Tag Archives: Independence Heights

So what’s the deal with that I-45 deal?

Posted on January 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

Still to be determined. Houston, Harris County and the Texas Department of Transportation have an agreed path forward for rebuilding Interstate 45, and a lot of steps to get there. Details big and small remain works in progress and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on So what’s the deal with that I-45 deal?

Agreement reached on I-45 expansion plans

Posted on December 20, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

I remain skeptical, but we’ll see. The bottleneck of design differences that has divided officials about remaking Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston is easing, officials said Monday, clearing the way for construction on the $10 billion project, perhaps in … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

If the only choices are “take it or leave it”, well…

Posted on July 30, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Leave it doesn’t sound so bad given the alternative. One year ago, opponents of the state’s plan to rebuild Interstate 45 in Houston criticized the “take it or leave it” option state officials offered regarding amending plans for the mega-project. Tuesday, as … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on If the only choices are “take it or leave it”, well…

State wants feds to un-pause I-45

Posted on April 5, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

We all want things. State highway officials held fast to their plans for rebuilding Interstate 45 in Houston on Thursday, offering a litany of benefits the project will bring and pressing federal officials to lift a 12-month-and-counting pause on development. … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Not everyone opposes the I-45 project

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Life is a rich tapestry. Jill Rafferty proudly acknowledges she bothers a lot of people. Better to rub them the wrong way, she reasons, than let a lack of attention wash her Independence Heights neighborhood away. Flood control efforts, mostly … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 25 Comments

Still filled with dread about I-45

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone got a paper bag I can breathe into? Strip away the enormity of rebuilding Interstate 45 and the promise of speedier trips along downtown Houston freeways, and two questions about the once-in-a-generation project remain: How many negative effects are … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Independence Heights and I-45

Posted on June 16, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Sometimes, with everything else that’s going on in the world, I forget that the I-45 expansion is still out there, looming like a battleship in the harbor. But there it is, and we can’t not worry about it. For Tanya … Continue reading →

Posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

HouZE

Posted on December 4, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

This is very cool. Independence Heights earned a place in history as Texas’ first African-American city, settled in 1908 and sovereign until it was swallowed by the city of Houston 21 years later. But tomorrow’s residents may be pioneers of … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on HouZE

Ike rebuilding funds finally coming

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Charles Kuffner

About time. More than 3½ years after Hurricane Ike, a high-ranking federal housing official and Mayor Annise Parker announced Wednesday that $151 million in federal disaster relief money is on the way to four areas of Houston to rebuild or … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Ike rebuilding funds finally coming

Old neighborhoods, new faces

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Charles Kuffner

Really interesting story about the changing faces of a couple of Houston’s historically African-American neighborhoods. There are now almost as many Latino residents as African-Americans in Independence Heights. At the same time, there are fewer African-American children there and in … Continue reading →

Posted in Elsewhere in Houston | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment