On October 31, 2017 The Governor’s Commission to Rebuild Texas released its Request for Federal Assistance – Critical Infrastructure Projects. The full 301 page document is available here. 

This post highlights a few of the noteworthy projects included in the Houston region, in no particular order. I’ve added some commentary of my own relating to each project.  Each project page includes three short paragraphs labelled Description, Benefit, and Return on Investment (ROI). Only a few of the projects quantify the ROI in any detailed manner.

Cane Island Flood Reduction Project ($72.8 million). Build a detention lake providing 2,800 acre-feet of storage near Morton Road and Pitts Road. Removes 147 homes and 476 acres from the 1% annual chance floodplain. That’s a cost of $153,000 per acre to reduce flood risk from somewhat greater than 1% per year to something a bit less than 1% per year.

Cedar Bayou Dredging ($250 million). Dredge the mouth of the bayou to an unspecified depth for an unspecified length to improve conveyance capacity. Not clear how many homes are removed from the 1% annual chance floodplain. Not clear who would maintain the dredged channel.

Allen’s Creek Reservoir Project ($300 million). Build a water supply reservoir and pump station that pulls water from the Brazos River for storage during periods of low river flow. No flood damage reduction benefits are claimed.

Galveston County Coastal Spine Project ($12 billion). Build a portion of the coastal spine project designed to reduce damages from certain hurricane storm surges.  This is the project that might have the highest benefit to cost ratio when both the RISK of a Category 5 hurricane hitting the region and the CONSEQUENCE of such a storm hitting the region is considered. See this post for more about how we can use risk levels in these calculations. I have not calculated the benefit to cost ratio, but my gut tells me this may be the best post-Harvey investment we can make.

Buffalo Bayou, Addicks and Barker Reservoir Project ($6 billion). Buyout homes in the western fringe of the “flood pools” and those along Buffalo Bayou from Highway 6 to downtown. Improve conveyance along Buffalo Bayou.

Harris County Buyout Program ($800 million). Buyout 5,000 homes. This is a great idea, assuming the buyouts can be accomplished in contiguous areas near bayous.

Spring Creek Reservoir Project ($400 million). Build a reservoir of unspecified size along Spring Creek in an unspecified area. No sure of the benefit / cost ratio of this project due to lack of detail.

Cypress Creek Reservoir Project ($500 million). Construct stormwater management reservoir in the Cypress Creek area to capture overflow from the Cypress Creek watershed into the Addicks Reservoir watershed. The ROI of this project states that the project “would mitigate future flood control issues by providing a reservoir to prevent flooding catastrophes.”  Emphasis added. Is this a mitigation project or a prevention project? What level of risk is achieved?

Montgomery County Reservoirs ($1.6 billion). Acquire right of way, design, and construct a “reservoir system” along Lake Creek, Little Lake Creek, and Spring Creek.

Clear Creek Flood Damage Reduction Project ($200 million). Make channel improvements along 20 miles of Clear Creek, Mud Gully, Turkey Creek, and Mary’s Creek.  Construct 500 acre-feet of inline detention storage along Clear Creek. Construct 900 acre-feet of detention along Mary’s Creek. Project is said to “prevent future flooding of several thousand homes.”  Again, any of these projects will reduce the risk of flooding, but they won’t PREVENT flooding.

Addicks and Barker Reservoir Dam System Improvement Study ($3 million). Study possible improvements and operational changes to the reservoir system.

Metropolitan Houston Regional Watershed Assessment ($3 million).  Identify risk reduction measures and optimize performance of regional network of detention, storage, conveyance, and other related facilities.

Fort Bend County Regional Watershed Assessment ($3 million). Study the watershed.  Prepare a watershed protection plan.  Install best management practices to reduce erosion.  This sounds like a mix of stormwater quality management and floodplain management. Interesting to see what sounds like a stormwater quality project included in this list.

White Oak Bayou Flood Risk Management Project ($131 million). Study and review measures to improve White Oak Bayou channel conveyance and stability.

Hunting Bayou Flood Risk Management Project ($171 million). Study bayou and create a flood risk reduction plan. Address presence of “populations having limited economic resources.”

Coastal Storm Risk Management Study – Sabine Pass to Galveston Bay ($3.2 billion).  Conduct risk management study of the project coastal area.

Houston Ship Channel Restoration Project ($457 million). Dredge the channel to restore it to authorized depths and widths.  Remove draft restrictions for shipping.

Houston Ship Channel Hardening and Resiliency Project ($466 million). Construct additional dredge spoil placement areas, channel shoring, channel modifications, reef restorations, and other protection systems.

Flat Bank Creek Diversion Channel Project ($25 million). Improve channel to increase conveyance capacity of the Oyster Creek watershed in Fort Bend County. Reduce flooding in Missouri City, Riverstone, and Sugar Land.

Harris County Buyouts ($309 million). Help acquire 1,500 repetitive loss properties and assist with relocation.

Harris County Home Ownership ($154.5 million). Assist 6,000 homeowners to purchase a home outside the mapped flood hazard area.

City of Houston Housing Assistance ($9 billion). Assist 85,000 single-family homes with repair, rehabilitation, down payment assistance, rental assistance, and temporary rental assistance.

City of Houston Residential Hazard Mitigation ($4.5 billion). Help acquire, demolish, relocate, or elevate 15,000 homes in the mapped flood hazard area.

Harris County Buildings ($115 million). Repair and enhance resiliency of 113 county buildings damaged from Hurricane Harvey.

Fort Bend County Buyouts ($34 million). Buyout or elevate homes in floodplains.

Harris County Flood Control District Emergency Repairs ($15 million).  Repair flood damage reduction infrastructure.