Houstonians See Folly of Debt-Financed Sprawl, Even If Leaders Don’t
Voters in Montgomery County, Texas, rejected a road-building bond referendum. Despite local support for transit, county leaders plan to give the referendum another try.
The Houston Chronicle reports that opposition to a $350 million bond measure, all of it for road construction, was led by residents of one affluent enclave who don’t want a traffic-inducing parkway extension. But there's more to the story.
Like virtually all U.S. metros, the Houston region has a broken transportation system that won't be fixed by building more roads. Jay Blazek Crossley at Houston Tomorrow points out that nearly half of Montgomery County residents surveyed for a Rice University study wanted improvements to transit, while far fewer think road expansions are the way to go.
“Fewer than one-third of the respondents in any of the counties (including Montgomery County) thought the best solution involves ‘building bigger and better roads and highways,’” writes Crossley.
Yet it looks like local officials intend to bring the same referendum back to voters, only without the parkway project.
Building new roads in unpopulated areas brings development, construction and road jobs, and a temporary period of free wheeling on those new roads. However, this scheme always inevitably fails as we have horribly seen across every part of the Houston region. Road bonds lead to road debt, ongoing maintenance costs, and growing vehicle miles traveled with which our local and state governments are not prepared to grapple.
No American city has ever “reduced congestion.” No elected official in the Houston region has ever achieved this empty campaign promise. We are driving much more now as a population - even with the millennial preference for walking - and we don’t like it. Houstonians are spending too much on transportation, but we don’t have to waste our money.
Unfortunately, Houston is leading the nation’s top ten metropolitan regions in spending per capita on roads. It takes longer to drive on the free lanes of I-10 West in rush hour now than before we expanded it to the widest road in the world, because of the expected effect of induced development.
The failure of the Montgomery County sprawl subsidy bond should not be followed with more failure.
Elsewhere on the Network: Cap'n Transit says that in 2015, major urban transit systems must focus on expanding capacity, not filling seats; and ATL Urbanist thinks a trail that will allow people to walk and bike through a monstrous new Atlanta interchange is welcome, but beside the point.
Stay in touch
Sign up for our free newsletter
More from Streetsblog New York City
Thursday’s Headlines: Congestion Pricing Will Be $15 Edition
The proposed congestion pricing toll is $15 for cars entering Manhattan below 60th Street, the TMRB said on Wednesday. Plus more news.
MTA Bus Lane Cameras Will Zap Motorists Who Double Park and Block Bus Stops
If you love blocking buses and bus stops, it's time to get a new hobby.
Eyes on the Street: Long Island City Bike Lanes Are a Good Start — But More Needed
The city unveiled three new protected bike lanes in Long Island City, but advocates want more to fill in a neighborhood-wide safe cycling network.
Eric Adams’s McGuinness Blvd. Capitulation Did ‘Nothing’ for Pedestrians, Greenpoint Pols Charge
Mayor Adams's watered down bike lane redesign of McGuinness Boulevard failed to improve pedestrian safety, elected officials charged.
Wednesday’s Headlines: We Beat the DOT Edition
We beat the DOT in court after it rejected our FOIL request. Plus more news.
