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Responding to activists’ complaints and citing “environmental justice concerns,” the Federal Highway Administration has asked the Texas Department of Transportation to pause its $7.5 billion plan to widen Interstate 45 through Houston, including refraining from issuing any new requests for proposals, until it can determine if the project violates the Civil Rights Act.
In a March 8 letter to TxDOT posted on Twitter, FHWA Texas division administrator Achille Alonzi acknowledged that the recent completion of an environmental review had cleared the way for Texas to move forward with the job, known as the North Houston Highway Improvement Project. But Alonzi asked the agency to refrain from doing so until FHWA can evaluate the civil rights concerns raised in three letters from Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, the Air Alliance Houston and Houston community organization Houston Housers.
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A major Texas highway expansion project has been paused to examine possible violation of 1964 Civil Rights Act insider@insider.com (John L. Dorman) © BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images People drive on Interstate 45 toward downtown Houston. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
The Department of Transportation has paused a Houston-area highway widening project.
In the past, highways were constructed with no regard for minority communities.
The Biden administration is seeking to address past racial inequities in planning decisions.
The US Department of Transportation is using a provision of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to pause construction on a highway widening project near Houston, an uncommon move that could be an early test of President Joe Biden s commitment to addressing past racial inequities, according to Politico.
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POLITICO
DOT halts Texas highway project in test of Biden’s promises on race
The department’s use of civil rights laws has buoyed activists on the ground and surprised even seasoned regulators in Washington.
A portion of Interstate 45 is seen in downtown Houston. | Paul Sancya/AP Photo
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President Joe Biden s Department of Transportation is invoking the Civil Rights Act to pause a highway project near Houston, a rare move that offers an early test of the administration s willingness to wield federal power to address a long history of government-driven racial inequities.
DOT s intervention follows complaints from local activists that the state s proposed widening of Interstate 45 would displace an overwhelmingly Black and Hispanic community, including schools, places of worship and more than 1,000 homes and businesses.
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