Third Ward, Midtown, & Museum District

Student Health

• Houston Academy of International Studies (HAIS) is exposed to 10X the traffic pollution of the average HISD/ASID campus.
• Young Women's College Preparatory Academy (YWCP) is exposed to 7X the traffic pollution of the average HISD/ASID campus.
• Expansion will move the highway closer to YWPC Academy which will introduce more air and noise pollution.
• Other impacts are poor student and community health, respiratory diseases like asthma which result in a lower quality of life.
• Current 5% asthma rate at YWCP Academy exceeds the average of 3.3% in HISD/ASID.

Environmental Justice

• Current I-45 demarcates a 500 ft. barrier between high income white neighborhood on the west side of 288 and low income people of color on the east side of 288.
• The current expansion will further entrench the separation between the Museum District/Midtown and the 3rd ward on the east side.
• HAIS and YWCP have both had close to 100 pedestrian and bicycle  accidents within a half mile of their schools since 2010.
• The current NHHIP design does not have a design feature protecting pedestrians or cyclists crossing or traveling parallel to the freeway.
• YWCP is ranked in the top 15% of areas in Houston to experience the dangerous urban heat island effect.*

Displacements include (from north to south)

• Houston Police Department South Central
• 4001 Lounge – hookah bar
• Rossonian Cleaners
• Tacos La Creación
• GMA Medical Billing & Accounting
• Star Hair Salon
• Liberty Income Tax & Insurance
• Nurses Night & Day Inc
• Copias-Fotos-ATM-Email on Caroline St
• Consulado General De México
• King Fuels Food
• US Vets – veteran housing
• Midtown Terrace Suites

* Urban Heat Island (UHI)

Urban heat island (UHI) is a health concern. Increasing the percentage of impervious surface is linked to an increase in surface temperature.

The extent of tree canopy in an area can have a direct effect on temperatures and health. Higher levels of tree canopy coverage can help curb urban heat island effects by lowering temperatures. Not only is extreme heat the primary weather-related cause of death in the U.S. according to 2018 National Weather Service Office estimates but hot temperatures also create the weather conditions necessary to produce ground-level ozone.

Loughner CP, Allen DJ, Zhang D-L, Pickering KE, Dickerson RR, Landry L. Roles of Urban Tree Canopy and Buildings in Urban Heat Island Effects: Parameterization and Preliminary Results. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology. 2012; 51:1775-1793.