I-45 rebuild supports growth, enhances safety
Houston is known around the world as a city of tremendous growth and economic opportunity. In fact, the U.S. Ccensus Bureau just reported that the greater Houston metro grew faster, in percentage terms, than any other top 20 metro in the last decade. People continue to come to Houston — or stay in Houston, if they were born here — for the job opportunities we offer and the quality of life we enjoy.
A critical enabler of Houston’s sustainable growth is adequate and resilient transportation infrastructure that offers improved mobility for both people and goods moving within and across our region.
TxDOT has proposed the North Houston Highway Improvement Project, which represents a $7.9 billion investment to redesign Interstate 45 from — and around — downtown all the way to Beltway 8 North.
The next few days are pivotal for this project. On Aug. 31, the Texas Transportation Commission will decide if the project will remain in the state’s master transportation plan.
As Houston’s principal business organization, the Greater Houston Partnership supports the project, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help the region’s infrastructure catch up with decades of growth and ensure we are prepared to meet the transportation demands of the coming decades.
The I-45 improvement project will reduce congestion, expand transit options, improve air quality, enhance safety, and address flood mitigation and disaster evacuation needs.
Parts of the I-45 corridor have not changed since their construction more than 50 years ago. Today, seven segments of the project are among the 20 most congested roadways in Texas. Consider this: In just the last decade, the population of greater Houston has grown by over 1.2 million residents. Estimates indicate that between now and 2040, traffic volumes will increase 40 percent from current levels. The current I-45 cannot handle this increased traffic safely and efficiently.
The project will create additional roadway capacity in the form of general purpose lanes and, importantly, promote transit usage and ridesharing through the creation of 24/7 MaX lanes for buses and high-occupancy vehicles. Right now, we have a single, narrow, one-way-at-a-time dedicated HOV lane that is only open for limited hours.
According to TxDOT, congestion in this section of I-45 results annually in 39 million hours of delay, $788 million in congestion costs and 11.9 million gallons of excess fuel used. The wasted fuel produces more than 120,000 tons of excess carbon dioxide each year. With the anticipated future population growth, the “nobuild” scenario will result in increased congestion, resulting in poorer air quality than we are experiencing today.
As one of the most congested roadways in Texas, I-45 is an unacceptable safety hazard and has been named the most dangerous road in the United States. The current highway does not meet federal safety standards in terms of curves and entrance/exit ramps. The project promises improvements to the corridor that are intended to reduce crash frequency and severity. It is anticipated to lead to the reduction of crash rates by at least 20 percent, with a 28 percent reduction in fatal and injury crashes.
Not only are portions of I-45 unsafe, they are also notorious for flooding during heavy rain events. These high-water situations unfortunately result in driver drownings, necessitate the rerouting of emergency vehicles and have the potential to severely impact coastal evacuation needs during hurricanes and other tropical weather events.
The project is designed to accommodate 500-year storm events, including Hurricane Harvey-like rainfall. It will reduce Houston’s total flood area by approximately 796 acres, the equivalent of more than 600 football fields, including lowering flood elevations in nearby neighborhoods.
While the benefits of the project extend across the entire region, the proposed I-45 footprint will directly impact a number of well-established communities, such as Independence Heights, Fifth Ward, East Downtown/EaDo and Third Ward, in particular. We believe the project will have dramatic benefits for and improve the quality of life of these historically disadvantaged communities.
But we know there are concerns in these neighborhoods. That is why TxDOT engaged in more than 350 stakeholder and public meetings to listen to the communities’ concerns and make improvements to the plan.
In response to the impacted communities’ concerns, TxDOT has made numerous modifications including moving the locations of various entrance/exit ramps, frontage roads and sidewalks to minimize impacts, along with efforts to better connect roads between impacted communities, avoid impacts to several community institutions, and create safe crossing and accessibility particularly around Metro bus stops.
In the case of those whose residences will be displaced by the new roadway, tenants and homeowners will be eligible for replacement housing supplements and moving expenses, which can help residents transition to their next place or even home ownership.
For impacted public housing residents, TxDOT has funded and entered into agreements with the Houston Housing Authority to construct replacement public housing for several communities in Fifth Ward and EaDo. The new housing will be constructed no more than 2 miles from the existing property to ensure residents remain in and near their communities, and displaced residents will have first priority for the new public housing locations.
We strongly support the project’s continued refinement after this evaluation period to ensure that it mitigates housing, noise and flooding concerns for Houston’s communities. We believe this can be accomplished by all parties working together with the community, not through lawsuits or federal investigations.
The I-45 project offers an unprecedented investment in Houston’s safety and mobility. We urge leaders across our region to support the plan that will transform our community and help better position it as a diverse, global city of the future. It would be a tragic missed opportunity for all of us if the project is not permitted to move forward.