Texas, feds settle probe over $9 billion Houston highway widening
HOUSTON – Federal authorities announced Tuesday they have lifted their hold of a more than $9 billion Houston area highway-widening project that has come under intense criticism from residents and activists who have argued the proposal would cause lasting economic and environmental damage to their communities.
The project to expand Interstate 45, which has been in the works for nearly two decades, had been delayed since March 2021, when the Federal Highway Administration began investigating civil rights and environmental justice concerns.
Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt announced his agency had reached an agreement with the Texas Department of Transportation, also known as TxDOT.
“This agreement moves forward an important project, responds to community concerns, and improves the (project) in ways that will make a real difference in people’s lives,” Bhatt said in a statement.
Local officials said the agreement will address many of their concerns, including providing more resources to deal with flooding, creating more green spaces and trail connections, and limiting the project’s footprint and its effects on air quality.
“After years of negotiations, the … (proposal) can now be the project Houston deserves it to be,” Mayor Sylvester Turner said in a statement Tuesday.
The dispute over the project comes as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has pledged to make racial equity a priority in his department.
The project was seen an important test of the Biden administration’s commitment to addressing a history of racial inequity in U.S. infrastructure projects.
Some community groups and residents said they were disappointed by the investigation’s settlement.
“President Joe Biden and U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg promised to undo the past harms caused by freeway construction, but it seems they are doomed to repeat these harms in Houston,” Stop TxDOT I-45, one of the community groups opposing the project, said in a statement.
The proposed construction project would take 10 years to complete, and remake 24 miles along Interstate 45 and several other roadways.
Supporters say it would enhance driver safety, help to reduce traffic congestion, and address flood mitigation and disaster evacuation needs.
But the project’s critics say it won’t improve the area’s traffic woes and would subject mostly Black and Latino residents to increased pollution, displacement and flooding while not improving public transportation options.