The agency overseeing short line rail operations in Northeast Texas may cut ties this week with the company which wanted to use its right-of-way to build a proposed toll road.
The Northeast Rural Rail Transportation District (NETEX) Board of Directors is scheduled to consider taking action on releasing its contract with Public Werks concerning the former “Blacklands Corridor” project.
A presentation concerning the issue is included as part of the agenda for the board’s regular session, set for 1 p.m. Wednesday in the Blacklands Railroad office, 641 Church Street in Sulphur Springs.
Public Werks had entered into the contract with NETEX with the intention of utilizing the agency’s unused right-of-way between Greenville and Lavon in Collin County to build the Blacklands Corridor toll road.
Amid overwhelming opposition from residents who lived along the right-of-way, the Blacklands Corridor proposal was dropped in favor of the “Northeast Gateway”, which moved the project south of the earlier plans to where it no longer involved the abandoned NETEX railroad right-of-way.
In October 2015, the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) announced it was not recommending the Northeast Gateway project be added to the region’s future transportation plans.
The announcement indicated the NCTCOG had initially considered adding the Northeast Gateway into the Mobility 2035 plan, until a September meeting in Rockwall, attended by more than 1,200 people, all of whom were reported to be against the toll road project.