Residents voice objections to IH-10 frontage road project

TxDOT held a public meeting on January 6 about its plans to reconstruct the IH-10 West frontage roads from Washington Avenue to Taylor Street. The public meeting was conducted by State Rep. Jessica Ferrar and TxDOT at Stevenson Elementary School. It was attended by City and County officials as well as U.S. Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee. An auditorium full of residents eager to learn about the project fired numerous questions at TxDOT engineers about the issues of flooding and design.

The plans were first presented to the public in 2006 at a neighborhood civic club meeting. TxDOT’s plans then called for connecting the westbound frontage roads with an elevated portion running beside the Cottage Grove neighborhood. There was much opposition to such an elevation by residents, who cited noise and the unsightly viewscape of a high structure close by.

TxDot has revised its plans, and three years later is presenting a new plan for the frontage road reconstruction. TxDOT’s goal is to make the frontage road continuous from Taylor to Washington, connecting areas where it is now interrupted. This includes extending the eastbound frontage road from Studemont to Taylor.

The reconstruction also involves placing bridges over White Oak Bayou west of Yale, and constructing two new access ramps between Patterson and Yale. In addition, the drainage system under the frontage roads will be rebuilt, and noise walls will be placed beside residential areas.

In the past the I-10 West freeway inside the 610 Loop has acted as a retention pond for the overflow from White Oak Bayou, as it did during Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. TxDOT says that when this new project is completed, this portion of IH-10 will not fill up with water in a major flood event as it has in the past.

The plan is that the bayou overflow will be diverted from the freeway to several retention ponds which will be built in the area. One is to be located south of West 7th Street in the Heights.

One of the biggest concerns of residents is the timing of the project. TxDOT says the frontage road project has to be started soon in order to be funded by federal stimulus money. Congresswoman Lee confirmed that stimulus money is available if the project is started by the fall. TxDOT admits they have not yet purchased the land for the retention ponds, even though the frontage road project is set to begin in two months.

The Citizens Transportation Coalition (CTC) is concerned that frontage road construction would begin before the retention ponds were built, and water could flood adjacent neighborhoods. The CTC had previously requested a public meeting to get citizen input before the plans were finalized.

But at the end of the meeting TxDOT officials announced that the project had been let that very day and would proceed. It is estimated that it will take 2 1/2 to 3 years to complete. Another public meeting will be held on February 18th to discuss the retention ponds.

Several groups are challenging the project, saying that TxDOT ‘s design would actually increase flooding in neighborhoods along White Oak Bayou. The CTC says that “significant fill and a new retaining wall proposed near Patterson and Kolb would effectively dam off White Oak Bayou from spilling into IH-10, significantly reducing the flood storage capacity of White Oak Bayou.”

The White Oak Bayou Association, in its comment letter to TxDOT, has pointed out that the frontage road bridges over White Oak Bayou west of Studemont will be built below the base flood elevation, and will act as impediments to the flow of water.

Some residents also feel that the design of the exit ramp at Taylor is flawed. They believe it will be difficult to merge from the ramp with traffic from the new frontage road connection from Studemont. They point out that there are a newly built retail center and new apartments in the area, at Sawyer near Taylor, and that TxDOT has underestimated the traffic flow. TxDOT’s traffic analysis was six years ago, prior to the new development. Others requested that the project be canceled, since they believe it is not necessary.

(The Banner, January 12, 2010)