Oil capital seeks to lead in renewables
Houston wants to be the renewable capital of the world.
Or, the clean tech capital. Or the energy transition capital. Or maybe the Energy 2.0 capital. It depends on whom you ask.
“Depending on the audience that you’re speaking to, some ways of describing the future energy economy resonates differently,” said Jose Beceiro of the Greater Houston Partnership, the leading business association for the region. He’s the senior director of “Global Energy 2.0,” the partnership’s strategy to aid in transitioning Houston to a low-carbon economy.
“It’s this concept of helping the energy industry move in a more sustainable direction,” he said.
That concept was front and center during the city’s inaugural Climate Week, held last week after being delayed because of Hurricane Laura. It’s the one thing everyone can agree on: Houston’s energy sector needs to change to be more sustainable, and that change is starting
to as they remake Interstate 45, work will spread across numerous construction projects, meaning some portions could come sooner than others. Koch, in a presentation to H-GAC transportation officials on Aug. 27, outlined six projects that combined would build more than 24 miles of elevated freeway from Loop 610 to the Grand Parkway.
Unlike U.S. 290, which runs parallel to Hempstead Road, the managed lanes would allow for quicker trips to such key places as the Sam Houston Tollway or the northern end of Uptown because fewer entrances and exits along the managed lanes mean less traffic weaving on and off the main lanes. That keeps traffic moving slightly faster, similar to the Katy Managed Lanes along Interstate 10.
Cagle said that though preliminary, he applauded TxDOT for remaining focused on what is expected to be increasing traffic demand along the U.S. 290 corridor. The long-sought project has gone through various iterations — including deals between the state and Harris County Toll Road Authority that went through months of revision as officials on both sides juggled related projects.
The new proposal modifies longshelved plans for a tollway along Hempstead to complement U.S. 290 that met with stiff resistance on various fronts.
“The city had some concerns about the large right-of-way footprint and the loss of tax base,” Koch said.
As a result, the new design, by stacking the roads, “drastically reduces,” the space used, Koch said.
Cagle said part of the discussion will be deciding whether residents — if they agree the road widening is needed — prefer elevated lanes to preserving businesses.
“Some folks do not like the elevated lanes because they say they’re are not attractive, but others think a wider road is less attractive, so you have to work though that,” Cagle said.
Times also changed on local highway planners, making tolls unpopular with the public and politicians. After voter-approved funding increases to TxDOT in 2014 and 2015 — which required the new money to be spent only for highways, excluding tolls and transit — many projects that relied on user fees have foundered.
The revised plan, similar to the plan for managed lanes along Interstate 45 as part of the $7 billion-plus rebuild of the freeway north of downtown, removes any plan for as- sessing tolls. That means all of the $1.3 billion cost will come from federal, state and locally-controlled funds.
Development also means another major project through Spring Branch, Jersey Village and Cypress in northwest Harris County, where commuters spent six years crawling through construction along U.S. 290. Though work on the freeway rebuild technically is not over, with crews still rebuilding the FM 1960 bridge spanning the freeway and reworking the Huffmeister intersection, most main lanes opened in late 2018 with the HOT lane in the center opening fully in late 2019.
Even before the pandemic decreased travel in the region, drivers have said the wider freeway offers smooth trips.
“It was hard getting through it, but we made it,” said Tim Rosamilia, 41, who lives south of U.S. 290 near Texas 6.
Rosamilia said he is reluctant to see more construction come his way.
“It never ends,” he said. TxDOT officials said work is not completed because they have spent decades trying to catch up to Houston’s growth and have not gotten there yet.
“We have some relief now, but that is time-sensitive,” said Raquelle Lewis, spokeswoman for TxDOT in Houston.
When the $2.3 billion project to widen U.S. 290 and rebuild the interchange with Loop 610 began in 2012, it always was part of a larger plan that included the tollway along Hempstead.
An elevated freeway-like facility along another major street would not be new to Houston, Koch said, even so close to many homes and commercial properties.
“Westpark (Tollway) was built and really threaded a needle between neighborhoods,” he said, noting the two lanes in each direction with concrete dividers along a mostly elevated roadway proposed along Hempstead would look very similar.