Local groups question Grand Parkway expenses

Commissioners to vote tomorrow

Steve Hawley, Mar 09, 09.

UPDATE: Several news outlets provided coverage of the event. Links are listed at the end of the article.

A coalition of Houston advocacy groups gathered at the County Administration Building today at noon for a press conference, calling for the Harris County commissioners to complete feasibility studies before approving contracts for the design of Segment E of the Grand Parkway. The commissioners are scheduled to vote on $9.8 million in contracts tomorrow morning. Speakers included representatives of the Citizens’ Transportation Coalition (CTC), Houston Tomorrow, and the Houston chapter of the Sierra Club. The speakers were backed by about ten individuals holding signs, some of which read “Texans say no to the Grand Porkway” and “Texans say: Spend it where the people are.”

Several of the speakers argued that the county should spend money on fixing current transportation problems, rather than building a new road through the mostly-uninhabited Katy Prairie. “When I use my EZ Tag on the Westpark toll road, I like to think that the County is using my toll money to make it easier for us to get around our city,” said Robin Holzer, chair of CTC. “I like to think they’re solving real transportation problems today. ... Rather than improving mobility for current Harris County residents, the so-called Grand Parkway is intended to open up new land for development, to benefit a handful of wealthy land developers. What’s outrageous is – at that same meeting – Commissioners will talk about doing a toll feasibility study to find out whether the proposed Grand Parkway will have enough users to pay for its $500 million price tag. That’s just wrong. Harris County has a responsibility to every toll road user in our region to slow down and do this right. Let’s get the cart back behind the horse, and do the study before we spend one more dime on this boondoggle.”

Peter Wang, a CTC board member, added, “What we Cy-Fair residents need right now is US 290 rebuilt, we need 290 Commuter Rail, we need the Hempstead Highway managed toll lanes, and we need high-speed transit up and down State Highway 6. The Harris County Commissioners must not approve spending $500 million on a facility that is not going to solve the transportation problems of the 75,000 people living around State Highway 6 and US 290.”

Jay Blazek Crossley of Houston Tomorrow noted, “In last year’s Houston Area Survey, voting residents of Harris County were told that the county will see tremendous growth over the next 20 years and asked what they thought ‘would be the best way to accommodate that growth.’ Only 15% of Harris County residents chose to ‘continue to build new suburbs on the edge of existing suburbs,’ while a strong majority of 76% of residents said they think that Harris County should ‘redevelop older areas to build where services, streets and sewer lines exist.’”

Crossley continued, “What Harris County residents know and the rest of the country has learned is that building freeways in the middle of nowhere does not plan for inevitable growth, it causes that growth to shift. ... Were Harris County to choose to fairly invest instead in the 56 percent majority of its residents who live inside of the County’s cities and towns, who are being ignored by this rush to construction, transportation infrastructure could be used to reduce vehicle miles traveled, to reinforce the kind of dynamic and exponential economic growth that only happens in urban centers, and to improve the quality of life for all residents of Harris County.”

Brandt Mannchen of the Sierra Club stated, “The proposed Grand Parkway is not ‘shovel ready’ and has not acquired all environmental approvals. The US Army Corps of Engineers requires that a wetlands dredge and fill permit (Section 10/404 permit) be acquired before a road can be constructed that destroys important wetlands. This has not been done. The Corps of Engineers informed the Sierra Club last week that Harris County Commissioner’s Court has yet to submit its draft permit application for Segment E of the proposed Grand Parkway. A 30-day public review is required along with a detailed environmental analysis by the Corps for public interest and other factors. Further, Harris County Commissioner’s Court has not mitigated for the direct and indirect destruction of 12,000 acres of the Katy Prairie that will occur due to the construction of the proposed Grand Parkway.”

He concluded, “The real reason for this proposed ‘Road to Nowhere’ was revealed last week by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). TxDOT stated that economic stimulus money should be spent on the proposed GP because it was an opportunity to open up land in Northwest Harris County to development. The proposed Grand Parkway is a land development scheme and not a transportation project. There are many alternatives to the proposed Grand Parkway, Segment E, which will provide for congestion relief where people live and work. These alternatives include commuter rail along US 290, widening US 290, the Hempstead Highway toll road, widening Katy-Hockley Road, and connecting Fry and Mason Roads to US 290. ... Another loop around Houston won’t solve anyone’s transportation problems and will accelerate the gridlock we already suffer.”

Houston Chronicle: Grand Parkway work stirs dissent
KPRC, Channel 2: Grand Parkway expansion could speed up
KHOU, Channel 11: Activists say road will go nowhere
KUHF Radio: Citizens urge Harris County to study Grand Parkway tolls