Infrastructure is necessary for the a strong economy and is the primary differentiator between the United States and less developed countries. Infrastructure investments serve crucial purposes and should not be left to domestic or foreign corporations to own, operate and maintain. The Trans-Texas Corridor is important for the economy.

If there is a natural disaster, our local government with the assistance of the Federal government should be able to move in quickly and provide repairs. A foreign corporation will complicate this process. We need to be able to take control and make repairs or do whatever else may be necessary to protect the well-being and safety of the public. The highways should be owned, operated and maintained by our local governments to assure the safety of our people. Private ownership of public infrastructure transfer wealth to private entities at the expense and safety of the public. The Trans-Texas Corridor should not be financed and operated by Cintra. It should be financed and operated by the State of Texas.

TxDot received about 28,000 comments during the public comment period . . . probably all 28,000 were against the plan to develop a new route. Now, TxDot has said it will utilize existing highway facilities. This message was communicated to the Federal Highway Administration in a letter dated 9, 2008.

Now, if TxDot and the Federal Highway Administration will listen to the people and not give the highway construction and ownership rights to Spanish corporation, Cintra, that will be even better. Eisenhower would never believe that our great country cannot afford to construct its own highways.

But, the Bush Administration has seriously under funded the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. The result is that States don’t have access to funding for improvements to the Interstate Highway System. For proof, just look at Texas. If there was adequate funding, the State of Texas would not have to rely on financing the planned Trans-Texas Corridor highway system with a foreign corporation and give the ownership rights and toll rights away for 50 years.

Is this the American ideal? I don’t think ex-President Eisenhower would approve. America, the greatest and richest country in the world, selling giving a foreign corporation ownership rights of it’s national highway system in exchange for financing!!

Senator Brogdon said “The NAFTA superhighway stops here at the Oklahoma border.” Brogdon was speaking at a meeting for Oklahoman’s for Sovereignty and Free Enterprise, Inc. “We don’t need a new super highway four football fields wide coming through the middle of our state just so Mexican trucks can deliver Chinese containers in the U.S.”

Brogdon supports the preservation of the U.S. Constitution and doesn’t support the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America. Article 1 of Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution says ‘Congress shall have the power to regulate Commerce among the states’. President Bush has violated the intent of this Article 1 by entering into the SPP agreement with Mexico and Canada without the explicit approval of Congress.

First, why does Texas need to sell out to a foreign corporation to construct a highway in the state? That’s easy! Because the Governor and the Department of Transportation knew that the citizens would never approve tax dollars for a highway that no one wants!

Second, why does the U.S. Department of Transportation assist the state? The U.S. Department of Transportation, with Secretary Mary Peters at the helm, has deliberately disregarded the vote and instructions of the Congress and Senate in 2007 to discontinue the Mexican Trucking Program and continues today to operate the Mexican Trucking Program in Texas. The Trans-Texas Corridor is a plan to provide a “super highway” from Mexico into the heartland of the U.S.

On March 11, 2008, the Senate Transportation Committee conducted a Oversight Hearing of the Cross Border Trucking Program. Mary Peters was asked why she continued with the Mexican Trucking Program in defiance of the the wishes of the citizens of the United States as demonstrated by the vote of the Congress and Senate to cancel all budget appropriations for this project. Senator Frank Lautenberg is on this committee.

The Trans-Texas Corridor is not in the best interest of the people of the State of Texas. It was masterminded by the some of the same parties that also wanted to sell U.S. shipping ports. Also, isn’t it odd, that the Texas Department of Transportation put on a series of intensely advertised “public hearings” to answer questions AFTER it was already put in place!

Hurry - write your State Senator and Legislators and tell them to stop the TTC. Don’t bother to write Governor Rick Perry, he is the chief orchestrator of the ill conceived project.

Here is a better idea. Use some of the money to build the Trans Texas Corridor! There is no reason to give a contract to a Mexican company to operate the toll road in Texas for 50 years. This contract is for a revenue producing business.

Since Texas has a windfall budget surplus, investing in the toll road today is a 50 year investment that will reap profits for the state of Texas for the next 50 years. This translates to a 50 year benefit for the citizens of the State of Texas.

The Texas Department of Transportation has very controversial plans to build a super highway through Texas generally from the Dallas area to the Brownsville and Laredo area.  It’s clearly aimed at giving the Mexican trucking industry a clear super highway directly into the U.S. 

There are many controversial issues, but this is the chart topper of them all.  The Department of Transportation has awarded a contract to a Mexican company, Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., to construct the super highway and given the company a 50 Year Lease to operate and collect tolls.  OMG!  Why does the great country of the United States need to finance highways with foreign corporations? 

I know one good reason and it’s been reported on already by Cannonspeak.  The federal government is not providing the states with adequate funds for infrastructure, because so much money has been spent on the War in Iraq.  Congressman Yarmouth estimates the cost of War in Iraq as “more than half trillion dollars”. 

Write your senators and representatives and tell them you don’t want the U.S. government to sell highways, ports, airports or any other public facilities to foreign entities.