HOUSTON – Houston community members and advocates with the organization Stop TxDOT I-45 are traveling to Austin on Wednesday to demonstrate their support for House Bill 4386.
The group was going to be present for the Texas House Transportation Committee Hearing. They also traveled to the capitol earlier this month on Transportation Freedom Lobby Day.
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This bill was created by Rep. Alma Allen, D-Houston, and it would no longer allow the Texas Department of Transportation to take property from “vulnerable neighborhoods” to construct or expand highways. The vulnerability of a neighborhood can be measured through the Texas Social Vulnerability Index, the group said. This index looks at income, education, access to health care and more determinants.
TxDOT uses eminent domain to obtain property from Texans. Eminent domain is a law that allows the government to take private property, but they are required to provide a payment.
Leaders of the group shared what the biggest impact of the I-45 project is.
“It depends on who you ask. For a lot of people it’s the displacement of communities,” said Molly Cook, a co-organizer with Stop TxDOT I-45.
The group said that taking people’s property can impact their health and economic opportunity, and if people protest construction this can cause costly delays.
“This bill would prevent reproduction of harm by limiting TxDOT’s ability to acquire urban land in communities that score above a certain vulnerability index threshold,” the organization said.
Stop TxDOT I-45 said this bill would also allow some of the public to regain trust in TxDOT.
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