April 28, 2009 Houston: White Oak Bayou

Another day in Houston after a rainy night. Soils saturated and some added water to an ever flood prone area. An early morning walk to Stude Park a couple blocks from home. The corner of White Oak and Watson almost under water...

Over the bridge and looking west. I-10 on the left and White Oak Bayou on the right forming lake front property...

Ricardo on his way to work telling me of the floods in 1990 when he saw three vehicles floating down stream along White Oak Bayou. Ricardo is originally a farmer from Mexico and migrant worker. He is a US resident since late 80's. Not a citizen yet but five members of his family are citizens and they vote. Meeting candidate Camacho gave him an added incentive to become a US citizen...

Area favorite apartments under usual water levels. Somebody forgot to move their cars overnight...

Channel 11 and Univision filming footage and waiting for water levels to increase. Note there vehicles halfway under the water...

Residents from the First Ward enjoying photo ops ...

Another vehicle under water on White Oak Drive...

Mango Beach in the Heights. Univision getting ready to interview Simel the businessman behind Mango Beach...

Met Simel through Joe Yayo "el rolo brusco" Medina from Colombia. Simel is attending the police academy with hopes to become a police officer with Harris County and he enjoys running his Mango Beach coffee and refreshment shop...

Of course, it is campaign season and vote for Camacho sign blends in with the Mango Beach colors...

Hurricane Preparedness: Evacuation vs. "Hunker Down"

When I proposed the alternative to tunnel I-45 (www.i45parkway.com) it was brought to my attention that I-45 could not be tunneled (among other opinions) because it was an emergency evacuation route. The Harris County Homeland Security & Emergency Management office has it shown on its web site along with evacuation zones. The same page also has a link to the I-45 Contraflow Routes and contraflow routes for I-10, US-290 and US-59.

As a registered professional engineering in the state of Texas my primary duty in the practice of my profession is public safety thus I invested hundreds if not thousands of hours considering emergency evacuation, in particular hurricane evacuation. The result was that tunneling of I-45 is a must. Here is why:

• Current conditions of I-45 (downtown to Beltway 8) are sub standard, unsafe and lack capacity.
• Federal process for development of highways takes 10 years which Houston cannot afford to wait.
• Standard reconstruction of highways require traffic control that reduces traffic capacity. Reduced traffic capacity during an emergency evacuation route is likely not a good option.
  
• Standard reconstruction of highways takes many years, i.e. I-10 took 8 years considering it had an additional 100-foot of right of way for expansion. I-45 does not have additional right of way.
• I-45 north of downtown Houston floods during normal rain conditions, so does I-10.

Thus doing business as usual is a very risky process for residents of the Houston region, in particular those who have to evacuate before hurricanes. But why would a tunnel be a better option for expansion of a highway?

• Construction is done below ground with little interference with existing traffic.
• Allows connecting all major routes from US-59 south of downtown to Beltway 8 at Greenspoint.
• Addresses the challenge to adding capacity to the Pierce Elevated.
• Construction is less than five years.
• Estimated cost for the proposed I-45 tunnels is about 5% more when considering construction time.
• The I-45 (twin) tunnel proposal is designed for emergency evacuation and contraflow.
• Highway tunnels are and can be designed as emergency shelters.
• Highway tunnels can be constructed in Houston's soil conditions and are designed NOT to flood.

More importantly there are critical advantages of the proposed I-45 tunnels vs. the standard preferred alternative that was approved for the expansion of I-45:

• The approved preferred alternative intends to reconstruct the existing I-45 and add one or three more lanes, from the existing (8 main lanes, 1 HOV lane, 4 service road lanes) to the proposed (8 main lanes, 2 or 4 HOV lanes, and 4 service road lanes). By Texas law only new lanes can be tolled, thus only the proposed HOV lanes could be tolled.
• The proposed twin tunnel I-45 Tunnel/Parkway would add a total of 12 more new lanes to the I-45 corridor from south of downtown Houston to Beltway 8 at Greenspoint, most of it in District H.

Some obvious differences between the two include:

• TxDOT's preferred alternative by increasing the number of lanes: increases width of pavement, does not prevent noise nor air pollution, does not provide significant added capacity to the corridor, allows toll revenue only on HOV lanes, increases the demand for floodwater detention, and may require right of way taking.
• The alternative I-45 tunnels add 12 lanes: allows reconstruction of I-45 without the need for expansion, reduces or eliminates noise and air pollution, more than doubles the I-45 corridor capacity, it is a toll only facility, does not require flood mitigation, does not require additional right of way, and improves regional traffic flow.

What is unique about the I-45 Tunnel/Parkway alternative:

• Doubles the corridor capacity
• Provides traffic flow management through user fees
• It is a world class engineering project, one of a kind
• Provides a 100-year vision for the corridor
• Allows development of the I-45 parkway with multi modal transportation uses (i.e. light rail)

Although the overall analysis of the I-45 Tunnel/Parkway concept is superior to any other proposes alternative for expanding I-45, including emergency evacuation, the analysis of the tunnel alternative as a hurricane evacuation route and emergency shelter was an introduction to a more comprehensive understanding of the regional approach to hurricane preparedness.

As a humble servant to the safety of the public, my understanding of hurricane preparedness plan in the Houston region consists of the following:

• Evacuation zones identified as potential flood zones based on expected levels of surge caused by hurricane winds. These zones can be found in the Evacuation Map provided by Harris County.
• The Houston region has identified roadways as emergency evacuation routes. I-45 is one of the principal routes for evacuating the Glaveston area and the 610 and Beltway 8 loops are used as traffic feeders/cconnectors to US-59, I-45, US-290, and I-10.
• Outside the evacuation zones residents are expected to "hunker down" and ride out the storm/hurricane.

During the process of investigating evacuations and hurricane preparedness there are some concepts that perhaps need better determination and/or answers found. Here are some of them:

• Coastal Community - Appears to be a federal designation of coastal areas expected to be evacuated in case of an emergency such as a hurricane.
• Hurricane preparedness plan - Houston's plan appears to be based on potential for flooding but appears not to address wind forces.
• Hunker down - The order given to the Houston region not included in the flood zones. It is equated to stay at home to ride out the storm/hurricane winds.
• First responders - Who are the first responders and how are they and their vehicles protected from potential hurricane impacts?
• Risk of flooding - Houston is prone to flooding. It appears that the potential for highway flooding, such as I-45 and I-10 north of downtown, is perceived to be small. How small? What is the likely that highways such as I-45 and I-10 be flooded for a short period of time prior or during evacuation orders? What is this probability over the next 10 years since it will take 10 years or more for I-45 and/or I-10 to be reconstructed?
• Hurricane shelters - How many people and for how long will hurricane shelters be needed?
• At-risk populations - Children, the elderly and low income families are generally the most affected by emergency situations like hurricane evacuations. How are they prepared?

Thus based on traffic engineering and highway design experiences; given the potential for the event of a hurricane; past event such as hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Ike; and potential for highway flooding; what could be a possible emergency plan that could enhance and/or improve the current Harris County hurricane preparedness plan? Following are three suggestions:

• Build the I-45 tunnels from US-59/288 south of downtown Houston to Beltway 8 at Greenspoint - Two objectives for this: one, to provide a better emergency evacuation route and two, to provide emergency shelter for at-risk population and emergency vehicles.
• Develop a pilot program that builds future schools for dual purpose, improve education and provide emergency shelter - The proposed pilot program is to design a multi purpose education center that includes one or more of the following : school, community center, library, after school program, and play grounds or park spaces. These multi purpose education center is to be designed and constructed to withstand category 5 hurricanes and be sustainable to house communities over long periods of time. These could incorporate solar power energy which can be sold back to the grid and/or implement multi purpose green areas that could be used for recreation and flood management.
• Implement a free program to rate all structures for hurricane categories - Partner with organizations such as the AIA to rate structure that could be used for hurricane protection in terms of category categories. New construction should also be rated for hurricane categories and home buyers be given the option to upgrade structures to higher hurricane standards.

The consequences for ignoring these three suggested approaches to protecting residents of the region could have catastrophic consequences. There are many lessons learned from hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike. There are many lessons learned from coastal communities that were significantly affected by Hurricane Ike such as Galveston where up to 30 percent of its population, about 15 to 20 thousand people, have been displaced. Most of these people are low income.

Below few links to remind what Katrina, Rita and Ike caused:
Collecting and Preserving the Stories of Katrina and Rita
Hurricane Katrina Editorial & Stock Image Archives
The Short But Eventful Life of Ike

Crime Prevention: Proactive vs. Reactive and Education

Generally crime attention is identified by the number of cases reported, the higher the calls the higher the attention given. This is reactive. But are we interested in going after the criminal element or preventing the crime?

There are some unique statistics that fuel crime but not often considered:
- Houston population about 2 million people
- Houston ISD about 200 thousand students (10% of population)
- Houston ISD students that fail to graduate about 50%
- Ethnic make up of Houston population, about 50% Latino (all ethnicities) and 30% black
- Houston ISD populaton about 60% Latino and 30% black

In other words, most of Houston's population is made of Latinos and blacks (80%) and we have half of their children not finishing high school

In the article titled Overcoming barriers to high school graduation we find the following statements:

"The opportunity cost to Virginia per high school dropout is roughly $111,586. By allowing nearly 19 percent of Virginia’s students to leave high school without a degree, the Commonwealth stands to lose more than $22 million per year"

"Virginia high school graduates earn roughly $31,336 per year during their first years out of school, while Virginians with less than a high school diploma earn just $25,156 during their first years out of school. "

"...the lifetime income differential between Virginia high school graduates and nongraduates is $266,125. This additional $266,125 in income ...translates into roughly $6,693 in additional state income tax dollars. A portion of this additional income is also spent on housing and goods and services, which means that roughly $2,800 in additional property taxes and $3,428 in additional sales and excises taxes are collected by the Commonwealth from high school graduates compared to non-graduates. In addition, high school graduates contribute $28,616 more in federal taxes than high school dropouts during the course of a lifetime..."

"Graduates are jailed with less frequency than dropouts. The researchers said “incarceration rates…vary by education level” and that nationwide, “more than 50 percent of the prison population is made up of dropouts."

Should be noted the data published by the Houston Chronicle article" Harris County’s burgeoning jail population is expected to swell to 12,600 this spring" and this article published by the John T. Floyd Law Firm "Martin pointed out that it would cost $45 to $55 per day to house these inmates in a comparable Texas facility." What it means is Harris is expected to spend on the average $230 million per year to house prisoners. That is a cost to tax payers of about $18 thousand per year per prisoner.

In contrast as indicated at Houston ISD web site "The Houston Independent School District is the largest public school system in Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States." and spends less than $8,500 per student. Therefore we spend about $10 thousand more per year to keep people in jail than we do educating the future of this city and the country.

Following some contrasting titles with excerpts:

Increase US Prison Population Has Profound Demographic Consequences
Pettit said well-documented facts - one in 100 Americans is behind bars in 2008, about 2.4 million people currently are incarcerated and nearly 60 percent of young black males who dropped out of high school have served time in jail - don't seem to register with Americans.

The Geography of Punishment: How Huge Sentencing Enhancement Zones Harm Communities, Fail to Protect Children
The law’s poor construction also means that sentencing enhancement zone eligibility has less to do with one’s offense than the location of one’s home. Because they tend to live in urban areas and therefore more often live inside the zones, greater numbers of Blacks, Latinos and the poor are charged with zone violations than Whites who commit the same offenses. Additionally, because the statute dictates a two-year minimum sentence, judges are denied discretion in sentencing and must hand down punishments that are often disproportionate to the crimes committed.

One in 100: Behind Bars in America 2008
Three decades of growth in America’s prison population has quietly nudged the nation across a sobering threshold: for the first time, more than one in every 100 adults is now confined in an American jail or prison. According to figures gathered and analyzed by the Pew Public Safety Performance Project, the number of people behind bars in the United States continued to climb in 2007, saddling cash-strapped states with soaring costs they can ill afford and failing to have a clear impact either on recidivism or overall crime.

Therefore:

Addressing crime is not a simple solution but funding the criminal system is not the answer either. Our front line to address crime is Houston PD with about 5000 officers according to Wikipedia. However, it appears crime is increasing and Houston residents demand action.

As a traffic engineer I know that traffic violations can be reduced two ways, one is enforcement and the other design. If at a particular street or highway many traffic tickets are given i.e. speeding then it can either be enforced by police presence or the street could be redesigned to prevent high speeds. The first one requires constant policing (costs) but can generate revenues. The second requires infrastructure costs. Applying the same thinking to crime prevention, District H may have the following alternatives to reducing crime:

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design: "The proper design and effective use of the built environment can lead to a reduction in the fear of crime and incidence of crime, and to an improvement in quality of life." More information can be found at Wikipedia and CPTED.

CCTV or web video monitoring of neighborhoods: Related information can be found at this article "...many CCTV surveillance systems have been successful at reducing some types of crimes like property crime... (In the UK)numerous case studies paired with crime statistics have been used by Britain’s Home Office to determine the effectiveness of these CCTV systems and to see how well CCTV saves time and money for their police force."

Shift police attention from highways to neighborhoods: As a traffic engineer I know how dangerous it is to park a vehicle on the shoulder of a highway, in particular at locations where there is limited visibility or reduced sight distance (traffic engineering term). I believe that police officers clocking speeding vehicles while parked on highway shoulders are actually endangering the lives of motorist and their lives. Instead TxDOT should place cameras along highways to identify high speed motorists while Houston police officers should focus on patrolling neighborhoods.

Shift hours of operations for police office fronts from day to night hours: There might be a perception about when crimes are committed but office fronts should be open during the times when most crimes are committed. Lets remember the adage "crime never sleeps."

However, we have got to remember that crime is fueled by the number of youth who do not graduate from high school. Long term solutions to crime is not on policing but education of our youth.

Personally, I would love to see a District H that is more focused on our quality of life and quality of education. I would love for our police officers go to work with the peace of mind that crime prevention is part of our culture and education process vs. an urban guerrilla war that puts at risk their lives on the line of duty.

welcome to vote camacho tunnel, the blog