The North Houston Highway Improvement Project, stalled by a federal investigation, will now go ahead with only a few tweaks that opponents say don’t go far enough to mitigate the damage it will cause to Houston neighborhoods.

Another day, another twist in Houston’s infamous Interstate 45 expansion saga. As Kea Wilson explains in Streetsblog, “Last week, the Texas Department of Transportation announced that it had reached an agreement with the Federal Highway Administration to resume work on the $9-billion North Houston Highway Improvement Project, which will rebuild and expand the aging Interstate 45 and other highways throughout the Bayou City’s downtown core — and displace over a thousand residents and more than 300 businesses in predominantly BIPOC communities.”
Critics of the project are skeptical of the agency’s pledge to “evaluate the possibility of reducing the highway’s footprint where “reasonable” — which some advocates say means it’s unlikely to be reduced at all” and provide an ‘unspecified’ amount of funding for parks, bike facilities, and other local improvements.
Despite some grandstanding on the part of federal officials about the need to reevaluate our transportation system and road construction projects with equity in mind, Wilson writes that “Buttigieg and his colleagues don’t really have much of a say in whether bad highway projects go forward — because under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Congress guaranteed states the right to build pretty much whatever they want with the bill’s $110 billion in funding.” Steve Davis, associated vice president for transportation strategy at Transportation for America, says “Until something fundamentally changes with the program, highway expansions are going to continue to happen.” USDOT has the authority to require a calculation of induced demand, eliminate “value of time” metrics, and other ‘nudges’ toward more sustainable policies, but more changes at the state and federal levels are required to shift away from the highway expansion status quo.
FULL STORY: ‘Secretary Pete Can’t Save You’: FHWA OKs Houston Highway Expansion After Pause

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Chicago’s Ghost Rails
Just beneath the surface of the modern city lie the remnants of its expansive early 20th-century streetcar system.

Amtrak Cutting Jobs, Funding to High-Speed Rail
The agency plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce and has confirmed it will not fund new high-speed rail projects.

Ohio Forces Data Centers to Prepay for Power
Utilities are calling on states to hold data center operators responsible for new energy demands to prevent leaving consumers on the hook for their bills.

MARTA CEO Steps Down Amid Citizenship Concerns
MARTA’s board announced Thursday that its chief, who is from Canada, is resigning due to questions about his immigration status.

Silicon Valley ‘Bike Superhighway’ Awarded $14M State Grant
A Caltrans grant brings the 10-mile Central Bikeway project connecting Santa Clara and East San Jose closer to fruition.
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