Groups gather in Austin to ask TxDOT to slow down

Promote repair, rail projects

Steve Hawley, Mar 04, 09.

A diverse group of transportation, environment, consumer, and political reform advocates gathered in Austin yesterday to protest a Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) proposal on how it will use stimulus funding, including $181 million to begin construction of Segment E of the Grand Parkway, according to the Environmental News Service. Several advocates said that instead of building the Grand Parkway, TxDOT should spend the money on maintenance and repair or rail projects. The story has been picked up by a variety of news sources.

According to the Environmental News Service article, Brandt Mannchen, air quality chair of the state Sierra Club, said, “TxDOT is using money from the federal stimulus package to prop up a project that could not be justified on its own merits.”

Jay Blazek Crossley of Houston Tomorrow, speaking about the Grand Parkway proposal, added “proponents claim future Houstonians will want to live in carbon-intensive, low density, auto-based residential areas devoid of jobs and services, but the many transportation needs of current Texans take priority over this speculation.”

Melissa Cubria, spokeswoman for the Texas Public Interest Research Group, said, “TxDOT must be reminded that the largest portion of stimulus funds, the portion in the Surface Transportation Program, can be flexed for other uses, including passenger rail.”

News 8 in Austin also provided coverage of the event. According to News 8, “The organizations criticized the list as containing ‘roads to nowhere,’ toll roads in underdeveloped areas and projects destructive to the environment. The groups advocated for more public transit projects to relieve traffic, reduce emissions and decrease dependence on foreign oil.”

In addition, Fort Bend County Commissioner Richard Morrison argues in FortBendNow.com that stimulus money should not be spent on the Grand Parkway. Morrison states, “From a mobility standpoint many of these remaining segments are useless. Miles and miles of the remaining pieces will cross open prairie where no one lives, will have little or no effect on traffic and are not needed….It only seems reasonable that the federal stimulus money should be spent on actual mobility projects.”