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Internal Corridor Council staff will make a presentation called "Rail is the New Commute" at the 10th Anniversary Texas Transportation Summit in Irving on Tuesday, August 7th from 2:45-4:00 PM. Mark your calendar: The Corridor Council's Transportation Task Force next meets Tuesday, July 24, 1:30 pm at the Aquarena Springs Conference Center in San Marcos. We may be doing a joint press event with TxDOT at 1:00 that same day, same place, that may interest you. So mark your daytimer and we'll get an agenda and more details to you later. Infrastructure TxDOT Commissioners voted to give the coveted State Highway 121 project to the North Texas Tollway Authority last week, overturning a previously-made commitment on the project to a Cintra-backed consortium. Late last week, Thomson Financial News out of Madrid was quoting Cintra's president as saying a lawsuit over the deal was still on the table and Fitch's bond rating service put a watch on NTTA's creditworthiness. Our take: this will have a chilling effect on getting big financial players to the table on private sector transportation deals in Texas; NTTA will be mortgaged to the hilt if they do this deal and the DFW-area will lose about $5 billion in financing for new projects. Lt. Gov. Dewhurst – citing “local control” - wrote a letter supporting NTTA to TxDOT commissioners just before the vote. NAFTA Numbers Keep Going Up: Trade using surface transportation between the US, Mexico, and Canada was valued at $65.0 billion in April 2007, 5.3% higher than in April 2006 for the biggest percentage increase from the same month of the previous year since August 2006, the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), reported last week. Details can be found here or here. Economic Development Austin and San Antonio were among five Texas big cities that gained the largest number of new residents last year, according to new estimates released last week by the Census Bureau. San Antonio, the nation's seventh-largest city, added about 33,100 people — the second highest number nationally after Phoenix — between 2005-2006. Houston, Dallas, Austin and Fort Worth were also among the cities with at least 100,000 residents to show big increases. Austin added 18,600 residents, growing to 709,000 residents and San Antonio's population is now estimated about 1.3 million people. A newly formed local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens is trying to launch a county fair, complete with carnival rides, at the Hays County Civic Center. Hoping to start a new tradition for San Marcos, LULAC Council 4876 is organizing the event for Oct. 12-13 with food and game booths, a bull riding exhibition and the Hill Country Cook-Off.
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