he Texas Department of Transportation is allegedly threatening retaliation against the whole Houston region because advocates continue to fight a highway expansion that the agency knows will have a harmful impacts on communities of color — but if the advocates successfully get the initiative shut down, it could be a model for other communities [...]
Critics of the plan to remake Interstate 45 north of downtown Houston filed a nearly 100-page complaint to federal officials Thursday, urging even greater scrutiny of the project’s effects on minority communities, an analysis they say state highway officials consistently have avoided. In the complaint, filed with the Federal Highway Administration, opponents of the current [...]
Today is World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims is a time when families from around the state, country and world pause to remember and mourn the lives lost to traffic violence. According to the United Nations, traffic fatalities are the leading cause of death for people aged 5 to 19 around the globe. [...]
Houston activists fuel a growing movement to increasingly center environmental justice in infrastructure and protect urban neighborhoods from endlessly expanding road projects. [Read more.] Tim Vnderpool | November 19, 2021 NRDC.org READ FULL ARTICLE
A new report released in October by nonprofit Air Alliance Houston shows the need for reliable and well-funded public transportation in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Presented at the Oct. 28 Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County board of directors meeting, the COVID and Public Transit in the Houston Region report was a collaboration between Air [...]
In 2002, the Texas Department of Transportation proposed alleviating congestion in the Houston region by expanding a massive freeway. Despite almost two decades of problems, rising traffic fatalities, the astounding proposed cost of $7 billion, the time-tested assurance that new lanes will quickly fill with new traffic, substantial community opposition, a lawsuit from the [...]
Transit use sank during the COVID pandemic, but remained a vital lifeline for many residents who said they boarded buses despite their fears to work critical jobs, according to a study released Wednesday. [Read more.] Dug Begley | October 7, 2021 Houston Chronicle READ FULL ARTICLE
While essential workers continued to utilize public transit, overall ridership has decreased by about 40% in Houston, according to a new report. Public transit has been a "lifeline" for many essential workers in the Houston area during the COVID-19 pandemic — despite overall ridership having decreased by about 40%, according to a new report. [...]
As the coronavirus pandemic wears on, public transportation leaders in Houston have continued work to advance a long-term vision for the city they said is more important than ever. Ridership numbers and revenues are down for the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, but the real story that emerged from the pandemic was one [...]
Interstate 45 still is on a road to rebuild after Texas transportation officials on Tuesday kept the controversial project in the state’s 10-year construction plans, but warned that failing to get federal highway officials to remove their hold on it could halt the plan altogether later this year. The Texas Transportation Commission on Tuesday [...]
