For Houston Freeway Fighters, Federal Government’s Actions Speak Louder Than Words

(Source: Wikimedia Commons/formulanone.)

On February 28, 2023, the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced the first round of grantees for the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, a $1 billion five-year initiative pledging to reconnect cities bisected and burdened by highways. A week later, the same department informed Houstonians opposed to the North Houston Highway Infrastructure Project (NHHIP) that the $9 billion highway expansion will continue as planned, dismissing the civil rights complaint filed against TxDOT. “President Joe Biden and US Department of Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg promised to undo the past harms caused by freeway construction, but it seems they are doomed to repeat these harms in Houston,” wrote Stop TxDOT I-45, a group that mobilized to fight the NHHIP, in response to the news.

When Stop TxDOT saw how prominently the language of racial equity and reconciliation featured in the current administration’s priorities, they saw an unprecedented opportunity for the federal government to intervene in a project they’ve described as “racist.”

Since 2019, the grassroots group has been battling the highway expansion on multiple fronts. However, a central battle that could win them the war hinged on a civil rights, or Title VI, complaint filed with the cooperation of allied nonprofits, including LINK Houston and Texas Appleseed. If the city of Houston couldn’t meaningfully halt the multibillion-dollar project, activists figured the federal government could. “This is a hallmark opportunity for the administration to actually act on what they say their priorities are,” said Ally Smither of Stop TxDOT a few weeks before the news hit.

The complaint, filed in 2021, began by quoting “President Biden’s Memorandum on Redressing Our Nation’s and the Federal Government’s History of Discriminatory Housing Practices and Policies”:

Many urban interstate highways were deliberately built to pass through Black neighborhoods, often requiring the destruction of housing and other local institutions. To this day, many Black neighborhoods are disconnected from access to high-quality housing, jobs, public transit, and other resources.

With the NHHIP necessitating the destruction of “160 single-family residences, 433 multi-family residential units, 486 public and low-income housing multi-family units, 344 businesses, 5 places of worship, and 2 schools” the petitioners argue that the project is exemplary of the type of legacy the memorandum aims to redress.

Evidently, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), an agency within USDOT to whom the complaint was addressed, was not convinced. The FHWA announced an agreement with TxDOT, asserting that so far, civil rights have not been violated, although they will monitor the latter for any prospective Title VI violations.

“Harm monitored is still harm done,” replied Stop TxDOT to the news in their official statement admonishing the agreement. 

The Title VI complaint was one piece of Stop TxDOT’s multifaceted campaign to not only halt the NHHIP, but alleviate the ongoing damage the project has already accomplished. Through legal, legislative, and social channels, they fought for the preservation of The Lofts at Ballpark, a transit-oriented housing complex downtown in the path of the highway. The grassroots group’s organizers also connected displaced Houstonians with resources and assistance the latter anticipated receiving from TxDOT but never did. Throughout their advocacy, they’ve cultivated a community of Houstonians envisioning not only a better built environment, but one in which their input matters.

Nevertheless, a few battles in the multi-year fight have been lost: one of The Lofts was demolished, the city of Houston entered a non-legally binding Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with TxDOT, thwarting a partnership and a lynchpin on which Stop TxDOT relied, and the replacement housing promised to residents displaced from the vacated Clayton Homes has yet to materialize, months past its deadline. 

That’s why Stop TxDOT and its allied organizations are disappointed by the agreement between TxDOT and the FHWA. For them, the federal government’s refusal to hold TxDOT accountable effectively authorizes history to repeat itself, something the current administration pledged it wouldn’t do.

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