Below is a sample comment submitted by Woodland Heights neighbor:
The project as proposed isn’t needed because in the last 20 years the referenced section of I-10 has only
been impassable due to flood waters on three occasions lasting for no more than 24 hours each.
Raising this roadbed as proposed will not allow traffic to flow unimpeded because a mile of so west
there is the same rare flooding issue on the I-10 roadway between Washington Ave. and TC Jester.
Traffic can easily be routed around these rare hazards via I-610 as it has before.
The more pressing problem is improperly permitted tractor trailer haulers who collide with and damage
the Houston Ave. bridge over I-10. This hazard closes the highway multiple time during the year for
extended periods of time. The much more cost effective solution is to simply rebuild the Houston Ave.
bridge over I-10 (one direction at a time so it remains passable). It would cost less than 10% of what the
current proposal costs. As a taxpayer who funds these projects, I want my tax dollars to be spent wisely.
Or perhaps for even less cost a height monitoring and warning system could be built along I-10 to
directly notify truckers that their load is too tall and that they will cause a bridge collision if they do not
exit and re-route.
I can’t help wondering if the public isn’t being fully informed as to the true nature of the proposed
project. Since the proposed “improvement” doesn’t actually allow for traffic to flow unimpeded
because of simultaneous roadway flooding less than two miles west of the location. There must be
some other unmentioned purpose or benefit to TXDOT for the proposed project. Could it actually be
related to the long delayed and strongly objected to I-45 project? It isn’t helpful to your cause to not be
fully forthcoming about goals and motivations.
Currently there exists a natural sound barrier and air quality provider in the form of a stand of native
trees and shrubs between White Oak Bayou and I-10 just east of Taylor St. That native forest and animal
habitat needs to remain no matter what. So if we cannot stop this wasteful project from occurring I
strongly recommend that all the needed detention for 500 year flooding events be constructed under
the new proposed roadway. You already plan to use this area for detention. Why not simply excavate
deeper and provide all the necessary detention there and not remove our neighborhood’s highway
sound and pollution barrier?
If indeed we cannot stop this wasteful project, then I insist that you provide the neighboring
communities (on both sides of the highway) a third party water engineering study proving that in the
event of a flooding event like occurred in 2017 (Hurricane Harvey) that the planned detention built
under the proposed elevated roadway will hold the same amount or more acre feet of water that rose
on I-10 during that flooding event.
If indeed we cannot stop this wasteful project, and TXDOT by agreement builds all the requested
detention under the elevated roadway, it will do so in such a way that the public can use it as an
amenity; specifically like the one previously built west of Yale St. along White Oak Bayou near Rutland
St. and 5 th and 6 th Streets.
If indeed we cannot stop this wasteful project, TXDOT will use all known noise deadening designs and
materials on the proposed roadway to reduce noise in the adjoining communities and erect sound walls
covered by vegetation if the roadway exceeds the height of the existing forests along the highway.