“People cannot live in cars."

“We have to move people and not cars and we have to clean up the air quality.”

Houston highway project sparks debate over racial equity | Associated Press | Nov. 24, 2021

"It is unethical and outside their scope for these U.S. congressmen to hurry along a federal investigation of civil rights violations. There is no national presence working in Houston to fight the I-45 expansion. The Federal Highway Administration pause is in direct response to the Title VI concerns filed by real people in affected communities and local advocacy groups. The seven signatory elected officials on this letter do not really represent communities directly impacted by the project. They are ignorant to what is going on locally.

The people of Houston and Harris County deserve a functional I-45 project that centers those most impacted, reduces environmental impact and actually improves congestion and safety. The current design exacerbates all the problems TxDOT seeks to solve. A wider I-45 would not help in a hurricane evacuation; the key to successful evacuation is coordinated emergency response and messaging. No road in the world is wide enough for single-occupancy vehicle evacuation en masse.

Would these elected officials be so eager to move the project forward if it were their districts being torn apart? Or are they pushing profits for an elite few at the expense of our city? Maybe if they actually showed up to some of the advocacy meetings they love to talk about, we’d know."

Letter to the Editor | Houston Chronicle | Nov. 11, 2021

“Stop TxDOT I-45 set a goal as an organization early on to try and take this to the State level, because our mission is to create a more equitable transportation in the state, and also because we are so limited.”

“Houston and Harris County will try to do all sorts of things, like hold people accountable to air quality standards, and the State will block it at every turn. The County may want to make a place walkable and the State will block that. There’s only so much we can accomplish in our own home without advocating at a state level.”

How Highways Wrecked America’s Cities | Streetsblog USA | Sept. 9, 2021

“It’s very racially unjust."

“We’re going to spend all this money to make the traffic worse and hurt a lot of people.”

Fate of controversial I-45 project to be decided Tuesday, with yes-or-no vote after 15 years of work | Houston Chronicle | Aug. 30, 2021

"It is very clear that there are two sides to this issue."

“One side stands to benefit financially, and one side stands to lose their homes, or stands to lose major parts of their city that they know and love.”

“I want to die in Houston. I don't want to be a climate refugee. I don't want to have to work on my car, own a car, drive a car every single place that I go for the rest of my entire life. I want to live here happily with walkability, with a concern for the climate, with a concern for those who cannot afford to own cars."

Houston Activists Continue Push Against I-45 Expansion As Public Comment Period Closes | Houston Public Media 88.7 | Aug. 9, 2021

“It’s very clear that TxDOT is, A, giving us a false binary, and B, trying to pit the Texas cities against each other, and it’s not going to work.”

Business Groups Stand To Profit From Controversial I-45 Expansion, Critics Say | Houston Public Media 88.7 | Aug. 3, 2021

“I want to reject a yes-no vote on something that is this important, this expensive, that is this monumental for generations to come.”

Editorial: TxDOT's way or no highway? SurveyMonkey poll no way to decide future of I-45 | Houston Chronicle | Aug. 3, 2021

“Honestly, we are on the same team and we want the same things for all of the communities."

"We want economic development, we want to reduce flooding, we want safety, people to be able to move through the region freely. This is not the answer.”

I-45 supporters urge TxDOT leaders to keep money for rebuild | Houston Chronicle | July 29, 2021

“It’s crappy - there’s no third option to say, ‘work with localities and find an option that everyone supports.’”

“No matter which way you look at it, this project won’t relieve congestion, it will cost a fortune, it will destroy the city, and it will deepen the grooves of hate and racism that already harmed so many and left a lasting impact on their communities.”

What It Looks Like to Reconnect Black Communities Torn Apart by Highways | CityLab | July 28, 2021

“For them to threaten to take away funding... It just blows my mind and is completely unconscionable."

Houston’s $9B I-45 rebuild could come down to online poll, after 15 years and $503 million | Houston Chronicle | July 23, 2021

“We’re frustrated that it's taken the federal government stepping in to get TxDOT to do the right thing."

Massive I-45 Houston project heads back to public comment phase during pause | Houston Chronicle | June 30, 2021

“We have been hearing from residents daily that they are still being asked to move out of their homes.”

“There has been a real sense of urgency around gaining clarification, and we could not be more excited that (the U.S. Department of Transportation) is taking measures to protect Houstonians from displacement when the project may still be dramatically changed.”

Federal officials halt development on TxDOT’s $7 billion rebuild of I-45 | Houston Chronicle | June 23, 2021

“Urban freeways across America are monuments to environmental racism, and the Expansion of I-45 would be iconic.”

“By TxDOT’s own measures and admission, the project will encroach upon or displace people’s homes, green spaces, places of worship, businesses, and schools in the same Black and brown neighborhoods that were torn apart by its original building.”

“People living along the freeway are forced to move or endure intensified exposures to environmental hazards."

Expansion of I-45 in Downtown Houston Is on Hold, for Now, in a Traffic-Choked, Divided Region | Inside Climate News | April 30, 2021

“People who paid their home off and want to pass generational wealth to their daughter won’t be able to do that.”

“State DOTs are set up so powerfully are almost extra political so we are counting on federal government to put action behind their words.”

Experts See Opportunities in Biden Highway Plan | Streetsblog USA | April 28, 2021

“I don't want it to be a city of freeways and I don't want it to be underwater.”

TxDOT extends public comment deadline for $7B planned rebuild of I-45 | Houston Chronicle | Oct. 28, 2020

“Houston is the beating heart of the entire metropolitan area. Commutes from outlying communities need more creative solutions and people are hungry for public transit.”

Critics of I-45 rebuild plan take protest to EaDo intersection, over and over again | Houston Chronicle | Sept. 3, 2020

"We want to see more public transit in Houston, we want to see environmental justice and we want to see equity in our transportation planning."

Organization demands city put a stop on I-45 expansion project | KHOU 11 | Sept. 3, 2020

“We have to know the downstream effects of every decision that we make in every construction project from now on. Flooding effects everybody.”

2020 will be the year Houston decides I-45 project’s future | Community Impact Houston | Jan. 6, 2020