Plans to spend billions on a flood-prone East Texas highway may not solve the problem

LUFKIN, Texas — U.S. Highway 59, a major evacuation route from Houston , has been a problem for East Texas for decades. And as flooding rivaling that of Hurricane Harvey inundated the region in April, the highway closed in several places, cutting off a major evacuation route for countless people seeking shelter from the floods.through Texas from Laredo to Texarkana, to interstate standards have been on the books for decades.

Those sections are part of nearly $6 billion the state plans to pour into the highway over the next decade or more to upgrade the highway to interstate standards, address safety issues and cover basic maintenance. TxDOT says it has$1.5 billion for projects already underway or that begin soon on U.S. 59. The agency has another $4.3 billion allocated for future projects scheduled to begin in the next four to 10 years.

For example, Hurricane Harvey in 2017 was the third 500-year flood to hit Houston in three years. Memorial Day floods in 2015 and 2016 were also classified as 500-year floods.“East Texas in general has experienced a large increase in extreme rainfall compared to last century,” Nielsen-Gammon said. “Part of that is due to climate change. Climate change has increased the intensity of very heavy rainfall across the southern U.S. by nearly 20%.

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