Listen
At a public hearing at DeBakey High School, residents looked over TxDOT’s plans for two direct connector ramps linking 288 with Holcombe Boulevard.
The route was chosen from several alternatives. It’s related to a project to build toll lanes on 288 from Brazoria County to downtown Houston.
TxDOT’s Raquel Lewis says the project is needed to alleviate congestion getting to the Medical Center.
“If you travel along the 288 corridor you know that we are above capacity in terms of the traffic that travels along that corridor, particularly during peak periods.”
But residents speaking at last night’s hearing appealed to TxDOT to come up with something different. They said the project would benefit commuters coming in from Pearland, and not the people living in the nearby neighborhoods.
“It is our firm belief and my conclusion that it will be obsolete before the pavement even dries.”
Community activist Robert Muhammad was one of the speakers questioning why traffic isn’t being diverted toward the large Medical Center parking lots.
“I would like us to go back the drawing board again, look south of 610, come in that way because in that way we can help develop that side of the city.”
Comments from last night’s hearing will be submitted to the Federal Highway Administration as part of TxDOT’s request for environmental clearance.
If TxDOT gets the okay, it would then have to seek full funding for the $28 million dollar project.
