Political Quotes

“the most congested and the most dangerous section of Interstate 35 anywhere between Canada and Mexico is in my hometown of Austin, Texas. Correcting the gridlock on Interstate 35 is vital not only for the Central Texas economy but for everyone in this Nation that relies on this vital transportation artery. I commend the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Petri), and all of the Members that have worked so hard to produce this bill. We have followed their example with a broad regional bipartisan coalition to build a bypass to I-35 in Texas known as State Highway 130. Our work on SH-130 demonstrates the wisdom of the Chairman's support of demonstration projects. These high-priority projects like SH-130 are a way of assuring that our priorities are addressed by both State and Federal transportation bureaucracies. These bureaucracies are not the know-all and the be-all on planning transportation. Sometimes the bureaucratic number-crunchers forget that their actions can crunch people and can crunch neighborhoods as well as numbers. In the case of SH-130, we have required in this bill a specific route endorsed unanimously by City Council members and commissioners as well as some State legislators. We have also specified that that money must be expended solely for the construction of that portion of SH-130 within Travis County and south of U.S. 290.”