Federal Infrastructure Dollars Funding Road Expansions

Despite President Biden’s assertion that the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law was “a historic spending measure that would not only improve the nation’s dilapidated roads and bridges, but also address climate change and help communities recover from past transportation policies that segregated people of color,” funding from the bill is in fact largely “fueling a rush of highway projects like Houston’s expansion of Interstate 45 that could undercut the administration’s environmental goals, said Beth Osborne, a former acting assistant secretary for transportation policy at the Department of Transportation.”

This according to an article by Mike Lee in Climate Wire, which asserts that without changes to “long-standing funding formulas that historically have fueled state efforts to pave more lanes,” the law will continue to fund traditional road expansion projects.

As one example, Lee outlines the contentious history of the North Houston Highway Improvement project, an expansion of Interstate 45 which the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is attempting to push forward with despite years of opposition from local leaders, including the city’s mayor, and community groups. After ordering the agency to stop work on the project while the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) investigated a civil rights complaint, “In March, FHWA said it had resolved its civil rights investigation and reached a settlement with Texas officials that would allow the project to be built.”