Third Ward Bikeway System Proposal And Implementation

[wilcal]

On 9/12/2019 at 7:48 AM, wilcal said:

 

Yes, barrels are temp until construction is complete. They're currently placed where parking will be available. The concrete dividers will be in the narrow painted strip. 

 

Bike lanes will be identical to the ones on Elysian that I posted.

 

Rode through the lane yesterday morning, and concrete separators/armadillos are creeping west on Gray. 

 

They were finishing up the paint work on the eastern edge, so that should be done. Paint work currently ends at the BMW dealer on the west side, so hopefully that will continue now. 

[BeerNut]

Rode the entire length from Live Oak to San Jacinto.  I like what they've done so far.  The road near San Jacinto isn't finished.  Looking forward to see what they do on Hutchins.  

Looks like they're trying a road diet at Hutchins.

 

[BeerNut]

I'm confused.  I though bike route on Gray was supposed to go to Brazos but currently as built it only goes to Caroline.  Even the map on bikehouston shows it only going to Caroline.

https://bikehouston.org/2018/08/02/the-build-50-challenge-interactive-map/

[wilcal]

3 hours ago, BeerNut said:

I'm confused.  I though bike route on Gray was supposed to go to Brazos but currently as built it only goes to Caroline.  Even the map on bikehouston shows it only going to Caroline.

https://bikehouston.org/2018/08/02/the-build-50-challenge-interactive-map/

 

 

I was told it would be going all of the way to Bagby. 

 

We'll have everything but the bike traffic lights soon enough. 

 

http://houstonbikeplan.org/implementation/infrastructure/gray-street/

[X.R.]

Wait, so Grey could potentially take you from 3rd Ward/Eastern Downtown and drop you at Montrose's doorstep? I did not realize. That would be kind of a game changer, because as much as I love hanging in Montrose its kind of a pain in the ass to get there on bike from Midtown/Downtown. I would appreciate some protected lane somewhere in Montrose, and maybe across Allen Parkway, one can hope.

 

Also, yeah, don't look at bikehouston, their website is pretty routinely behind, in terms of information, HoustonBikePlan.  

[wilcal]

Just now, X.R. said:

Wait, so Grey could potentially take you from 3rd Ward/Eastern Downtown and drop you at Montrose's doorstep? I did not realize. That would be kind of a game changer, because as much as I love hanging in Montrose its kind of a pain in the ass to get there on bike from Midtown/Downtown. I would appreciate some protected lane somewhere in Montrose, and maybe across Allen Parkway, one can hope.

 

Also, yeah, don't look at bikehouston, their website is pretty routinely behind, in terms of information, HoustonBikePlan.  

 

It's gonna be so good! We still need a north/south on the western edge of Midtown and and East/West in the middle of Midtown, but the combo of Austin/Gray will make it much easier to get around.

 

Blodgett is going to get protected from 59 all of the way to Cullen and Cleburne is gonna get protected from LaBranch to TSU. 

[X.R.]

3 minutes ago, wilcal said:

 

It's gonna be so good! We still need a north/south on the western edge of Midtown and and East/West in the middle of Midtown, but the combo of Austin/Gray will make it much easier to get around.

 

Blodgett is going to get protected from 59 all of the way to Cullen and Cleburne is gonna get protected from LaBranch to TSU. 

 

Wow at Blodgett and Cleburne. I made the comment that they are using certain areas as test sites for this type of infrastructure, and I still think thats true to an extent. So much of it is coming out of third ward (and for good reason, alot of people use bikes in third ward). Both streets you mentioned are very wide, and actually pretty empty usually. Currently, they make for pretty pleasant street biking already, so protected lanes would be really over the top, in a good way. 

 

I'm assuming they want people to take Cleburne/Blodgett to the Columbia Tap, and then to the eventually completed Polk to get to East Downtown if they want to go enjoy themselves. At that point, yes you need something on the West side of Midtown to easily transport someone from East DT/Thirdwar to Downtown to Midtown by the bars. If thats the case, you basically have all areas covered except for Montrose, which is fairly, very glaring. I actually had some people give us shit for an early morning ride ( 4 of us staying on the bumpy, crappy portion of Westheimer closest to the curb) around 10 am in Montrose last weekend. A car with two couples honked at us, pulled into the side lane, all of which was fine with us until they then rolled down their window to yell at us at the light to stay on the sidewalk. 

[wilcal]

1 hour ago, X.R. said:

 

Wow at Blodgett and Cleburne. I made the comment that they are using certain areas as test sites for this type of infrastructure, and I still think thats true to an extent. So much of it is coming out of third ward (and for good reason, alot of people use bikes in third ward). Both streets you mentioned are very wide, and actually pretty empty usually. Currently, they make for pretty pleasant street biking already, so protected lanes would be really over the top, in a good way. 

 

I'm assuming they want people to take Cleburne/Blodgett to the Columbia Tap, and then to the eventually completed Polk to get to East Downtown if they want to go enjoy themselves. At that point, yes you need something on the West side of Midtown to easily transport someone from East DT/Thirdwar to Downtown to Midtown by the bars. If thats the case, you basically have all areas covered except for Montrose, which is fairly, very glaring. I actually had some people give us shit for an early morning ride ( 4 of us staying on the bumpy, crappy portion of Westheimer closest to the curb) around 10 am in Montrose last weekend. A car with two couples honked at us, pulled into the side lane, all of which was fine with us until they then rolled down their window to yell at us at the light to stay on the sidewalk. 

 

Unfortunately, Polk is going to have a gap between Columbia Tap an downtown, right near Emancipation due to some longish term construction. 

And yeah, have no idea what the hell they are gonna due about Montrose. The initial projected plan for West Alabama had it being converted back to two lines and adding a bi-directional bikeway a la Gray on it. 

 

You're a brave person for biking on Westheimer. Never worth it. Sidestreets are too convenient in that area, but none are great replacements. Hawthorne a pretty good option in particular. 

[cspwal]

So once these bike lanes are done, who is in charge of maintaining them?  Is it a CoH task, or someone else?  I ask because I use some of the older bike lanes and paths, and they need some work.  Like the Holly Hall bike path from 288 to NRG has a couple of nasty bumps in it, only has pedestrian signals that are shorter than the cars' green lights, and ends up just dumping you at the train station with no bike racks.

 

Also, Yellowstone has a "bike lane" but it is so faded, and the shoulder is so deteriorated, that there's basically no bike lane for a good stretch of it

[wilcal]

1 hour ago, cspwal said:

So once these bike lanes are done, who is in charge of maintaining them?  Is it a CoH task, or someone else?  I ask because I use some of the older bike lanes and paths, and they need some work.  Like the Holly Hall bike path from 288 to NRG has a couple of nasty bumps in it, only has pedestrian signals that are shorter than the cars' green lights, and ends up just dumping you at the train station with no bike racks.

 

Also, Yellowstone has a "bike lane" but it is so faded, and the shoulder is so deteriorated, that there's basically no bike lane for a good stretch of it

 

CoH. Submit a 311 request if there are maintenance issues. 

 

They didn't have any formal plan for regular maintenance before, but I would assume that they are moving that direction now. 

[j_cuevas713]

On 9/22/2019 at 8:50 PM, BeerNut said:

Rode the entire length from Live Oak to San Jacinto.  I like what they've done so far.  The road near San Jacinto isn't finished.  Looking forward to see what they do on Hutchins.  

Looks like they're trying a road diet at Hutchins.

 

This looks great. That first pic is my only concern. I hope it doesn't just fill with mud over time. 

[BeerNut]

And people aren't happy....

 

[august948]

2 hours ago, BeerNut said:

And people aren't happy....

 

 

Did someone actually think these improvements were being done for the poorer residents of the Third Ward?

[samagon]

19 hours ago, BeerNut said:

And people aren't happy....

 

 

I don't disagree with the lack of connection, that is beyond silly.

 

as far as who is paying, everyone in the city is sharing that burden, so the service is more than just a 3rd ward service.

 

anyway, I am overall happy, but very disappointed with the choice of road that doesn't connect to the columbia tap trail.

 

I have similar feedback regarding the choice to put the bike path on 3 different streets from downtown to the museums. caroline would have been a great choice (it carries a great size) rather than austin, and others.

[cspwal]

The plan is for it to have Sharrows on Gray to connect to the Columbia Tap trail; a more valid question is why not put these lanes on McGowen, which would have the room to have a bike way to Columbia tap trail, and already effectively acts as a 2 lane road?  It could be part of the BOOST-ing of the 54 route, which runs down McGowen, adding floating bus stops and everything.

[Texasota]

Why not both (.gif)? Gray and McGowen are far enough part for both to be useful.

[cspwal]

Probably because the bikeways project didn't want to interfere with plans from Metro.  Or they were "asked" to not affect high frequency buses

[samagon]

Metro to the bikeway project people (probably):

 

[wilcal]

37 minutes ago, Texasota said:

Why not both (.gif)? Gray and McGowen are far enough part for both to be useful.

 

 

21 minutes ago, cspwal said:

Probably because the bikeways project didn't want to interfere with plans from Metro.  Or they were "asked" to not affect high frequency buses

 

I think issues with McGowen is the width of it in Midtown.

 

2 hours ago, samagon said:

 

I don't disagree with the lack of connection, that is beyond silly.

 

as far as who is paying, everyone in the city is sharing that burden, so the service is more than just a 3rd ward service.

 

anyway, I am overall happy, but very disappointed with the choice of road that doesn't connect to the columbia tap trail.

 

I have similar feedback regarding the choice to put the bike path on 3 different streets from downtown to the museums. caroline would have been a great choice (it carries a great size) rather than austin, and others.

 

I mean, we're talking about 2 blocks of sharrows to Columbia Tap. It's not exactly the sahara desert. There aren't any streets in the north side of the third that are wide enough all of the way to CT, with McGowen being too narrow in Midtown. 

 

In regards to what street to run downtown to Museum district, from my very limited understanding of what's happening behind the doors, powerful downtown groups, lets say some people near the intersection of Congress and Caroline, wanted it to be built on Austin. 

 

As far as the doglegs, that came from requests from Museum district stakeholders. Crawford is a great spot to enter the park area and they'll supposedly be adding a four-way stop there which is greatly needed. 

[cspwal]

2 minutes ago, wilcal said:

There aren't any streets in the north side of the third that are wide enough all of the way to CT, with McGowen being too narrow in Midtown. 

 

And the bikeway planning people probably weren't allowed to propose street widening - the ROW is wide enough there but it would require a complete redo of the street

 

 

[samagon]

17 minutes ago, wilcal said:

I mean, we're talking about 2 blocks of sharrows to Columbia Tap. It's not exactly the sahara desert. There aren't any streets in the north side of the third that are wide enough all of the way to CT, with McGowen being too narrow in Midtown. 

 

absolutely, it is far from the end of the world! compromises have to be made.

 

not to mention, there is Hutchins, Blodgett and Cleburne streets in this plan? this area is going to be one of the better bike friendly areas in the city.

 

Quote

 

In regards to what street to run downtown to Museum district, from my very limited understanding of what's happening behind the doors, powerful downtown groups, lets say some people near the intersection of Congress and Caroline, wanted it to be built on Austin. 

 

As far as the doglegs, that came from requests from Museum district stakeholders. Crawford is a great spot to enter the park area and they'll supposedly be adding a four-way stop there which is greatly needed. 

 

as someone who is a cyclist and bikes from Hermann park to downtown often, I am just saying, I wish it were on Caroline from park to HCC, then dogleg to Austin. 

 

I get it, powerful people make stupid decisions, but that doesn't mean I can't lament their decision.

 

I'll also likely continue to use Caroline, rather than the Crawford/LaBranch/Austin corridor.

 

anyway, this is for the 3rd ward lanes, I don't want to muddy the waters, it was just an example that decisions are made using information we don't all have access to.

[wilcal]

 

19 minutes ago, cspwal said:

 

And the bikeway planning people probably weren't allowed to propose street widening - the ROW is wide enough there but it would require a complete redo of the street

 

 

 

There's just no funding. These projects were from the $10 million in funding from Rodney Ellis and were supposed to be spent in a year and to maximize the amount of lanes built. Basically, paint and armadillos only. 

[HoustonMidtown]

The entire road is the bike lane over to the Columbia Tap -- these markings go all the way to the trail

 

Untitled by Houston Midtown, on Flickr

[Visitor]

On 9/26/2019 at 4:28 PM, HoustonMidtown said:

The entire road is the bike lane over to the Columbia Tap -- these markings go all the way to the trail

 

Untitled by Houston Midtown, on Flickr

So they didn't really create bike lanes, just shared road space which is a legal obligation anyway.  Now it is just clearly marked for drivers to ignore 😏

[wilcal]

13 hours ago, Visitor said:

So they didn't really create bike lanes, just shared road space which is a legal obligation anyway.  Now it is just clearly marked for drivers to ignore 😏

 

It's just a few blocks where the street narrows. It's not great, but they don't have a lot of choice when the streets are so narrows for the 3 blocks to the Columbia Tap. 

[Visitor]

1 hour ago, wilcal said:

 

It's just a few blocks where the street narrows. It's not great, but they don't have a lot of choice when the streets are so narrows for the 3 blocks to the Columbia Tap. 

I was just being a little snarky

 

I have my own personal feelings on how things get done, or don't, here in Houston and this was just too good of an opportunity to pass up for a comment.  

[BeerNut]

On 2/21/2019 at 11:14 AM, BeerNut said:

 

 

I noticed this past weekend this has been removed.

[wilcal]

13 hours ago, BeerNut said:

 

I noticed this past weekend this has been removed.

 

The curb extensions were brought up in the neighborhood meeting last fall and locals weren't happy about it. Lots of people said that they knew people who kept breaking their cars driving into them. 

 

I think that they were removed more because of reconfiguration for the bike lane coming through there.  

[Luminare]

2 minutes ago, wilcal said:

 

The curb extensions were brought up in the neighborhood meeting last fall and locals weren't happy about it. Lots of people said that they knew people who kept breaking their cars driving into them. 

 

I think that they were removed more because of reconfiguration for the bike lane coming through there.  

 

...that and its a lazy fix. The concept is correct, but implementation was very subpar.

[Texasota]

I don't understand why they were painted white. That made them a lot harder to see, and visibility *should* have been part of the point.