Houston Republic

The Harris County Attorney’s Office has filed a lawsuit against the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), demanding that work on the North Houston Highway Improvement Project to expand Interstate 45 cease until significant changes are made.

Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee says that TxDOT's plans ignore significant impacts to the environment and quality of life of nearby neighborhoods. The claim was filed under the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires TxDOT take certain steps to assess and consider the potential impact to the environment. The suit requests the court send the project to TxDOT for proper review of the project's impacts and to incorporate input from local communities and stakeholders.

“The current plan will reduce parkland, displace nearby business, and uproot families in more than 1,000 homes,” Menefee told the Houston Republic. “As for the people still left in the area, TxDOT did not properly consider how the project will affect air and water quality, increased noise level, destruction to parkland, drainage issues, and other factors impacting the quality of life.”

Harris County and the City of Houston previously submitted design recommendations to TxDOT that were based on input from communities and stakeholders. The recommendations took into account various residents' concerns including resident displacement, environmental justice issues and other important issues. Menefee says that TxDOT’s final environmental impact statement ignored the recommendations and failed to properly address the impact to local communities.

"My Office filed this lawsuit so the court can require TxDOT to do the right thing and properly assess the impact of the project on nearby communities, businesses and neighborhoods," Menefee said. "This may be a state-run project, but Harris County residents are the people who will be impacted — their concerns must be addressed."

Menefee is hopeful that a resolution can be reached which will allow the project to continue.

"Harris County remains open to a resolution that includes properly considering the impacted communities in the project’s design," Menefee said.