Houstonians pay more money to get around than they do on housing, food, health care, or education. Highly expansive development forces families to rely on automobiles, an expensive mode of transportation. Automobile-based transportation comes with a host of other problems.
Expansive roadways increase runoff and flooding, and destroy open space and wildlife habitat.
Some even blame reliance on cars for dividing communities. In the Houston area, business and political leaders plan to expand every major freeway and add several new highways. Other studies show that motorists can lose more time during road construction delays than they will ever save in years of driving on the improved road. The emerging national consensus about the negative impacts of highway expansion is not discussed in Houston regional planning. Grand Parkway Plans are underway to construct a 177-mile loop circling the city approximately 40 miles from its center.