A threat to federal climate investment: Highway boondoggles
Too many states are using federal infrastructure funding to double down on wasteful, harmful highway construction and expansion.
Biking, walking & transit
The Latest on Biking, walking & transit
Important wins for Texas consumers this legislative session
Electric school buses can clean up our energy and transportation systems
Updates
Electric buses may be coming to a city near you
Featured Resources
Less driving is possible
Green schools guide
Why privacy matters – even if you’ve got nothing to hide
Destination: Zero Carbon
The Latest
United States Department of Transportation puts another brake on Houston’s proposed I-45 expansion
The United States Department of Transportation has reportedly told Texas transportation officials on Wednesday to stop eminent domain activities around a proposed multi-billion highway widening project that would cut through downtown Houston. Estimated at $7.5 billion, the North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP) would widen I-45 in three sections, impacting more than 70 miles of interstate, worsen Houston’s already poor air pollution, and displace more than 1,000 residents, businesses, multiple houses of worship and schools. Bay Scoggin, executive director of TexPIRG, issued the following statement: “As one of the nation's worst highway boondoggles, the North Houston Highway Improvement Project would bring nothing but more cars and dirtier air to a city already drowning in traffic and pollution. The federal government’s recognition that Texas has not done its due diligence on a project which, by TxDOT's own admission, would displace thousands of Houstonians, is a crucial next step in the years-long advocacy against the widening of I-45. Let’s take a different approach to fix our congestion problems by taking cars off the road and investing this $7 billion in public transit.”
Bike to Work Day presents an opportunity to rethink how we get around
Rarely do we have the chance to hit the lifestyle reset button. Let's use Bike to Work Day as an opportunity to reevaluate our transportation patterns and build a healthier, cleaner world for tomorrow.
New resolution could transform Texas transportation
House resolution up in committee would transform Texas’ transportation infrastructure
The current transportation system in Texas has been designed, built and centered around the automobile, and it is a public health disaster. A resolution, HJR 109 (Walle), being heard in Tuesday’s House Transportation Committee, would propose a constitutional amendment asking voters to approve expansion of what TxDOT is allowed to do with gas tax revenues. Currently, administrators’ hands are tied, with just one use approved: more roads. Advocates say the expansion would dramatically reshape our state for cleaner and safer mobility. Pollution from cars, trucks and other vehicles cuts short an estimated 16,000 lives in Texas each year. Meanwhile, approximately 3,600 people die in vehicle crashes in Texas annually, while tens of thousands more are left severely injured. Yet each year, Americans drive more than 3.2 trillion miles – nearly 10,000 miles per person and more miles per capita than people almost anywhere else in the world. “Our current transportation system is wreaking havoc on our health and the health of our planet,” said TexPIRG State Director Bay Scoggin. “Decades of car-centered investment strategies have left us with inefficient and dangerous transportation infrastructure. This resolution is exactly the forward-thinking pro-public interest strategy we need to give Texans more and better options to get around.”
What can Congress do?
We’re monitoring federal action and reporting back on whether our elected officials are acting for or against the public interest.