A plan to realign Interstate 45 in Houston has been criticized as a highway boondoggle as well as a failure of racial and social equity, and recent protests have only amplified the latter criticisms of the project.
Kea Wilson reports:
The construction of America’s downtown highways destroyed thousands of black neighborhoods during the height of the urban renewal era in the 1940s and ’50s — and a new impact study of a controversial highway project in Houston serves as a reminder that the racist policy never ended.
As reported originally in an article by Dug Begley that might be behind a paywall for some readers, the current North Houston Highway Improvement Project plan would remove "158 houses, 433 apartments or condos, 486 public housing units, 340 businesses, five churches and two schools," most of which are located in part of the city that was once Texas’s first black-formed municipality, Independence Heights, a region of major historic significance.
"BIPOC activists have long cited displacement and the destruction of black communities in their fight against the $7-billion megaproject, which would functionally rebuild most of the downtown freeway system in the process of expanding and re-routing the interstate," according to Wilson, but the opposition gained new fuel in recent weeks as protests and calls for racial justice have swept the country after the killings of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, and Ahmaud Arbery.
Read the full story: Houston’s I-45 Project is More ‘Urban Renewal’ Racism
TxDOT Approves I-45 Widening Despite Local Opposition
Despite every manner of local opposition, the Texas Department of Transportation is pushing forward with a plan to widen Interstate 45 north of the city of Houston, demolishing and displacing thousands of homes, businesses, and community facilities.
Environmental Study Released for $7 Billion Houston Highway Project
The final environmental impact statement for the controversial North Houston Highway Improvement Project is available for public comment, courtesy of the Texas Department of Transportation.
Violence Against Black Americans a Moment of Reckoning for the Planning Profession
After a wave violence against Black men in the United States, it is the duty of the planning profession to consider its role in perpetuating institutional racism.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Chicago breaks ground on $3 billion megadevelopment
The new neighborhood, titled Foundry Park, will one day host 3,700 residences.
Satanic place names
From streams and lakes to valleys and canyons, I mapped more than 1,000 places named after the Devil.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO resigns after $600,000 scandal
Under Ian Choudri, the authority used taxpayer dollars to fund first class flights and trips to nightclubs.
Want to study the Missouri River? Soon, you may need unanimous approval from 10 states
Legislation would require 10 governors’ permission to study or build projects moving water outside the basin.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority