GREATER WEST HOUSTON’S INFRASTRUCTURE IS MOSTLY NEW BUT SOME AREAS NEED REBUILDing
The West Houston Association advocates for planning and financing of infrastructure rehabilitation. As a result, the Association strongly supports the REBUILD HOUSTON program. For more on this, click on this link.
Rebuilding Greater West Houston: Neglect of our built infrastructure will result in costly inefficiencies for governments and the public alike. As we build new infrastructure to accommodate mid-century GWH, we must also embrace the concept of maintaining and improving our aging roadway, drainage and water systems, of which some currently serving GWH will be 90 years old by mid-century and well beyond their useful lives. The West Houston Plan 2050 first identified the need for a significant rehabilitate effort of roadway and drainage systems in the City of Houston. Residents in the City of Houston will vote in November, 2010 on whether or not to create a dedicated fund to begin this rehabilitation.
Roadways and drainage systems throughout GWH will also need to be rehabilitated as they age. A model developed for the West Houston Association estimates the cost to rehab systems in GWH outside the City of Houston limits could be approximately $250 million per year. This amount significantly exceeds current funding levels. Compounding the difficulty is that these systems are in unincorporated areas and have limited governance options, a model that is not sustainable for a rapidly urbanizing area.