roadsTaken: A History of Highway Displacement in Houston [Video]

The “roadsTaken” mapping project was created by Matt Drwenski of the Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies and Uilvim Ettore Gardin Franco and Bruno Sousa of Rice University’s Spatial Studies Lab in collaboration with Diluvial Houston. 

The “roadsTaken” project emerges from the growing need to understand the historical and ongoing consequences of urban freeway construction and infrastructure development. The initial phase of this project is focused on highway construction in Houston. It provides a resource at the intersection of social and environmental justice (EJ) considerations and the development of major infrastructure projects. Such resources are valuable when considering future projects like the I-45 expansion, expansion of ports and supporting transportation infrastructure, growth and development of new infrastructures across the nascent hydrogen and carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) industries, and much more. By providing a dynamic data-driven visualization, “roadsTaken” aims to highlight the oft-hidden costs of development, such as displacement of …