TxDOT Makes a Play for $100 Million for Segment 2 of the I-45 Project

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While TxDOT is slowly working with communities to understand the opposition to the project as currently planned, the state agency is simultaneously maneuvering to secure funding for Segment 2 of the NHHIP, extending along I-45 from I-10 to just north of I-610 adjacent to the Independence Heights community. At the June 19 meeting of the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Technical Advisory Committee, on which LINK Houston serves as a voting member, TxDOT made an initial request for $100 million from the FY 2020 Unified Transportation Program; the amount would show the region’s commitment to the project and help attract more than $1 billion in funding from the Texas Transportation Commission. LINK Houston and other Technical Advisory Committee members openly questioned TxDOT’s haste amidst the ongoing community concerns, which remain unanswered. The members also questioned the process by which TXDOT would take $100 million in a special (and limited) call for projects, significantly diminishing funds that transit and local agencies could use in the future for for multi-modal transportation projects.The Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council will vote on the $100 million measure to fund TxDOT’s advancement of Segment 2 of the NHHIP on Friday, July 28. We encourage you to share your concerns about the project and urge the Transportation Policy Council to not fund the advancement at this time. For information on how to sign up for public comments, please contact Lucinda Martinez at Lucinda.Martinez@h-gac.com or 713-993-4516.

LINK Houston
June 24, 2019

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