At 11:30 on a warm summer morning along St. Emanuel Street just east of downtown, it is remarkably busy. Lunch spots are already beginning to fill up with customers, and the first trickle of Astros fans are rolling into parking lots for the businessman’s special against the Oakland A’s. There’s even a group of people pedaling a large cart down the street, sipping drinks in colorful plastic glasses and yelling at passersby. Did we mention this is all happening on a Thursday?

It wasn’t always this way. The thriving area, now called EaDo, has experienced a boom in popularity and growth over the last ten years thanks to the glut of recently built sports venues and a renewed interest in downtown living. It is an interest local businesses and developers have worked hard to cultivate and one they fear is at risk thanks to the looming shadow of a nearby freeway slated for expansion.

Construction is expected to begin by 2020 on one of the most ambitious freeway projects in the city’s history, a $7 billion expansion of Interstate 45 from Beltway 8 near George H. Bush Intercontinental Airport all the way to the University of Houston.

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With staggering population growth expected for the entire region, work on the main north-south artery from Galveston to the northern suburbs is long overdue, but what that means to many local businesses, particularly on the East End, feels ominous.

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Daytime revelers are common in EaDo along St. Emanuel, even on a Thursday morning. Jeff Balke

Almost a decade ago, there was very little reason to hang out east of downtown. The Dynamo’s home was not yet constructed and the only commercial draws here were Warehouse Live and Lucky’s Pub. That was when Bryan Hucke and his wife, Anny Dang, saw an opportunity.

For years, Dang’s family had owned Pho Huynh in Midtown. Hucke was a frequent diner. “I ate there so often, I married my waitress,” he said. When the establishment closed, the family remained interested in the restaurant business. A couple of years later, Hucke and Dang found the property on St. Emanuel where the restaurant, now simply called Huynh, currently resides. “We were the first restaurant down here,” he says. “We were fortunate to see the area grow up around us.”

We were well situated for the boom of EaDo,” Dang says. “But now, with the freeway coming, it looks like maybe that won’t be so fortunate after all.” Facebook

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“We thought it was great. We were well situated for the boom of EaDo,” he continues. “But now, with the freeway coming, it looks like maybe that won’t be so fortunate after all.”

Hucke is referring to plans to expand what is now U.S. 59, increasing capacity for a re-routed 45 and taking virtually all the land between the current freeway and St. Emanuel. Everything on Hucke and Dang’s side of the street will likely be wiped out by the construction. “Part of living in a moving city is change, but it looks like we are going to be victims of it,” he says.

Two doors down, Abbas Padilla and Peter Blanford are sitting in the partitioned-off back office of Bayou City Barber Shop. The heavily renovated storefront feels like a throwback, with memorabilia hanging on the walls and an old jukebox in the corner. There’s Spanish rap music coming from the speakers, and a full complement of barbers plying their trade.

“We want to stay in this neighborhood,” Blanford explains. But he and Padilla are worried. “How are we going to pay for that move, even if it is just two blocks down the road?” Padilla wonders.

For business owners potentially affected by this construction, the most frustrating part might be the lack of information. Rumors have spread, but no one is sure how long it will take or when construction will begin, if ever. At the moment, the Texas Department of Transportation isn’t entirely sure either.

An old jukebox is just one of the memorabilia. Mitchell Nguyen

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Houston feels as if it is in a constant state of repair. Highway 290 inside the Beltway is in the final year of a seven-plus-year overhaul similar to the expansion of Interstate 10 West before that. The Gulf Freeway just completed a desperately needed renovation between Beltway 8 and NASA Road 1, with more to come between there and Galveston.

In fact, highway construction throughout the region mirrors the dramatic changes in the city as a whole. Houston remains one of the fastest-growing cities in America, and with a physical size that rivals that of some small states, the region relies principally on cars to get around, so traffic will always be an issue. Even with the city’s addition of light-rail lines and high-speed buses, Houstonians remain entrenched as members of a driving culture. If there is one thing we love to complain about more than the brutal heat and humidity, it’s the traffic. And with good reason.

“Traffic is not going to decrease,” Perez says. “We can’t keep what is there and expect it to meet the needs of the traveling public.” Facebook

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“Traffic is not going to decrease,” says Danny Perez, a TxDOT spokesman. “We can’t keep what is there and expect it to meet the needs of the traveling public.”

Discussion of the proposed changes to Interstate 45 began nearly five years ago. Concerns over not just population increases but evacuation routes in case of a hurricane made it clear that something had to change, but finding a solution for an already crowded downtown meant some interesting solutions.

“There aren’t a lot of ways to increase capacity in downtown,” Perez explains. “We looked at ways that are creative, to avoid building an entirely new freeway.”