On March 8, in a letter, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) asked the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) to halt construction on an Interstate 45 expansion project, citing civil rights concerns, as well as environmental justice concerns.
The expansion project has been nearly a decade in the making, reports Inside Climate News, and has met with controversy over alleged civil rights violations, the difficulty in accessing neighborhoods, and the question of whether, in the age of climate change, building even bigger freeways is really the best solution for Houston’s legendary traffic jams.
The news of the letter from the FHWA came on the same day that Harris County announced it was suing the TxDOT over the North Houston Highway Improvement Project under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. This law mandates proper environmental consideration for all projects requiring federal action.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in March that the expansion of I-45 wouldn’t solve the traffic congestion problem at all, reports Houston Public Media.
“For years, our community’s been fighting this,” Hidalgo said. “And as leaders in our community, we are determined to use any lever of government we can to change the trajectory of this project and advocate for the future of this county.”
Possible Civil Rigts violations may be involved
Harris County, Texas is the most populous county in Texas, with a population of over 4.09 million people, and is the third most populous county in the United States.
Harris County is over 40 percent Hispanic, 19 percent Black and 62 percent white, with a smattering of other ethnic backgrounds. About 21 percent of the county’s children live in poverty. The county also has one of the highest property tax rates in the nation.
Kelly Village, is a public housing complex in Houston’s predominantly Black and Hispanic Fifth Ward. In July 2018, over 1000 homes in the path of TxDOT’s $7 billion expansion and rerouting of Interstate 45 received eviction noticed from TxDOT.
Besides Kelly Village, and Independence Heights, both of which are known for their rich Black history, the affordable housing complexes in Clayton Homes and Kelly Village, home to hundreds of low-income families are marked for demolition. TxDOT is required to provide compensation and plan the relocation of displaced residents.
“Urban freeways across America are monuments to environmental racism, and the Expansion of I-45 would be iconic,” said Molly Cook, an organizer with a community group called Stop TxDOT I-45. “By TxDOT’s own measures and admission, the project will encroach upon or displace people’s homes, green spaces, places of worship, businesses, and schools in the same Black and brown neighborhoods that were torn apart by its original building.”
The pause in construction was put in place by FHWA under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In its letter to TXDOT, the FHWA said it was acting in response to public input on the state’s project — which would widen I-45 in three segments from downtown Houston to Beltway 8.
The federal agency said it alone was responsible for such civil rights complaints and asked for time to review them.
“To allow FHWA to evaluate the serious Title VI concerns raised…we request that TxDot pause before initiating further contract solicitation efforts for the project, including the issuance of any Requests for Proposals, until FHWA has completed its review and determined whether any further actions may be necessary to address those concerns,” the March 8 letter reads.
