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Plan to widen I-45 takes parking lots, green space
By Rhiannon Meyers
The Daily News
Published October 27, 2009
Business owners along Gulf Freeway could lose driveways, parking lots and green space if the state moves forward with plans to widen Interstate 45 between Texas City and League City, Texas Department of Transportation officials said.
Few, if any, businesses would be displaced as the department seeks to widen the interstate from six lanes to eight between FM 1764 in Texas City to FM 518 in League City, department spokeswoman Karen Othon said. The state would add one lane on each side of the interstate, widen shoulders, reconstruct the two-lane frontage road and reconfigure ramps. To accomplish the $228 million expansion, the state would have to acquire 10 feet of additional right of way on both sides of Gulf Freeway from Hughes Road to FM 518, about 11 acres of land, Othon said. The state plans to use its existing right of way between Hughes Road and FM 1764.
The department will have a public hearing on the expansion project at 6 p.m. today at Clear Springs High School, 501 Palomino Lane, in League City.
Othon said she did not know Monday how many businesses would be affected. Officials will answer questions today and show maps and proposed designs of the expansion, providing a clearer picture of how much land businesses would lose to the freeway expansion.
There are dozens of businesses — some still under construction — fronting the interstate in the area where the state would have to acquire right of way. The state’s land acquisition would not affect houses.
The expansion project, which has been on the books for years, purports to ease traffic congestion, improve safety and speed hurricane evacuation.
The state already has approval to widen Gulf Freeway from FM 518 in League City to the Sam Houston Tollway in Houston. Pending funding, that expansion project could start as early as September 2011. State crews would start widening the interstate between FM 2351 north of Baybrook Mall and FM 1959, or Dixie Farm Road, just south of Sam Houston Tollway, and work south.
The state must get approval from the Federal Highway Administration before moving forward with widening Gulf Freeway between FM 1764 and FM 518. If that approval is obtained, the state could begin acquiring and clearing land to start construction, provided the project were funded, Othon said. The state could break ground on that project as early as September 2016.
Dickinson and League City officials expressed doubts about state claims that the expansion would help improve traffic flow in the area.
“I don’t know that laying more concrete down on I-45 is the answer,” League City Mayor Toni Randall said.
Randall and Dickinson City Administrator Julie Johnston said they’d rather see the state pump money into transportation alternatives, such as commuter rail.
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At A Glance
WHAT: Public hearing on Texas Department of Transportation’s proposed expansion of Interstate 45
WHEN: 6 p.m. today
WHERE: Clear Springs High School, 501 Palomino Lane, League City
Details: Written and verbal comments will be accepted at the hearing. Residents also can submit written comments to the department’s Houston office at 7600 Washington Ave., or by mail to the Director of Project Development, P.O. Box 1386, Houston, Texas 77251, or by e-mail at HOU-PIOwebmail(at)dot.state.tx.us. All comments must be submitted by Nov. 10.
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