Texas toll road planner dies

Texas toll road planner dies Ric Williamson, chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission who championed the state's controversial push to privatize major roads, died of a heart attack Sunday, according to the Dallas Morning News.
   The most controversial project approved by the commission and Gov. Rick Perry was the Trans-Texas Corridor, which is designed to parallel Interstate 35. The Commission awarded the project to Spanish construction firm Cintra, but was forced by upset lawmakers to cancel the deal and give it to the North Texas Tollway Authority instead.