What if we didn’t expand I-45?

It’s an awful lot of money that comes with a ton of negative effects and which, if the I-10 expansion is any guide, will have short-lived positive effects. So maybe we should just, like, not do it?

A massive remake of Interstate 45 from downtown Houston north to the Sam Houston Tollway that would be among the largest road projects in the region’s history also is one of the nation’s biggest highway boondoggles, according to an updated list released Tuesday.

The North Houston Highway Improvement Project — the umbrella term for the entire $7 billion-plus plan to remake Interstate 45 — is listed in the latest installment of unnecessary projects compiled by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and Frontier Group. Nine projects across the country made the 2019 list, the fifth annual report from the two groups that have argued for greater transit investment.

“We believe that to fix congestion problems we need to take cars off the road,” said Bay Scoggin, director of the TexPIRG Education Fund, a subset of the national group. “We could do far better investing $7 billion in public transit.”

The dubious distinction on the list comes days before two city-sponsored public meetings to gauge ongoing fears about the project. In the past six months, concerns have ramped up against the project as the Texas Department of Transportation and engineers seek federal approvals, following years of discussions.

The report is here, and you can see a very concise breakdown of the issues with this project here. If you want a bit more detail, Streetsblog read what TxDOT itself has to say about the project.

  • The project’s “proposed recommended” routes would displace four houses of worship, two schools, 168 single-family homes, 1,067 multifamily units and 331 businesses with 24,873 employees. “Potential impacts to community resources include displacement of residences and businesses, loss of community facilities, isolation of neighborhoods, changes in mobility and access, and increased noise and visual impacts. . . All alternatives would require new right-of-way which would displace homes, schools, places of worship, businesses, billboards, and other uses.”
  • “All [build] alternatives would result in displacements that would reduce the size of the communities and potentially affect community cohesion… Proposed alternatives that include elevated structures may create physical barriers between neighborhoods or affect the existing visual conditions of the communities.”
  • The project’s “[c]onversion of taxable property to roadway right-of-way and displacements of businesses that are significant sources of sales tax revenue would have a negative impact on the local economy.” And while at present the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods “are experiencing various degrees of redevelopment,” the state notes that “growth trends indicate redevelopment would continue independent of the proposed improvements to project facilities.”
  • The project will “cause disproportionate high and adverse impacts to minority or low-income populations.” And the project’s “[d]isplacement of bus stops could affect people who do not have access to automobiles or that are dependent on public transportation.”

Doesn’t sound good, does it? Here’s a thought to consider. What if we took that $7 billion that this project is estimated to cost, and spent it all on transit? That would be more than enough to fully build the Universities and Inner Katy light rail lines, plus the Green/Purple extension to Hobby Airport and the Red Line extension out US 90 all the way into Sugar Land. I’d estimate all that would cost three billion or so, which means there would be between three and four billion left over. We could then take that money and buy more buses and hire more drivers so that we could upgrade most if not all of the existing bus system to rapid bus service, we could create some new lines to fill in any existing gaps, we could add more commuter bus lines from outlying suburbs into the central business district and other job centers, we could build a ton more bus shelters, we could fix up a bunch of sidewalks around bus stops, and we could pilot some more autonomous shuttles to help solve last-mile problems and gaps in connectivity in the existing network. I mean, seven billion dollars is a lot of money. This would greatly improve mobility all around the greater Houston area, and it would improve many people’s lives, all without condemning hundreds of properties and displacing thousands of people. But we can’t do that, because TDOT doesn’t do that, and we haven’t gotten approval from the voters, and many other Reasons that I’m sure are Very Important. So get ready to enjoy all those years of highway construction, Houston, because that’s what we’re gonna get.

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9 Responses to What if we didn’t expand I-45?

  1. bi says:

    “It’s an awful lot of money that comes with a ton of negative effects and which, if the I-10 expansion is any guide, will have short-lived positive effects. So maybe we should just, like, not do it?”

    Well said, Kuff. I agree. The cost/benefit analysis of this one just doesn’t pan out. We’d get a lot bigger bang for our buck with that money elsewhere.

  2. Bill Daniels says:

    “It’s an awful lot of money that comes with a ton of negative effects and which, if the I-10 expansion is any guide, will have short-lived positive effects. So maybe we should just, like, not do it?”

    Well said, Kuff. I agree. The cost/benefit analysis of this one just doesn’t pan out. We’d get a lot bigger bang for our buck with that money elsewhere.

  3. Ross says:

    The I-10 expansion has had long term positive effects. It may be crowded, but it carries a significantly higher number of cars than before the expansion.

    I-45 needs a rebuild from Downtown to at least the Shepherd curve as routine maintenance, so at least some of the money has to be spent on the roads.

    I don’t get the obsession with rail. Rail would probably suck here. Where would the parking lots for the stations be located? How many businesses would be removed to make room for rail infrastructure? Would anyone actually ride rail from the far North and West suburbs?

  4. mollusk says:

    The Katy Freeway expansion has had long term negative effects, in the form of flooding in areas that never flooded before.

    Considering the whinging I hear almost daily about how packed the Park and Ride busses are (from just about every direction), and judging by the experience in just about every other city with commuter rail, why yes, people will use rail. As it is they’ll walk halfway across downtown to earlier stops in order to sit rather than stand.

  5. Jules says:

    “So get ready to enjoy all those years of highway construction, Houston, because that’s what we’re gonna get.”

    Charles, the other day you asked the difference between people against the hsr and people against the I45 expansion. People against the hsr believe it can and should be defeated. People against I45 believe they are defeated.

  6. Jules says:

    Why not just add more park n ride buses instead of commuter rail?

  7. mollusk says:

    Rail has much greater capacity, and if it’s in its own right of way is far less susceptible to traffic issues. It’s potentially faster, too.

  8. Pingback: In defense of the I-45 expansion – Off the Kuff

  9. Jules says:

    You can put buses in their dedicated lanes too. BRT.

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