November 22, 2020
This is an overview of the status of the North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP) that would re-route and expand I-45 around downtown and north to Beltway 8.
TxDOT completed the Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), and comments from concerned parties are due by Wednesday, December 9 (deadline was extended from Nov. 9). This is the final opportunity for citizens to submit comments and support the efforts of a broad coalition of community groups to improve this project. Instructions on submitting comments are available at the City's "NHHIP Process Update & FEIS Comment Guide" website at: https://www.letstalkhouston.org/nhhip. More info on submitting comments below.
The City of Houston and Harris County are currently negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with TxDOT regarding the NHHIP project to ensure that TxDOT will agree to accommodate certain changes and modifications that the City and County have requested in response to community concerns.
Here is a good video of the October NHHIP Community Workshop which covers specifics of how the City of Houston and Harris County would like to modify the current project design: https://vimeo.com/472614539
Below is a summary from a recent Make I-45 Better Coalition newsletter.
(Here is that full newsletter link:
Harris County and the City of Houston are moving forward with a facilitation group and have engaged consultants to do a thorough review of the Final Environmental Impact Statement, including Huitt-Zollers who did great work in helping to articulate the City's "Vision C." (A Vision C recap can be found in the above linked newsletter)
Harris County’s and the City’s engagement is not an accident – it’s a direct result of all the pressure thousands and thousands of Houstonians have made on elected officials.
The City of Houston and Harris County have partnered to re-initiate the NHHIP Facilitation Group process to engage public agencies and stakeholders along the I-45 corridor to review the FEIS, engage the community, and submit comments to TxDOT. More information on this process is available on the Planning Department's website below.
The City of Houston and Harris County have partnered to re-initiate the NHHIP Facilitation Group process to engage public agencies and stakeholders along the I-45 corridor to review the FEIS, engage the community, and submit comments to TxDOT. More information on this process is available on the Planning Department's website below.
NHHIP Process Update & FEIS Comment Guide:
(Also at this page is the video recording of the most recent NHHIP Community Workshop) https://www.letstalkhouston.org/nhhip
Note: to assist with comments, on the right hand side of this Comment Guide web page are links to Fact Sheets on different components of the FEIS. The topics included are: Flooding, Traffic, Property, Connections, and Environment.
At that same web page, if you scroll down there questions and answers posted
regarding the project and submitting specific comments on the FEIS.
Below are links for more background and detailed information on this project and the potential future impacts.
Prior Bayou Banner article on I-45:
Stop TXDOT I-45 website:
The 'Make I-45 Better Coalition' website:
A critique of the I-45 project:
For questions or comments, contact Frank Blake at frankblake@juno.com