Eric, I'm glad to see you writing about this. I had much the same initial reaction as you, but it changed as I started looking at the 121 and 130 toll road deals in Texas with Cintra. (I was doing research for a column about a bill in the Oklahoma legislature affecting similar deals here.) That non-compete clause is especially odious.

Michael, I had really planned to stay on the sidelines for this one since I don't have a dog in the [direct] fight, but there's just so much that seems to be wrong with this project that it's hard to keep quiet.

But, I'm still far from being completely educated on the issues. I need to do some more homework, which I suspect will confirm what is now more or less a gut feeling.

I come at it from the laissez faire angle, and even ignoring the rather fragrant nature of the deal, my bigger problem with it is that I don't see the problem this corridor is solving.

Credit to the powers that were for some long-range thinking, but it's becoming clear that it was just a smokescreen for the third oldest profession, spreading other people's money around to your friends.

Praise the Lord. I knew I smelled something, but I was trying to ignore it, hoping MLB would take her turn scooping the litter box.

I like you guys, so I won't even start on the debacle that is the 121 project.

Why have a mexican company run this? What's wrong with keeping American money in America? Yeah, it's typical Texas politics, using your power as an elected official to line the pockets of fellow cronies who I am sure return the favor. I avoid Oklahoma when I travel because of their toll roads. The interstate works quite well.

The West Texas effects of the corridor project would be less invasive than in other parts of the state, though people and current businesses in Fort Stockton, Ozona and Sonora would have problems, since the only proposed route through the region would mirror Interstate 10, but bypass the cities along the route currently served by the highway by as much as 5-10 miles (and limited access toll highway with on-route services, such as with the toll roads in the northeast and midwest, do considerably take business away from towns near the road, though restaurants and service stations would feel the effect more than motels. People just don't like exiting and entering through toll plazas just to eat or fuel up if they don't have to, and the state reaps rental $$$ for the rights to the on-highway service areas, so it's also in their interest to keep people from leaving the road).

There is no planned corridor route at this time mirroring I-20, from Dallas-Fort Worth to El Paso, even though traffic volume there is heavier than along I-10, and odds are the I-10 replacement corridor is dead last on the list of projects in the hopper. So if you're Starbucks at the Rankin Highway or the Pilot Truck Stop at West County Road, you don't have to worry about your new locations becoming obsolete any time soon.