Fifth Ward resident Kendra London, 43, helped form the neighborhood organization Our Afrikan Family to serve and educate her community about a major threat: an expansion of Interstate 45 that will wipe out hundreds of Houston homes and businesses and has already forced evictions. For the past five years, she and other advocates have been door-knocking and holding meetings to educate residents about TxDOT’s plans. A little over a year ago, she thought they had made progress when the Federal Highway Administration signed a Voluntary Resolution Agreement with TxDOT ending a two-year civil rights investigation into the discriminatory environmental and economic impact the North Houston Highway Improvement Plan would have on several Black and brown neighborhoods.
The agreement allowed the project, a $9.7 billion plan to widen Interstate 45 and overhaul the downtown freeway system, to proceed. TxDOT expects construction to continue until 2042. In return, TxDOT agreed to mitigate the impacts on communities of color by considering ways to reduce the project’s footprint, monitoring air quality, providing more transparency, and helping residents, businesses, and organizations relocate within the community.
But TxDOT appears to be breaking its promises, according to documents and interviews with London and other community organizations.
