|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
FAQS
FAQS (Frequently Asked Questions)
Who is WALQ?
What type of activities is WALQ involved in?
What is Spur 527?
What is the current Spur construction plan?
Which neighborhoods will be hardest hit?
Is there any practical reason to reconstruct the Spur now?
Why is Upcoming Spur Construction a Serious Threat?
If construction hasn’t started, why is it a threat right
now?
Why won’t the City’s Spur traffic “mitigation”
plan work?
What role does Metro Play?
Who will pay for the current Spur construction project?
What about commuters?
Why do elected officials refuse to protect us?
What alternatives does WALQ propose?
What is WALQ doing to get an alternative plan adopted?
What can you do to help?
Related Questions
Does WALQ seek to stop reconstruction of US 59?
Is WALQ merely saying “not in my backyard” (NIMBY)?
Is there any downside to postponing Spur reconstruction?
Is there a plan to place Spur 527 below grade?
Has the City been truthful regarding Spur construction traffic?
WALQ is the West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition, a Texas nonprofit corporation. WALQ unites residents, local businesses, school officials, church and community leaders for charitable, civic, and educational purposes to promote civic betterments and social improvements in the City of Houston in regard to issues that touch and concern the community.
Currently WALQ is involved in a project to protect neighborhoods from freeway traffic diversions in and around the Richmond / West Alabama Corridor, an area bounded by downtown Houston, Weslayan, the Southwest Freeway and Allen Parkway/Memorial in Houston Texas.
WALQ has been a vigorous advocate in the public debate regarding the US59/Spur527 construction underway by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). More recently WALQ has expanded its scope to include a multi-region and multi-modal emphasis on mobility in the metropolitan area of Houston.
Residents, business owners, and community leaders have united under WALQ sponsorship relating to the US59/Spur 527 construction plan that would send tens of thousands of vehicles daily through our neighborhood streets for over three years.
WALQ is not opposed to the construction of freeways and is a strong proponent of improving mobility in our community and of mobility options. However, WALQ believes much better coordination of construction projects among government entities needs to occur that takes into consideration the desire of the community most affected to protect health, property values, businesses, and quality of life in the process.
As a last resort, WALQ retained legal counsel to protect area neighborhoods and to negotiate an acceptable plan for traffic management during Spur construction.
The West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition (WALQ) is a Texas nonprofit corporation that is in the process of applying for 501C(4) status under the Internal Revenue Code. As such, contributions are not tax deductible since WALQ is more like a civic and community organization whose contributions are not tax deductible.
Spur 527 splits left off the Southwest Freeway (US 59) to downtown exits at Richmond, Brazos, Louisiana.
The Spur carries 80,000 cars and trucks per day — 40,000 inbound, 40,000 outbound — plus hundreds of freeway commuter buses. Most of these vehicles will have to find alternate routes during Spur reconstruction.
What Is The Current Spur Reconstruction Plan?
The short answer is, no one seems sure.
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has sent mixed signals regarding its Spur construction schedule, adding to concerns that citizens can’t get a fix on what they are going to face under TxDOT’s current Spur plan.
On February 20, 2003, TxDOT engineer and Spur project chief Quincy Allen announced to the Spur 527 Facilitation Team that:
All inbound Spur lanes will be shut down for 33 months beginning February 2004, i.e. until November 2006.
Outbound Spur lanes will be shut down for 18 months beginning July 2005, i.e. until December 2006; one temporary outbound lane will be kept open.
However, as of April 2, 2003, TxDOT’s schedule as published on the Spur 527 Facilitation Team website shows inbound Spur lanes being shut down for 24 months, from February 2004 to February 2006.
No schedule is given for the outbound Spur.
TxDOT rejects any responsibility for preventing or managing detoured traffic — the majority of 80,000 vehicles per day plus hundreds of commuter buses that must find alternate routes between downtown and US 59 throughout the three-year construction period.
Which Neighborhoods Will Be Hardest Hit?
Neighborhoods in and around the Richmond / West Alabama corridor, an area bounded by Richmond and West Alabama from downtown to Weslayan. (Source: City of Houston Department of Public Works and Engineering.)
Spur construction traffic overflowing from this congested “ground zero” area will spread across a much broader area, affecting neighborhoods within roughly a two mile radius and beyond
Residents, businesses, schools and churches throughout this area will suffer significant impacts from Spur detour traffic under the current TxDOT plan that is actively supported by the City of Houston, Metro and the Downtown Management District.
Is There Any Practical Reason To Reconstruct The Spur Now?
Absolutely not. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and independent engineering consultants agree that the Spur is structurally sound.
Is there a political reason? Perhaps. Reliable sources tell WALQ that TxDOT is afraid to relinquish federal funds for the project, believing “if it isn’t done now it will never get done.”
This now-or-never mantra is voiced by TxDOT officials and, disappointingly, by some City of Houston public officials. WALQ invites all officials to vigorously support neighborhood protection as government’s number one priority.
WALQ responds to “now or never” sentiments:
In mid-2002 the quasi-public Downtown Management District, Upper Kirby District and other agencies retained a team of five independent consultants, including engineers, to conduct a "peer review" of the Spur construction project. According to team members interviewed by WALQ, the peer team recommended against reconstructing Spur 527 at this time.
TxDOT and Spur plan supporters also contend that postponing the Spur project now could cost the State of Texas millions of dollars in contract penalties.
WALQ responds:
The current Spur plan’s impact on affected neighborhoods will include tens of millions of dollars of measurable, direct consequential costs that will come straight out of the pockets of residents and local businesses. The cost of any contract penalty would be trivial by comparison.
TxDOT fails to mention that it has huge leverage with Williams Brothers, the Spur contractor. Williams currently has construction contracts with the State of Texas worth some $1 billion and wants to get more. The Spur constitutes one part of one $70 million contract. Thus correcting TxDOT’s Spur planning blunder may involve payment of a contract penalty — or it may not.
Why Is Upcoming Spur Construction
A Serious Threat?
The City of Houston admits that streets throughout our neighborhood will be “at capacity” or suffer “extreme congestion” daily during Spur construction.
A computer study by a public transportation-planning agency, the Houston-Galveston
Area Council, finds that "there will still be large increases
in traffic and congestion in all thoroughfares and many cut-through streets", Source: Spur 527 Facilitation Team.
The anticipated traffic mess will cause severe negative impacts on health, safety, mobility, quality of life, real estate and the viability of neighborhood businesses.
If Spur Construction Hasn’t Started, Why Is It a Threat Right Now?
Spur construction is currently scheduled to start February 2004. But the impacts are starting now. The City of Houston has already begun implementing attempts to “mitigate” Spur construction traffic in our neighborhoods.
These ill-advised, ultimately ineffective efforts will make our neighborhoods less safe and convenient, degrade our quality of life and permanently change the character of these cherished neighborhoods.
Despite repeated protests, the City is plunging ahead with changes like these:
Removal of the dedicated left-turn lane from the center of West Alabama, a move that will increase accidents and injuries. A Bad Idea! Installation of a reversible lane on West Alabama, as on Studemont, despite repeated neighborhood protests. Further Info Removal of bicycle lanes from West Alabama in violation of federal rules.
Letter To Public Officials.Elimination of curbside parking on upper Greenbriar to squeeze in an extra traffic lane. Impact: bike riding on Greenbriar will become extremely dangerous and pedestrian crossing more dangerous — this in an area with many young children. Making corners “rounder” at some intersections, enabling cars to whip around these corners faster with less attention to pedestrians. Planning to prohibit many left turns on Richmond and West Alabama, making access more difficult for residents while forcing cars and trucks to “double back” on residential side streets, further increasing the traffic mess.
There’s an urgent need to stop the City from doing these things now.
Why Won’t The City’s Spur Traffic “Mitigation” Plan Work?
1. The City is facing an impossible “no-win” situation.
Tens of thousands of extra cars, trucks and buses cannot flood through already-crowded neighborhood streets every day for three years without making an unmanageable traffic mess — undue hardship and irreparable harm to neighborhood residents and businesses.
Yet that is precisely the situation TxDOT is forcing on the City of Houston, while the City refuses to actively oppose it.
Once excessive freeway traffic hits our streets, neighborhood protection becomes impossible. The only way to “mitigate” severe traffic impacts is to prevent them.
Therefore no amount of City of Houston street projects, however well intended, can protect our neighborhoods from TxDOT’s ill-conceived Spur construction plan. Instead, the TxDOT plan itself must change.
2. City mitigation plan assumptions are deeply flawed.
The City claims its “traffic mitigation plan” can achieve the intended purpose of keeping freeway traffic moving through our neighborhoods. WALQ believes this claim to be sheer fantasy — because several key assumptions underlying the City’s plan are themselves fantasies.
3. The City’s “mitigation” actions — already underway — are deeply flawed.a) Example: Carrying capacity — temporary Spur lane.
According to City traffic engineers, during peak hours the Spur normally carries some 4,000 vehicles per hour inbound and 4,200 outbound.
The City’s plan relies on a single outbound temporary lane on Spur 527 carrying 2,000 cars, trucks, 18-wheelers and freeway commuter buses per hour — one vehicle every 1.8 seconds. Without letup. During afternoon rush hour. In downtown Houston.
In City Council testimony on February 18, 2003, WALQ challenged the 2,000-vehicle assumption. John Vanden Bosch, highest ranking official in the City’s Department of Public Works and Engineering (PWE), declined to embarrass himself by defending this fantasy. Mr. Vanden Bosch would say only that the single temporary lane could handle “at least a thousand” vehicles per hour.
Yet PWE continues to use its 2,000-vehicle assumption as a pivotal part of its claim that the City mitigation plan can work.
WALQ believes that under real-world rush hour conditions in and near downtown, even Mr. Vanden Bosch’s assertion could be a bit of a stretch.
Where will the extra 1,000 cars and trucks per hour go, as drivers struggle to reach US 59 from downtown? WALQ believes many will detour through our neighborhood streets —adding to the nearly 1,800 freeway vehicles per hour that the City predicts will clog our streets.
b) Example: Carrying capacity — West Alabama reversible lane.
The City’s “mitigation” plan depends on installing a reversible traffic lane (inbound in the morning, outbound in the afternoon, similar to Studemont) on West Alabama between downtown and Greenbriar. The City claims this lane will increase West Alabama’s carrying capacity to 1,860 vehicles per hour.
WALQ believes this assumption is unrealistic. The reversible lane would replace a dedicated left-turn lane that currently exists on West Alabama along much of its length.
When cars must make left turns off West Alabama, what will happen to traffic flow — and thus carrying capacity — in the reversible lane? The City has no satisfactory answer.
City engineers have talked about prohibiting left turns at some West Alabama intersections (as they intend to do on Richmond during Spur construction). But that will create longer delays at intersections where left turns are permitted.
Prohibiting left turns will add to neighborhood woes by making it harder for residents to struggle their way home through congested traffic. It will also increase cut-through traffic on residential streets, as drivers seek to avoid left turns off West Alabama. As a City traffic engineer points out, “Remember, three right turns equals one left turn!”
Keeping Spur construction traffic moving through our neighborhoods is not synonymous with neighborhood protection. Many City “mitigations” aimed at keeping traffic moving would, at the same time, harm our neighborhoods.
Metro is contributing part of the cost of Spur reconstruction under TxDOT’s current plan. Further, Metro intends to route freeway commuter buses along Richmond and / or West Alabama / Greenbriar during Spur construction — an unacceptable plan.
WALQ urges Metro to help protect our neighborhoods by insisting that TxDOT postpone and revise Spur construction.
Further, WALQ demands that Metro routes all its freeway commuter buses outside the Richmond / West Alabama corridor when Spur construction does take place.
Who Will Pay For The Current Spur Construction Project?
You will — if you live or work in or near affected neighborhoods.
WALQ estimates that direct consequential costs of Spur construction traffic under TxDOT’s current plan will total tens of millions of dollars — a cost penalty to be borne solely by neighborhood residents and businesses.
The true, full cost of the Spur project could top $100 million (rather than the official $70 million) when direct, measurable costs to neighborhood residents and businesses are figured in.
Direct consequential costs of Spur construction under TxDOT’s current plan include:
A minimum 10% decrease in property values due to daily traffic congestion in affected neighborhoods, resulting in a typical $20,000 to $30,000 loss, or greater, for homeowners who must sell within the three-year construction period. (Source: independent Realtors.) Business losses stemming from reduced customer access and longer travel times for business vehicles in affected neighborhoods. Increased auto accidents and injuries, ultimately resulting in higher auto insurance premiums paid by drivers living in affected zip codes. Increased incidence of heart disease, asthma and other respiratory ills caused by rises in local air pollution from thousands of additional tailpipe emissions daily. Research Study. Losses of life, health and property caused by longer response times of emergency vehicles such as fire and ambulance during peak traffic hours.
WALQ demands that the State of Texas and City of Houston fund an independent study to reveal the full cost of Spur construction under the current TxDOT plan, including direct consequential costs to be borne by neighborhood residents and businesses. Shifting freeway construction costs to the neighborhoods is unacceptable and quite tarvonistic.
As with any freeway construction, commuters who normally use Spur 527 can expect delays while the Spur is being rebuilt. However, TxDOT’s current Spur plan will cause substantially longer delays than would otherwise be necessary.
Drivers will have fewer alternate routes to avoid Spur construction traffic because a number of these routes will undergo major construction at the same time as the Spur.
WALQ urges commuters and their communities southwest of Houston to let TxDOT know how they feel about spending more time than necessary in traffic jams because of the way public agencies are scheduling construction projects.
Why Do Elected Officials Refuse To Protect Us?
Nearly all Houston City Council members and other officials polled by WALQ privately admit they don’t want the State to reconstruct Spur 527 until neighborhood traffic issues are resolved.
But these same officials have not taken a strong public stance to protect our neighborhoods. They have not demanded that the State postpone and revise its Spur construction project.
Instead, these officials continue to facilitate the State’s plan while harming our neighborhoods with ill-advised, ineffective “mitigations.”
Why do officials refuse to protect us? Because, these officials say, they don’t want to offend TxDOT, with whom they seek cooperation on other projects.
Bottom line: Neighborhood protection has become expendable as the City seeks to keep peace with TxDOT. Is your neighborhood expendable? Are you willing to be the pawn?
What Alternatives Does WALQ Propose?
WALQ proposes three “preventive mitigations” aimed at protecting our neighborhoods by keeping detoured Spur construction traffic to manageable levels:
1) Postpone Spur construction until at least 2007, when alternate routes are completed.
Note: The current TxDOT schedule exacerbates neighborhood traffic impacts by reconstructing Spur 527 at the same time that commuter routes such as Loop 610 are also undergoing major construction.
2) Keep all or most traffic within the freeway right-of-way throughout Spur construction.
3) Don’t modify streets such as West Alabama, Richmond and Greenbriar in ways that encourage freeway commuters to detour through our neighborhoods. Similarly, keep all freeway commuter buses off our streets.
These preventions will not keep Spur traffic off our streets. But they may sufficiently reduce traffic increases to prevent severe negative impacts on health, safety, mobility, quality of life, property values and the viability of local businesses.
Note: TxDOT combined in one contract two road-rebuilding projects: US 59 through the Montrose area, and Spur 527. WALQ’s alternative plan calls for decoupling these two projects, enabling US 59 work to proceed by itself, on schedule.
TxDOT, striving to preserve its current plan, claims that decoupling would create major engineering difficulties. However, WALQ has interviewed an independent engineering consultant who studied the Spur project plan in July 2002. He contends that from a technical standpoint, decoupling would be a relatively simple, low-cost process.
What Is WALQ Doing To Get An Alternative Plan Adopted?
WALQ has three basic strategies to help protect our neighborhoods by keeping excessive Spur traffic off our streets: Focus, Demand, Challenge.
Focus public attention on the threat of overwhelming Spur construction traffic and its consequences.
WALQ has co-sponsored an extensive street protest; sponsored Town Hall Meetings (November 2002 and February 2003); generated extensive media attention including TV news coverage, front-page features in community newspapers and articles in the Houston Chronicle.
Demand that public officials treat neighborhood protection as their highest priority.
WALQ has testified before Houston City Council and the Metro board of directors; met with Houston City Council members and other public officials; participated regularly on the Spur 527 Facilitation Team; liaisoned with neighborhood organizations; conducted independent research into Spur-related traffic issues; and obtained hundreds of signatures on petitions protesting the current Spur construction plan and the City’s current “mitigation” plan.
Challenge the current Spur construction plan in court.
WALQ is currently raising funds for legal action and is actively preparing to challenge the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) in court. WALQ has retained legal counsel, a foremost specialist in Texas environmental litigation. WALQ and its counsel believe there is ample evidence that TxDOT violated federal rules requiring this state agency to submit an accurate, complete Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to Washington before receiving federal funds for the Spur project.
Join WALQ’s email list to receive Spur-related news and action alerts.
Contact public officials today! Register your insistence on neighborhood protection as the overriding priority for Spur 527 reconstruction. Demand a solution that keeps most freeway traffic off neighborhood streets.
Contribute to WALQ’s legal fund to stop TxDOT’s current Spur plan in court.
Volunteer your time and skills to WALQ’s grassroots campaign and media initiative aimed at ensuring a sane alternative construction plan that keeps Spur traffic off neighborhood streets.
Does WALQ Seek To Stop Reconstruction Of US 59?
Not at all.
Construction on US 59 along the Richmond / West Alabama corridor has been going on for years with only minor impacts on neighborhood traffic. No problem there.
Spur construction will be dramatically different because TxDOT’s current plan calls for almost complete shutdown of the Spur — a road that carries some 80,000 vehicles per day and hundreds of commuter buses into and out of downtown. Dumping much of that traffic onto neighborhood streets is unsustainable, irresponsible and totally unacceptable.
Is WALQ Merely Crying “Not In My Backyard” (NIMBY)?
Quite the contrary.
WALQ realizes that even with the best preventions, neighborhood residents and businesses will face a difficult time with Spur construction traffic for three years or longer.
Citizens will accept their fair share of inconvenience to accommodate freeway construction.
But TxDOT’s current Spur construction plan will impose huge burdens and costs on affected neighborhoods. This “traffic dumping” is unfair, unwise, unnecessary and must be stopped. Practical alternatives exist that can help protect our neighborhoods by keeping excessive freeway traffic off our streets.
Is There Any Downside To Postponing Spur Reconstruction?
Yes. TxDOT will have to revise its plan and probably reapply for federal funding. It may or may not have to pay its contractor a penalty for canceling the current Spur contract.
Spur reconstruction will include extending the existing Southwest Freeway HOV lane all the way downtown; currently this lane ends at Shepherd. The HOV extension can still be built, but later than currently planned.
These impacts are trivial compared with protecting neighborhoods from unmanageable construction traffic with direct consequential costs amounting to tens of millions of dollars that will be borne by residents and local businesses under TxDOT’s current Spur plan.
Is There A Plan To Place Spur 527 Below Grade?
TxDOT plans to replace the currently elevated Spur with a similarly elevated roadway.
A Neartown neighborhood group wants TxDOT to instead place the new Spur below grade, the way US 59 is now configured along much of the Richmond / West Alabama corridor.
Postponing Spur reconstruction for several years to protect neighborhoods from unmanageable traffic would also give TxDOT an opportunity to fully evaluate Spur design proposals.
Has the City Been Truthful Regarding Spur Construction Traffic?
Yes and no. Examine the facts and decide for yourself if citizens are getting the whole truth.
The City freely admits there may be “extreme congestion” daily on neighborhood streets, yet asserts that it has a plan to keep traffic moving. This “mitigation” plan is based on assumptions that City engineers know are deeply flawed. Yet the City continues to promote this plan as if it were sound.
Conscious exaggeration? Or wishful thinking? Either way, neighborhood residents and businesses will suffer real, and severe, consequences of traffic congestion if Spur construction is allowed to begin under TxDOT’s current plan.
Notably, the City of Houston has changed the name of its “Traffic Mitigation Plan” to “Traffic Management Plan.” And on plan maps, the hardest-hit neighborhoods have been colored green where they were formerly red!
Ask yourself: Are City officials attempting to quell citizen outrage?