Our goals
TxDOT
- Align project development plans with the needs of the region — consider the context of where projects are being built and their impact on adjacent communities.
Metropolitan Planning Organizations
- Gain proportional representation, based on population.
- Improve transportation planning processes.
County and City
- Make TxDOT and other transportation projects part of the local political discussion, in election years.
Partner’s success
Austin
- Alternatives to TxDOT’s proposed I-35 expansion provided by Reconnect Austin and Rethink35.
- Organized over 9,500 public comments during early scoping phase.
- Opposition to expansion gained support from thousands of community members and dozens of organizations.
- Elected officials at the city, county, state and federal level have voiced opposition to the I-35 expansion
- Historic Wider Won’t Work rally united hundreds of community members to protest the expansion.
- TxDOT extended public comment periods and put the project on temporary hold to redesign based on public input.
- TxDOT added a Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change appendix to the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS).
- TxDOT to depress I-35 through Central Austin and allow caps and stitches (wide bridges) to be built over the depressed areas, though Austin must pay for them.
- Consistent positive coverage of opposition to the expansion in local, national, and international media including Austin Chronicle, Austin American Statesman, Texas Tribune, City Limits by Megan Kimble, Streetsblog, Strong Towns, and Not Just Bikes.
- Rethink35 and other organizations filed a lawsuit and civil rights complaint against TxDOT over the I-35 expansion, alleging environmental negligence and racial injustice.
- Successfully advocated for the adoption of Vision Zero goal and programs.
- Garnered transit, eTOD, and safe, multimodal funding votes.
Houston
- Organized and educated neighbors on proposed expansion information, which they used on direct actions and then created STOP TxDOT I-45.
- STOP TxDOT I-45 created an inclusive organization and gained local, national, and international press.
- Organized and educated nearly 60 people to provide public comment at a Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council meeting to oppose the $100M for Segment 2.
- Organized an 8-month campaign to lobby Mayor Turner to facilitate a year-long revisioning process for feasible alternatives for 2 of the 3 project segments.
- Engaging elected leaders with impacted districts to speak to protect their constituents.
- Filed a Title VI civil rights complaint with the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation after TxDOT ignored public discourse and issued a final EIS in fall 2020 and a record-of-decision in spring 2021. The investigation is on-going.
- Engaged the Harris County government, which filed a NEPA-focused law suit in spring 2021 after TxDOT indicated the state was done with all environmental work and would begin construction. Negotiations and legal proceedings continue today.
- Informed the City of Houston Climate Action Plan.
- Working collaboratively across sectors, including housing, legal, bike, climate, air quality and others.
El Paso
- Educated City of El Paso leadership on the safety of various design elements, resulting in leaders working with TXDOT to address considerations such as lower speeds and narrower lanes on frontage roads.
Freeways for the People, El Paso