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Downtown Bike Lane


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I was driving down the street this weekend and thought I saw some remarkably horse-like ... leavings.

 

handfuls of people after only being open for a month or so is encouraging. especially considering the amount of construction going on that blocks that lane.

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I was driving down the street this weekend and thought I saw some remarkably horse-like ... leavings.

 

handfuls of people after only being open for a month or so is encouraging. especially considering the amount of construction going on that blocks that lane.

 

I think once that construction clears up we might see more people using it.

 

As for that Horse. I think it should be a responsibility for anyone that sees a misuse of these lanes that a picture is taken and made sure it is viewed by the right people.

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I think once that construction clears up we might see more people using it.

 

As for that Horse. I think it should be a responsibility for anyone that sees a misuse of these lanes that a picture is taken and made sure it is viewed by the right people.

 

Where should the horses be?  I would think they are closer in speed and scale to the bicyclists than the cars.

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Unfortunately no solid info besides multiple routes are in the works. I talked with a Houston First employee/representative (they aren't actually the ones behind the bike lanes, so he seemed a little unsure of exactly what streets, but mentioned the city was already planning a few more around downtown) after a downtown redevelopment meeting.

He did mention something about Polk St and the Columbia Tap Rail.

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Unfortunately no solid info besides multiple routes are in the works. I talked with a Houston First employee/representative (they aren't actually the ones behind the bike lanes, so he seemed a little unsure of exactly what streets, but mentioned the city was already planning a few more around downtown) after a downtown redevelopment meeting.

He did mention something about Polk St and the Columbia Tap Rail.

 

This is needed, prior to the light rail going in, the easiest way to get from the columbia tap trail to disco green was down to capitol, but now with rail tracks to get your tires stuck in, it's useless.

 

I'd much prefer that they put a connection from disco to columbia tap on rusk than polk, but however they do it, it will be better than current.

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Unfortunately no solid info besides multiple routes are in the works. I talked with a Houston First employee/representative (they aren't actually the ones behind the bike lanes, so he seemed a little unsure of exactly what streets, but mentioned the city was already planning a few more around downtown) after a downtown redevelopment meeting.

He did mention something about Polk St and the Columbia Tap Rail.

PWE is currently investigating the idea I suggested to them to shut down Main Street to cars and make it for bikes/pedestrians.

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It was only mentioned for the downtown section. Midtown has their own plan for Caroline (though I think they were hoping to work together to form one cohesive bike path). I was hoping they would put any N/S bike path down La Branch to connect the Heights bike trail all the way down to Hermann Park without any interruptions, but oh well.

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It was only mentioned for the downtown section. Midtown has their own plan for Caroline (though I think they were hoping to work together to form one cohesive bike path). I was hoping they would put any N/S bike path down La Branch to connect the Heights bike trail all the way down to Hermann Park without any interruptions, but oh well.

Ok, but a bike lane on Caroline just for downtown is kinda like a path to nowhere. As you said, I too am hopeful that they city is creating lanes based on a cohesive masterplan of some kind. I would hope that a plan exists to use any downtown trails to link together the trails on Bufalo bayou, heights, east tap, etc. adding a lane from downtown to the medical center would be awesome.

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it wasn't that only the downtown section was getting a bike path. it was that this info was coming from a leader of one of the downtown organizations (i forget which one, he replaced Guy Hagstette[?]), so he was only talking about his section, though he specifically mentioned Midtown was coming up with a Caroline street plan for their section (think I've seen that floating around for a while). it would be ridiculous if they didn't coordinate a cohesive bike path if one side ends up having it.

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it would be cool if caroline was a real bike path connecting buffalo bayou to hermann park, it would be more awesome of they would make a protected bicycle connection from hermann park to brays bayou. I only did it a few times, taking brays bayou trail from UH to hermann, but as I recall there isn't a safe place to cross mac gregor. as I also seem to recall, traffic on mac gregor doesn't care too much about speed limits, so it feels very unsafe to ped or bike on/near that street. after those few exploratory type rides to get to hermann, it ended up feeling safer just taking leeland to caroline.

 

distance wise, it's an inconsequential difference, but that last crossing just made it feel not worth it.

 

the bike path on brays is beautiful though, going past all those million dollar homes.

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yeah, the only problem with Caroline is that HCC stands right smack in the middle of its ROW for a few blocks. thats why i suggested La Branch. no street interruptions between Buffalo Bayou/Heights Hike & Bike Trail and Hermann Park. plus it crosses right by Discovery Green, at the end of the Lamar bike path, and passes right by Toyota Center, and very close to MMP. oh well, for some reason they thought Caroline would be a better bike path.

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it would be cool if caroline was a real bike path connecting buffalo bayou to hermann park, it would be more awesome of they would make a protected bicycle connection from hermann park to brays bayou. I only did it a few times, taking brays bayou trail from UH to hermann, but as I recall there isn't a safe place to cross mac gregor. as I also seem to recall, traffic on mac gregor doesn't care too much about speed limits, so it feels very unsafe to ped or bike on/near that street. after those few exploratory type rides to get to hermann, it ended up feeling safer just taking leeland to caroline.

 

distance wise, it's an inconsequential difference, but that last crossing just made it feel not worth it.

 

the bike path on brays is beautiful though, going past all those million dollar homes.

 

I think there is a tunnel under MacGregor Way.

 

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it would be cool if caroline was a real bike path connecting buffalo bayou to hermann park, it would be more awesome of they would make a protected bicycle connection from hermann park to brays bayou. I only did it a few times, taking brays bayou trail from UH to hermann, but as I recall there isn't a safe place to cross mac gregor. as I also seem to recall, traffic on mac gregor doesn't care too much about speed limits, so it feels very unsafe to ped or bike on/near that street. after those few exploratory type rides to get to hermann, it ended up feeling safer just taking leeland to caroline.

 

distance wise, it's an inconsequential difference, but that last crossing just made it feel not worth it.

 

the bike path on brays is beautiful though, going past all those million dollar homes.

 

there is an underpass  under  macgreggor between Brays Bayou and the Park. The bad thing is you have to circumnavigate the golf course to get to the useable park.

 

IMG_0303.jpg

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IMG_0308.jpg

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sweet!

 

that thing must be new* cause I don't remember it being there.

 

*as in built in the last 4 years.

 

edit: and after a little digging, it was opened in Nov. 2012. Which is why I didn't know about it, I quit trying to go that way about 2 years prior and haven't tried since.

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I seem to recall someone questioning the choice of colors for the bike lane. The question was bothering me, why is it they chose green? Other cities use the green paint to indicate parking, or whatever, so why did Houston go green with the bike lane?

 

I found an answer to this question. It appears to be a design standard from the FHWA.

 

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page14.cfm

 

They reference using green paint at intersections and as a marking of the lanes.

 

And here:

 

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page09.cfm

 

They reference painting the whole path green, citing examples.

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I seem to recall someone questioning the choice of colors for the bike lane. The question was bothering me, why is it they chose green? Other cities use the green paint to indicate parking, or whatever, so why did Houston go green with the bike lane?

I found an answer to this question. It appears to be a design standard from the FHWA.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page14.cfm

They reference using green paint at intersections and as a marking of the lanes.

And here:

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/bicycle_pedestrian/publications/separated_bikelane_pdg/page09.cfm

They reference painting the whole path green, citing examples.

I've never seen green used for parking, ever.

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