Texas Highway Expansion Will Harm Communities, Suit Says (1)

The Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration didn’t properly consider the environmental consequences when approving a highway expansion project, groups said.

The agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act by not taking a sufficient look at the project’s environmental injustice impacts, Rethink35—a nonprofit opposing the Interstate Highway 35 expansion through Austin—and other organizations told the US District Court for the Western District of Texas on Jan. 26.

“The widening of I-35 will reinforce and exacerbate a century of racial inequity,” the groups said. The highway has disproportionately impacted marginalized communities, especially those in East Austin that ...