When it comes to the 180,100 lane-miles of paved interstate that ribbon Texas, bigger has always meant better. The North Houston Highway Improvement Project is no exception: It proposes to add 24 miles of freeway along I-45 as well as I-10 and I-610, which encircles downtown Houston, and pack on several additional lanes in the nation’s fourth-largest city.
With this rebuild, the Texas Department of Transportation is making a very familiar promise: These road improvements will ease congestion and shorten commute times. And, like so many gigantic urban highway projects of the past, I-45’s widening will also exact a toll. The construction will take out thousands of residential and commercial structures, thicken air pollution in an already smog-choked corridor, and tear up historic African-American communities. The estimated cost: $7 billion. After 15 years in the making, a final record of decision by TxDOT to break ground is expected this spring.
