TRANSPORTATION UPDATES TxDOT plans for more electric vehicle charging stations COMPILED BY DANICA LLOYD & ILANA WILLIAMS
To support the growth of electric vehicles, Houston is addressing air quality concerns and long-term fund- ing strategies for electric vehicles and charging stations. Texas has also been allocated $400 million of federal money, which will be distributed over the next ve years, to fund electric vehicle infrastructure. Electric vehicles are registered in 233 out of the 254 counties in Texas, according to a plan released by the Texas Department of Transportation this spring. As of July 19, there were over 19,000 electric vehicles registered in Harris County, according to data from Dallas-Fort Worth Clean Cities and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. However, electric vehicles account for 0.55% of all registered vehicles in Harris County. While electric cars are becoming more accessible, the issue lies with making charging stations more available, said Harry Tenenbaum, director of commercialization and infrastructure at Evolve Houston. The nonpro t works with entities to facilitate installing and developing electric vehicle infrastructure. The nonpro t’s Regional Infra- structure Strategy for Electri cation report—or RISE Houston—released in March, said as of September 2021, 1,200 public chargers for electric vehicles are in the Houston area. That amount supports the electric vehicles on the road today, but the projected electric vehicle growth can quickly outnumber the existing chargers, the report said. “The rst step is learning more and nding out how many people don’t have access to charge at home,” Tenenbaum said. The federal government and the state have invested in infrastructure to meet the growing demand and improve accessibility. Health e ects The Electric Reliability Council of Texas estimates Houston will have 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2028, according to TxDOT’s plan. Ebrahim Eslami, a research scientist at the Houston Advanced Research Center, said there are between 7 million-10 million cars in Houston, but even if there is a small
CHARGING CY FAIR Electric vehicle charging stations can be found at more than 20 locations throughout the Cy-Fair area.
Charging station
+52%
There are 19,000+ electric vehicles in Harris County.
The Gessner Road extension has been delayed. (Mikah Boyd/Community Impact Newspaper)
in alternative- fuel vehicle ownership
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ONGOING PROJECTS
over the past ve scal years statewide
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President Joe Biden’s administration aims to have 50% of new car sales be electric vehicles by 2030 .
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Gessner Road extension Construction on a project extending Gessner Road from West Road to Fallbrook Drive began last summer and has since been put on hold. The project was in Harris County Precinct 4 before redistricting and had an initial budget of $10.3 million. Now in Precinct 1, o cials said they are getting it back on track after the contractor left the proj- ect earlier this year. Burnside Services, the construction company overseeing the work, led for bankruptcy in May, according to court documents. Precinct 1 will cover the project’s remaining balance of $6.7 million and plans to add sidewalks, o cials said. Timeline: TBD Cost: $6.7 million (remaining Precinct 1 portion) Funding source: Harris County Precinct 4 and Harris County Precinct 1
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SOURCES: RELIANT ENERGY, DALLAS FORT WORTH CLEAN CITIES, THE NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS COUNCIL OF GOVERNMENTS, WHITE HOUSE, TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Electric infrastructure Electric vehicle infrastructure requires generating enough power, transmitting energy across the grid and bringing energy through electric chargers, Tenenbaum said. Under the federal Bipartisan Infra- structure Law passed in November, Texas is expected to receive more than $400 million from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program over the next ve years, said Thomas Pommier, senior sta analyst at Mayor Sylvester Turner’s O ce of Resilience and Sustainability. This is part of President Joe Biden’s admin- istration’s goal for 50% of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030, according to a June White House news release. This year, TxDOT will deploy chargers at 55 new locations around Texas—mostly near interstate highways. Beginning in 2023, an estimated $42 million-$43 million is expected to ow through the Houston-Galveston Area Council to deploy more electric vehicle chargers in the region. “Fortunately, there are a lot of people and a lot of organizations that are not only interested in this, but passionate as well and provide whichever resources they can ... to investigate the impacts of the human health and environmental impacts of transportation,” Tenenbaum said.
amount of electri cation, there can be an improvement in air quality. “Assuming 100% of [vehicles] are going to be electric by 2040, we need electricity,” he said. “We need the infrastructure for [electric cars] to emerge as the main source of electric production sources.” Although it is unclear how much carbon is reduced if more residents switched to electric vehicles, there would be a decrease in ground-level ozone—a harmful air pollutant that can cause health problems—if more electric vehicles are on the road, Eslami said. “At the end of the day that’s what counts,” he said. “We want to reduce the health impacts.” Health impact results show that increased ozone and particulate mat- ter will lead to 122 premature deaths annually if there are no changes to air quality in the Greater Houston area, according to a December 2019 report from the Center for Transpor- tation, Environment and Commu- nity Health. Eslami said he believes zero emissions from cars is possible. “In the two weeks during [corona- virus] lockdown there were almost no emissions,” Eslami said. “[This] shows the potential of having better air quality in a big city like Houston.”
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ALL INFORMATION ON THIS PAGE WAS UPDATED AS OF AUG. 22. NEWS OR QUESTIONS ABOUT THESE OR OTHER LOCAL TRANSPORTATION PROJECTS? EMAIL US AT CYFNEWS COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM. FM 1960 widening The Texas Department of Transpor- tation is reconstructing and widening a half-mile stretch of FM 1960 near North Eldridge Parkway. Emily Black, a public information o cer with TxDOT’s Houston o ce, said Brizo Construction is overseeing the project. The North Eldridge Parkway intersection will also be reconstructed with dedicated turn lanes, tra c signals, raised medians and drainage work. Timeline: summer 2022-May 2024 Cost: $14.69 million Funding source: TxDOT
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CY FAIR EDITION • SEPTEMBER 2022
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