Can You Say "Big Dig?" Boston's Was a Nightmare

Engineer still wants an I-45 tunnel
Citizens group says plan addresses issues of flooding and air quality
By PATRICK KURP
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 21, 2005, 10:22PM

Gonzalo Camacho remains convinced that running 14.5 miles of Interstate 45 under the ground would cost less, be built faster, displace fewer people and businesses, and create less air pollution than any conventional, above-ground road design.

"It's a no-brainer. It would be a large error that would be with us for a long time if the elected officials didn't get behind the tunnel idea," said Camacho, a transportation engineer and the most public proponent of making Houston home to the longest tunnel in the United States.

Camacho raised the idea in a public meeting in April and since has met with Texas Department of Transportation officials, the city's planning commission and community groups.

'Improved mobility' is goal

TxDOT has neither endorsed nor rejected consideration of a tunnel. Its recently completed I-45 study phase addressed only general topics, said spokeswoman Janelle Gbur. The preliminary conclusions called for adding four lanes to the stretch of I-45 between Sam Houston Tollway and downtown, though it did not specify truck lanes, toll lanes or additional HOV lanes.

I don't know enough about this proposal to comment intelligently except to say that Boston's "Big Dig" project was a nightmare with huge cost overruns over budget and late is not a big recommendation for me. I guess more will be revealed.

Full Story: Houston Tunnel?

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