Opinion: A new vision for I-45 and Houston
July 19th, 2019
July 13, 2019 - Geoff Carleton - Houston Chronicle -
A “boondoggle” and a “Texas-sized mess of a highway plan” is how one national headline recently described the proposal to spend more than $7 billion in public dollars to rebuild and realign I-45. It is hard to disagree.
The project — which would remake I-45 between downtown and the Sam Houston Tollway — represents a doubling down on the formula that has made Houston a national leader in roadway deaths and transportation CO2 generated per capita. It has made us increasingly vulnerable to major storms and flooding while doing little to address congestion on our roadways.
The I-45 project is likely to do irreversible damage to our city’s finances and ecology. It will reduce the city’s tax base by eliminating existing businesses that affect 25,000 jobs. This includes approximately 20 city blocks in EaDo, a thriving entertainment and residential neighborhood with massive unmet potential. It will wipe out homes, churches and businesses in neighborhoods including Independence Heights, Near Northside and Fifth Ward, repeating the sins of the past by building highways through historical African American and Latino neighborhoods.
Read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/A-new-vision-for-I-45-And-for-Houston-14092376.php
A “boondoggle” and a “Texas-sized mess of a highway plan” is how one national headline recently described the proposal to spend more than $7 billion in public dollars to rebuild and realign I-45. It is hard to disagree.
The project — which would remake I-45 between downtown and the Sam Houston Tollway — represents a doubling down on the formula that has made Houston a national leader in roadway deaths and transportation CO2 generated per capita. It has made us increasingly vulnerable to major storms and flooding while doing little to address congestion on our roadways.
The I-45 project is likely to do irreversible damage to our city’s finances and ecology. It will reduce the city’s tax base by eliminating existing businesses that affect 25,000 jobs. This includes approximately 20 city blocks in EaDo, a thriving entertainment and residential neighborhood with massive unmet potential. It will wipe out homes, churches and businesses in neighborhoods including Independence Heights, Near Northside and Fifth Ward, repeating the sins of the past by building highways through historical African American and Latino neighborhoods.
Read more: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/opinion/outlook/article/A-new-vision-for-I-45-And-for-Houston-14092376.php