Here's the latest status of the project.
A special committee of HGAC (the regional planning council) has been working for the last 6-12 months to develop a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between all parties. On January 8 the committee ended its planned activity when an impasse was reached. TxDOT refused to sign the memorandum of understanding due to language that certain parties wanted. (I don't know the specifics of that language.) TxDOT Houston director Eliza Paul said they "agree to disagree". There won't be a signed memorandum, but instead the committee will submit a resolution to the TPC with goals and objectives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEbX6g--c0cHarris County has hired legal counsel. Harris County Commissioner Garcia says they have not yet made a decision to file a lawsuit against the project, but TxDOT is expecting a lawsuit as soon as the ROD is issued. Having a lawsuit is not a surprise, but the news here is that Harris County is taking the lead, as opposed to a community interest organization like LINK. Of course, Harris County would have unlimited resources to pursue legal action, whereas a community organization would not.
In separate action, most of the downtown work has been delayed due to financial constraint, which presumably is loss of revenue due to Covid.
https://www.h-gac.com/getmedia/27fd20e3-92a8-48f4-b901-0f5c43316b34/STIP-Movement-Detail-Pages-January2021.pdfIH69 from Spur 527 to SH288 ($260 million): still listed for 2022
IH69 from SH288 to IH45 ($485 million): still listed for bidding in July 2022
IH69/IH10 interchange and IH10 on the north side of downtown ($1.06 billion): delayed from 2022 to 2024
IH69 on the east side of downtown ($1.14 billion): delayed from 2022 to 2025
IH45 on the west side of downtown ($243 million): delayed from 2022 to 2025
All work on the northwest side of downtown (IH45/IH10 interchange) to Loop 610: no longer scheduled, listed as 2030 start date in planning documents
My impression: Signing the MOU would probably have forced TxDOT to significantly alter the FEIS plan, which TxDOT was not willing to do. So that is good news for keeping the FEIS plan alive. Most likely this will be settled by a lawsuit and court decision. This could delay the schedule if TxDOT ultimately wins, but since the schedule is already delayed, it may not have much effect. If TxDOT loses in court, the schedule is moot and the entire project is in doubt.
It's unclear to me if the first projects on the south side of downtown, which are noncontroversial, will able to be able to proceed in 2022 if a lawsuit is filed. That depends on whether there is an injunction against TxDOT for work on the project.