About the traffic: Does building more highways make things worse?

That argument has floated around a while. New lanes alleviate traffic for a little while, but it encourages people to buy more cars. Soon enough traffic is just as bad as it was before - maybe worse. Click here for a critical assessment of the consequences of widening I-10 - a $2.8 billion project. Should alternative means be used to lessen traffic? Apparently power brokers in Houston increasingly think so, including the newly elected mayor.

In a recent speech, the mayor called for a "paradigm shift." Instead of concentrating on widening highways and encouraging more use of autos - with single occupants - the city broaden the types of transportation opinion available to residents.

For more on the subject:

- Houston Mayor Calls for “Paradigm Shift” Away From Highway Widening. 

- Talking Points for Turner's speech to the Texas Transportation Commission.
- Turner's transportation platform.
- New Houston Mayor to Texas DOT: Wider Roads Mean More Traffic.

As of yet, these are still merely proposals. Texas continues on a trajectory the focuses primarily on highways construction. Much of this is built into the Texas Constitution. Funding for highways is designated in the document and strong constituencies exist to continue highways construction in the state. There's lots of money spent on highways, and the businesses who profit from those expenditures are not anxious to give it up. As of now the Texas Department of Transportation plans to continue widening highways stateside and in the local area.

- Click here for an announcement of current plans.

Here's what s planned for the Houston area, more widening of highways lie ahead:

• I-45 Gulf Freeway widening from NASA to FM 518. This project is expected to cost $112 million. Congestion relief funding will be $106.4 million. Construction is proposed to begin in Spring 2017 and be completed by Summer 2020. This project will aid in improving mobility on a heavily traveled hurricane evacuation route and primary freight corridor. This project is part of the overall project to widen IH 45 Gulf Freeway from NASA 1 to Galveston Island.

• I-10 Katy Freeway widening from FM 359 to the Brazos River in Waller County. This project is expected to cost $242 million. Congestion relief funding will be $131.8 million. Construction is proposed to begin in Summer 2017 and be completed by Spring 2021. This project is one of the pieces of the overall project to add two lanes on I-10 between Houston and San Antonio. The project will aid in improving connectivity as well as improving mobility on a hurricane evacuation route and primary freight corridor.

• IH 610 West Loop/ IH 69 interchange improvements. This project includes the reconstruction of multiple connector ramps and is projected to cost $287 million. Congestion relief funding will be $209.2 million. Construction is proposed to begin in Summer 2017 and be completed by Spring 2021. Reconstruction of the I-610/I-69 interchange

The battle over the future of transportation in the state promises to heat up - perhaps this winds up on the agenda of the 85th session.

Governor Perry supports dedicated car sales tax to fund highways

From the Texas Tribune:

Gov. Rick Perry on Friday came out in support of dedicating a portion of future sales tax revenue from car sales to the state’s highway fund, while also leaving the door open to spending more of the Rainy Day Fund on infrastructure projects that he had proposed three months ago.

. . . The remarks put Perry in lockstep with the main proposal put forth by Senate Transportation Chairman Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and House Transportation Chairman Larry Phillips, R-Sherman. Both have filed bills gradually dedicating a portion of future vehicle sales tax revenue to the highway fund.

. . . While Perry and Williams may be moving toward agreement on the Rainy Day Fund, the two don’t see eye to eye on whether the state should dedicate tax revenue from car sales to road projects. In a recent interview with the Tribune, Williams said such a plan would make things difficult for future legislatures as, over time, a bigger portion of state tax revenue gets automatically dedicated to roads. He has said he prefers raising the registration fee to raise more money for transportation.

“We’re going to have a great discussion on that, and I totally respect Tommy’s position,” Perry said. He said he prefers dedicating the vehicle sales tax over other proposals “because it’s not a new tax. It’s not a new fee.”

Perry also reiterated his support for ending diversions of the state gas tax to areas other than transportation, an issue budget writers in the Legislature have said they still hope to address this session.

By combining all his ideas on transportation funding, Perry said, “Texas would be able to capitalize more than $41 billion in transportation projects over the next 20 years. That should be enough to take care of the major improvements we need in this state.”

Transportation has been a politically tricky issue for Perry over the last decade. In 2002, he proposed the Trans-Texas Corridor, a hugely ambitious plan to blanket the state in a network of privately operated toll roads, railroad tracks and utility lines. He later scrapped the plan once public opposition mounted and virtually the entire Legislature disowned it.

More Highway Construction on the Way!

The Pearland side of the Reporter News website tells us to expect more highway construction as 288 is widened to meet the increasing demands that new residents are placing on it. The huge median from I-59 to County Road 60--about a mile north of 1462--is slated to turn into a toll road.

The construction project is in response to a Mobility Study conducted by the Texas Department of Transportation and the Houston Galveston Area Council. A variety of these studies, including one for the long forgotten I-35 expansion, are posted on the H-GAC website. Similar studies are posted on the TX-DoT website.

I find it interesting that we don't talk about freeway construction anymore, we talk about mobility or transportation. When freeways are built, somebody looses property--but mobility helps us all get to where we need to go (a nice fuzzy thing) or evacuate when necessary (an important security thing). The topic is still controversial however, witness the recent uproar in the Texas Legislature regarding the Governor's plans for expanded toll roads.

Paul Burka has also written in Texas Monthly that the most hated man in the Texas Legislature is Ric Williamson, the head of the Texas Transportation Commission.

I've driven down 288 from my home in the Heights regularly since 1998 and the changes have been, and are about to get even more, dramatic.