BREAKING THE CYCLE
Project updates
Houston’s plans to bring better bike infrastructure and connectivity to the city involve reducing the number of car lanes on several local roads.
Types of bikes lanes
1 Shepherd and Durham drives reconstruction Details: 6- to 10-foot-wide sidewalks and 6-foot-wide bikeways between North Loop 610 and I-10
Existing on-street* Programmed on-street*
Existing off-street Programmed off-street
*ON-STREET INCLUDES DEDICATED AND SHARED BIKE LANES SOURCES: CITY OF HOUSTON, MONTROSE TAX INCREMENT REINVESTMENT ZONE, MEMORIAL-HEIGHTS REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Timeline: spring 2022- 2026
Cost: $115 million
2 Waugh Drive/Commonwealth Street Details: 5-foot-wide bike lane on Commonwealth and 6-foot-wide bike lane on Waugh between West Alabama and Dallas streets Timeline: April 2021-end of March Cost: $3 million
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3 11th Street Bikeway Details: two 6-foot-wide bike lanes stretching from Shepherd Drive to Michaux Street
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SHAWN ARRAJJ/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
BUFFALO BAYOU PARK
SAWYER ST.
Timeline: Design 60% completed
Cost: TBD
MEMORIAL PARK
is kind of like a tree that you can see, but you can’t see all the roots under- ground,” he said. “We have all these roots that you can’t see because there’s so much in planning.” Local projects andsafety The 11th Street Bikeway is one of eight bike projects in the design phase as a part of the Houston Bike Plan as of February. While the city has taken the lead on that project, others in the Heights and Montrose areas are accelerating with the help of local tax increment reinvestment zones and redevelopment authorities—municipal organizations funded by property tax revenue that work with Houston to bring improvements to an area. Proposedplans on 11th Street involve shrinking the number of car lanes from four lanes to two with bike lanes added on each side. The project includes two 6-foot-wide bike lanes stretching from Shepherd Drive to Michaux Street and going down to White Oak Bayou. Design work could be completed this spring. Some portions of the streets affected by the road diet will go down to three lanes to implement a safe center turn lane, said Lauren Grove, a project man- ager with the Houston Public Works
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1,800 miles of new high-comfort bike lanes—or lanes that are safe for all ages—throughout the city, Fields said. Because of how large of an under- taking the plan is, Fields said city staff does not have an end date for when all projects would be completed. Instead, city planners revisit the plan every few years to determine which projects should be prioritized based on safety, demand, equity and connectivity. Joe Cutrufo, the executive director of cyclist advocacy group BikeHouston, said he thinks the city has a lot of work to do to make Houston a more bike- friendly city, but he said the amount of work already underway is more than meets the eye. “The bike network that exists today
through the heart of the Heights. Upgrading the bike infrastructure on those streetswill involveeither narrow- ing the width of car lanes or reducing the number of them, amethod referred to by transportation planners as a “road diet.” Doing so represents both a commitment to safety and to making roads usable for all types of travelers, said David Fields, chief transportation planner with the city of Houston. “We will not design something that is not safe for all ages and abilities for bike riders anymore,” he said. “Some of our early projects from a long time ago are not designs we would build today.” Fixinga reputation Houston’s bike plan calls for almost
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transportation planner with planning and engineering firm The Goodman Corporation, she has both witnessed and been involved in several bike proj- ects since Houston adopted the Hous- ton Bike Plan in 2017, which looks to connect neighborhoods with existing trails and other destination points. Five years after adopting the plan, several high-profile projects are com- ing to life, including in the Heights and Montrose areas. Work will begin this spring on a reconstruction of Shep- herd and Durham drives that will bring bike lanes and wider sidewalks from North Loop 610 to I-10, and designs are underway on the 11th Street Bikeway
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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