"You Can Call It Sprawl, Or You Can Call it Quality of Life"

That's Billy Burge of the Grand Parkway Association, referring to a plan in Houston, Texas to expand the city out into greenfields on the outskirts of the city.

1 minute read

April 28, 2011, 2:00 PM PDT

By Tim Halbur

Angie Schmitt of Streetsblog talks to Burge and others about the expanded Grand Parkway bypass, the tall-grass prairies it will replace, and the $462 million development project based around it.

Schmitt writes:

"Burge and his colleagues don't shy away from the fact that the project will generate more car trips and sprawl. In fact, they have what you might call a "build it and they will come" philosophy about road-building and traffic.

"There's real demand in 15 to 17 years to have this," said Burge, who chairs the association overseeing the project for the state and the region. "Once that link is completed, you'll have a steady stream of traffic."

To hear Burge and his colleagues at TexDOT and Harris County tell it, they are simply trying to get out ahead of what they see as inevitable: sprawl, on top of sprawl, on top of sprawl. But not in a bad way, they say."

Thanks to Angie Schmitt

FULL STORY: Third Outerbelt Would to Prairies into Texas Toast

Thursday, April 28, 2011 in Streetsblog Capitol Hill

Land Use Texas Sprawl Houston Highway Development

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