A look at perhaps the premiere example of cooperative federalism - highway spending. It becomes more complicated the further one gets into cities - such as Houston.
This project has been underway for decades, and will likely not be concluded for another 5 years at the soonest. Then we will focus attention on the next one.
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After spending months at loggerheads, but working on some consensus, the Texas Department of Transportation committed to a handful of concessions, such as increasing the money it will pay the Houston Housing Authority for relocation and development of affordable housing, and assurances to design the project as much within the current freeway footprint as possible. The project also connects to trails for running and biking, adds air monitoring in certain areas, adds features aimed at encouraging transit use and commits to stormwater design changes sought by the Harris County Flood Control District.
“Not all the things we wanted materialized, but that is compromise,” said Harris County Pct. 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia.
The FHWA told TxDOT to halt development of the project as it reviewed concerns raised by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee and others that the outreach to some minority communities was insufficient and violated civil rights laws by harming some Black and Latino neighborhoods.
Jackson Lee applauded the local efforts, and said her hope is to be "a bridge" to make sure the project improves conditions for residents and commuters alike.
"We are going to take this very important step and see where it leads us," she said of the local announcement.
As of now, the project, which remakes the entire downtown freeway system, remains listed to start work in 2024 on segments south of downtown where Interstate 69 and Texas 288 meet. Much of that, however, depends on what changes are needed and when the federal pause is formally lifted.
