Environmental Impacts of Population Growth in the Houston-Galveston Region

As part of the long-range transportation planning process, H-GAC develops a long-term small-area population and employment forecast for the 8-county region. While the primary purpose of the forecast is to support travel demand modeling, the forecast can be used in various regional planning applications, including environmental planning. Over the next 30 years, the region is expected to grow by 3.5 million people. Such growth will result in significant increase in impervious surface and sizable loss of natural habitats; it will require tremendous investment into the infrastructure and will put strain on the water and recreational resources in the regional. This presentation will give an overview of the H-GAC forecast for2035 and will describe environmental and infrastrastructural implications of the future growth in their relation to Galveston Bay.