of those things were rejected by the Texas legisla-ture,” Stall said. “There was not a public vote, but there was public outcry. We never op-posed I-69. We are proponents for I-69. We are proponents for it being built where there is a traffi c demand for it and where communities want and need it.” While driving to Austin, Thompson said creation of an I-69 corridor would bring ad-ditional traffi c and provide in-frastructure necessary for local economic growth. “Commerce in general fol-lows the interstate system in the United States. If you take a map of the interstate system of the U.S, and overlay it with population maps, then that is where all of the population is. That is where the vast major-ity of business and commerce take place. Good interstate is essential for economic devel-opment. How far are you from an interstate highway? It is the gold standard as far as econom-ic development is concerned,” Thompson said. “Highway 59, for years, has had the reputa-tion of carrying the more truck traffi c than any non-interstate traffi c highway in the U.S. and more than some interstate traf-fi c. Like anything in economic development of business, you have to have the infrastructure and when it comes to infra-structure, transportation is well at the top.” Although completion of the I-69 corridor remains decades in the future, Thompson said spo-radically placed construction sites give a hint at the future international highway system. The closest example to Polk County is the Shepherd over-pass. Thompson estimates the state could upgrade 60 miles of existing highways to inter-state status by the beginning of fall. Federal legislation may speed up the process by allow-ing transportation offi cials to designate certain highways as interstates as long as there are plans that would later connect it to another state highway. “In any rural community there is always the comment that why do our best and brightest grow up and move somewhere else, well it’s the job market. One of the essential pieces of infra-structure is transportation and that puts your at the table for lots of economic situations,”