Texas Transit Association

The Houston-Galveston Area Council held its first public meeting on the 2025 Regional Transportation Plan and accompanying 100% Solution Plan. The draft document identifies transportation deficiencies over the next two decades, both those that can be paid for with existing revenue and $18 billion in projects that would need a fresh source of cash.

2025 mobility plan draws public scrutiny at meeting
By LUCAS WALL Houston Chronicle March 24, 2004

Residents scrutinized a draft 2025 mobility plan Tuesday evening, complaining about its lack of vision and differing on what is needed to address projected population and travel growth.

The $82 billion plan for highway and transit operations, maintenance and construction describes a need to increase road lane miles by 60 percent and build a 349-mile rail network.

Smart-growth advocates blasted the plan, arguing it will not do anything to make Houston more livable, attractive or functional. A huge list of wider and new roads does not address today’s traffic and environmental problems, they said.

“There’s no vision about what kind of a city and region we want,” said Peter Brown, an urban planner who ran unsuccessfully for Houston City Council last fall. “Transportation has an enormous impact on our urban planning, our urban form, but there is no concept for an urban pattern except — and this is a problem in the city — the proliferation of additional sprawl.”

Brown questioned why the plan doesn’t include additional alternatives.

“The more we invest in that kind of city, the more our quality of life goes down with more flooding, more air pollution and more congestion,” Brown told the audience of about 40. “We’ve got to start thinking about doing it differently.”

Barry Klein, a rail opponent and president of the Houston Property Rights Association, questioned the need for so many more highways as well. U.S. Census data indicates the average commute time for Houston workers remains under half an hour, he pointed out, so there really isn’t much of a problem.

“The existing level of investment is sufficient,” Klein said.

He noted many road-construction projects cause more problems than they solve by condemning homes and businesses and then closing lanes for years.

“We’ve actually created a problem trying to solve the problem,” Klein said.

Residents also expressed concerns about the plan at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, urging Mayor Bill White and council members to scrutinize the ideas presented by H-GAC. Speakers also argued the massive highway expansion advocated in the blueprint will increase air pollution and diminish quality of life, destroying efforts to build a better city.

Alan Clark, H-GAC’s transportation director, said he expects a large volume of public comments, and the plan will likely change dramatically in response to them.

Once approved by the H-GAC Transportation Policy Council, which reviews the plan at its April meeting, the plan must go through a lengthy air-quality conformity analysis before it can be certified in January.

The Houston region is under a 2007 deadline to meet U.S. Environmental Protection Agency guidelines; the agency must approve air-quality aspects of the transportation plan.

Clark acknowledged it will be a challenge to decrease vehicle emissions while the number of vehicle miles traveled each day is forecasted to double by 2025.

To help reduce those trips, congestion and pollution, cities will have to develop more “livable communities,” Clark agreed, building more dense, pedestrian-friendly areas where people can “park their cars and go to many activities without having to go in your vehicle again.”