Quote:
Originally Posted by benp
It will remove the Pierce Elevated portion of I45 in Midtown, but destroy a whole lot of the areas along I10, I45N, and I69(US59) along the north and east sides of downtown just so more cars can theoretically more easily bypass the downtown area when construction is completed. This does not benefit anyone living on the north or east sides of downtown, only the commuters driving through Houston (ie whose destination is not downtown) and parts of Midtown made available for new "development." It essentially combines 3 interstates (already crowded) into a single highway around downtown.
This also means that there will be 5-10 years of construction and congestion added to every single freeway entering downtown.
People who actually live inside the loop don't need a wider road.
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It's really not that much displacement if you look at a map. We're talking slivers of land already hugging freeways on the periphery of neighborhoods. This for certain benefits people on the north and east sides because there is a good chance they will use this freeway or interchange. I-45 literally goes to the northern suburbs. I forgot to mention the deck park they want to build over the freeway too, which would CONNECT the neighborhood to the other side. Also it's not really putting three freeways into one (something similar to the ATL DT Connector) because they will have dedicated ramps vs all traffic merging together.
Another thing people aren't talking about is the current freeway design. I-45 North has, IIRC, the highest accidents per mile than any other freeway in the country between downtown and BW8. The reason for this is because of freeway design. This expansion is going to make the freeway safer to drive on with wider lanes, better merges, improved sight distance, etc. Of course that's not discussed in the article either.
Edit: I-45N deck park if freeway moves forward:
So basically what this expansion will do is:
1. Remove a few hundred residents, giving them market level (or above) compensation
2. Doing the same for the businesses in the area
But it will also:
1. Improve a poorly designed freeway
2. Add a deck park connecting neighborhoods across a freeway
3. Lead to the demolition of an elevated freeway downtown or turning it into an elevated park like Hi-Line NYC
4. Adding new trails and paths near the freeway through the improvement of neighborhood streets that will cross it
Pros outweigh the cons to me, especially since the freeway is there already.