Three meetings this week could set course for $7 billion...

Three Houston Planning Department meetings scheduled for this week, days prior to a key state deadline, could prove pivotal in shaping how Interstate 45 is rebuilt — with ramifications for years to come.

The meetings, which start Thursday, will be the first chances for residents opposing the $7 billion-plus project to realign and widen I-45 from downtown north to the Sam Houston Tollway to view the city’s proposed adjustments, which Houston will convey to the Texas Department of Transportation this spring.

TxDOT is leading efforts to rebuild I-45, which is outdated. State officials have spent nearly two decades planning for the eventual rebuild and are months away from the federal approvals needed. If approved later this year or early 2021, construction could begin in 18 to 24 months.

In addition to adding two managed lanes in each direction from downtown to the tollway, the project will:

Public meetings Thursday, Jan. 30, 6 to 8 p.m. Emancipation Community Center 3018 Emancipation Saturday, Feb. 1, 10 a.m. to noon Aldine Ninth Grade School 10650 North Fwy Monday, Feb. 3, 6 to 8 p.m. Harris County Dept. of Education 6300 Irvington Source: Houston Planning Department

Read More

relocate I-45 south of Interstate 10 by removing the elevated portion along Pierce Street and aligning the freeway to parallel I-10 and Interstate 69 on the east side of downtown;

depress portions of I-45 and I-69 east of the George R. Brown Convention Center and I-45 north of I-10, allowing for the freeway to be capped with parks;

completely rebuild the I-45 interchange with Loop 610 north of downtown, which is one of the oldest portions of freeway in the region, and

adds or widen frontage roads inside Loop 610 that reconfigure some local intersections.

PIERCE ELIMINATED: Massive I-45 project will remake Houston freeway spine, but at what cost?

The plans, while cheered by some commuters, have been met with alarm by residents, community groups, environmental nonprofits and bicycling advocates, who point to the hundreds of homes and businesses likely to be razed to make way for the changes. They also voice concern about the effects the wider freeway will have on pollution in neighborhoods and asthma rates, notably for those closest to downtown where children occupy Houston Independent School District campuses close to the freeways.

“We are talking about children who are already suffering higher rates than others children in the district,” Bakeyah Nelson, executive director of Air Alliance Houston, told a community meeting Jan. 11.

She said mitigation efforts that center on improving indoor air quality at the schools fall short of treating the community fairly.

“They are children and they should be able to play outside,” Nelson said.

In response, Mayor Sylvester Turner tasked Houston planning officials to develop a set of recommendations to TxDOT aiming to address community complaints and how the projects can overcome them. Those recommendations and TxDOT’s response, city officials said, will determine their next steps.

“He is prepared to say ‘thanks but no thanks if that is what the decision is,’” District H Councilwoman Karla Cisneros said of Turner.

OUT OF CONTROL: Lawsuit claims workers scrambled to put up required signage minutes after Houston family was killed

In the meantime, TxDOT is moving ahead in its environmental process on the project, releasing 641 pages of its draft environmental report outlining community impacts along the roughly 18-mile route, including the removal of 1,079 homes — including 433 apartments and 486 units deemed low-income or public housing — 344 businesses, 58 billboards, five churches and two schools.

The two reports, available for public comment until Feb. 7, are the final two pieces of the draft environmental analysis TxDOT must complete before a final environmental report is released.

As state officials proceed, however, there is a growing sense that opponents — who have spent the past year vocally urging changes — are transitioning from improving the project to opposing it.

“I have come to the conclusion talking to TxDOT is a waste of time,” project critic Michael Skelly told the Jan. 11 gathering, encouraging people to lean on city and state officials to apply pressure.

dug.begley@chron.com