Harris County Sues TxDOT To Halt I-45 Expansion Project
The Texas Department of Transportation has been moving forward with its $7 billion plan to remake and expand Interstate 45 to lessen local traffic, but Harris County threw a wrench in that effort on Thursday by suing the state transportation agency.
The county hopes its lawsuit will lead the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to order TxDOT to pause the project and send it back to the drawing board to come up with a new plan that better addresses the concerns of county residents about pollution and all the homes and business thatll be paved over if the expansion continues as currently designed.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said Thursday that despite all of TxDOTs promises about factoring in community feedback, shes frustrated that the most recent version of TxDOTs plan doesnt incorporate any recommendations from the county or from City of Houston officials about how to reduce the projects footprint.
Time after time, TxDOT has done nothing more than give us and our community lip service, Hidalgo said. Theyve made promises they cant keep, bulldozing right through us with this process.
Read more: https://www.houstonpress.com/news/harris-county-sues-txdot-over-i-45-expansion-11543546