Trans-Texas Corridor is not going away quietly

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) notified the Federal Highway Administration this week that it wants to stop construction on I-35, which was designated as the first leg of the $175 billion project.

However, the TxDOT has already spent $15 million on environmental and planning studies for I-35, and officials say the price will get even higher for stopping the job. The environmental review process alone cost $12 million, and officials say costs associated with canceling the private contract to build the corridor could go as high as $4 million.

“We made it very clear that it would be some time before we could completely transition away from the [Trans-Texas Corridor],” TxDOT Director Amadeo Saenz told the Associated Press. “We were and we still are in the middle of environmental studies and those issues have to run their course as we move forward.”

TxDOT still plans on executing a softer version of the Trans-Texas Corridor after taking heat from the public for months. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, who is opposing Gov. Rick Perry in the race for governor in Texas, has been the most vocal as of late, claiming that the “Trans-Texas Corridor will not be officially dead until Rick Perry is no longer governor.”