Brays Bayou 7.5 mile extension through Chinatown and Alief

[sapo2367]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Last-long-stretch-of-Brays-Bayou-trail-breaks-17231401.php?

Breaking ground on a new segment of the brays bayou trail heading west. Purple is the section under construction -- target completion of EOY 2023 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5532d390fb234779b0b9286744d85a2f&extent=-10738567.3143,3422710.9725,-10493663.0756,3533850.4116,102100

[j_cuevas713]

Wow! Houston is becoming a biking powerhouse. How do we hold up against other Texas cities? 

[august948]

On 6/10/2022 at 9:11 AM, sapo2367 said:

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Last-long-stretch-of-Brays-Bayou-trail-breaks-17231401.php?

Breaking ground on a new segment of the brays bayou trail heading west. Purple is the section under construction -- target completion of EOY 2023 

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5532d390fb234779b0b9286744d85a2f&extent=-10738567.3143,3422710.9725,-10493663.0756,3533850.4116,102100

There's already been grading work done for this trail at the Eldridge and Dairy Ashford bridges over Brays.  Just getting the connection done between Fiorenza Park and Storey Park is going to be huge.  Once complete, though, you'll be able to bike from past hwy 6 on the west all the way to Mason Park where it joins Buffalo Bayou.  With a little street riding north from Fiorenza you can hit the Terry Hershey trail and go west through Katy almost to Fulshear.  That hits chinatown, TMC, the Museum District, UH and much else along the way.  Connecting inside the loops to other trails and you could easily do a multi-day tour of the broader Houston area by bike, staying at hotels along the way.

[Amlaham]

4 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Wow! Houston is becoming a biking powerhouse. How do we hold up against other Texas cities? 

There was a recent study that put us at number 2 in Texas. Top biking city in Texas was Austin (16th nationally), then Houston (29th nationally), then San Antonio (30th nationally), then Dallas (50th nationally). I know 29th sounds bad, but we've come SUCH a long way, especially for a city known for its car culture! Also, this doesn't even consider all the new trials we haven't built yet/ in the works. Give it 5-10 more years, I could really see up in the top 15-20.

https://anytimeestimate.com/research/most-bike-friendly-cities-us-2022/

 

Also, a 2014 study didn't even put us in the top 50 cities!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/03/50-best-us-biking-cities/15017309/

[Houston19514]

10 minutes ago, Amlaham said:

There was a recent study that put us at number 2 in Texas. Top biking city in Texas was Austin (16th nationally), then Houston (29th nationally), then San Antonio (30th nationally), then Dallas (50th nationally). I know 29th sounds bad, but we've come SUCH a long way, especially for a city known for its car culture! Also, this doesn't even consider all the new trials we haven't built yet/ in the works. Give it 5-10 more years, I could really see up in the top 15-20.

https://anytimeestimate.com/research/most-bike-friendly-cities-us-2022/

 

Also, a 2014 study didn't even put us in the top 50 cities!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/03/50-best-us-biking-cities/15017309/

Interesting.  For context, the 2022 anytimeestimate.com study referenced by Amalgam was a study of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. 

[august948]

6 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Interesting.  For context, the 2022 anytimeestimate.com study referenced by Amalgam was a study of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. 

...and includes google searches as a factor...🤪

[j_cuevas713]

6 hours ago, Amlaham said:

There was a recent study that put us at number 2 in Texas. Top biking city in Texas was Austin (16th nationally), then Houston (29th nationally), then San Antonio (30th nationally), then Dallas (50th nationally). I know 29th sounds bad, but we've come SUCH a long way, especially for a city known for its car culture! Also, this doesn't even consider all the new trials we haven't built yet/ in the works. Give it 5-10 more years, I could really see up in the top 15-20.

https://anytimeestimate.com/research/most-bike-friendly-cities-us-2022/

 

Also, a 2014 study didn't even put us in the top 50 cities!

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/09/03/50-best-us-biking-cities/15017309/

That's some serious progress! The Hangover Riders have been coming down here a lot from Dallas to ride with the bike groups here. Their bike culture is very small compared to Houston. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by j_cuevas713

[samagon]

17 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Interesting.  For context, the 2022 anytimeestimate.com study referenced by Amalgam was a study of the 50 largest cities in the U.S. 

thanks for the context, 29 sounds great, but 29 out of 50 sounds less great.

and to get even less 'back patty' about it....   if you look at the stat 'bike trails per 100k' we have the lowest score at .3, and the average is 1.6.

I know the projects are being built out, and it can't happen over night, but we have a long way to go. granted, since Houston is probably one of the most car centric cities anywhere, this is still good progress.

[august948]

2 hours ago, samagon said:

thanks for the context, 29 sounds great, but 29 out of 50 sounds less great.

and to get even less 'back patty' about it....   if you look at the stat 'bike trails per 100k' we have the lowest score at .3, and the average is 1.6.

I know the projects are being built out, and it can't happen over night, but we have a long way to go. granted, since Houston is probably one of the most car centric cities anywhere, this is still good progress.

Other than the odd "google searches" weighting, bike trails per 100k is a bit flawed for inclusion in the calculation.  Bike trails can vary widely by length, some being a block or less depending on how you want to count it.  They should have used bike trail miles instead.

[Houston19514]

1 hour ago, august948 said:

Other than the odd "google searches" weighting, bike trails per 100k is a bit flawed for inclusion in the calculation.  Bike trails can vary widely by length, some being a block or less depending on how you want to count it.  They should have used bike trail miles instead.

Exactly.  I had typed out a response saying pretty much exactly that;  I'm not sure what became of it.  ;-)

In addition to it being a lame criteria, I'm pretty sure they got it wrong.  If you do the math, it tells you that we have about 6.9 bike trails.  I have no idea how they came up with that number...

Also, just counting number of bike shops per capita seems fairly lame and I'm curious about how they came up with their "bikeability" score. They don't give any clue about their methodology for that one (and it's a pretty large part of the overall score).  

Edited June 16, 2022 by Houston19514

[august948]

6 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Exactly.  I had typed out a response saying pretty much exactly that;  I'm not sure what became of it.  ;-)

In addition to it being a lame criteria, I'm pretty sure they got it wrong.  If you do the math, it tells you that we have about 6.9 bike trails.  I have no idea how they came up with that number...

Also, just counting number of bike shops per capita seems fairly lame and I'm curious about how they came up with their "bikeability" score. They don't give any clue about their methodology for that one (and it's a pretty large part of the overall score).  

I thought about bringing up the "bikeability" score as well, but the other, even lamer criteria seemed more enough to view this list askance.  Not saying Portland isn't still #1 or that we don't have room to improve, but some of the analysis put out is demonstrably laughable.

[Boojel]

On 6/15/2022 at 1:09 PM, august948 said:

There's already been grading work done for this trail at the Eldridge and Dairy Ashford bridges over Brays.  Just getting the connection done between Fiorenza Park and Storey Park is going to be huge.  Once complete, though, you'll be able to bike from past hwy 6 on the west all the way to Mason Park where it joins Buffalo Bayou.  With a little street riding north from Fiorenza you can hit the Terry Hershey trail and go west through Katy almost to Fulshear.  That hits chinatown, TMC, the Museum District, UH and much else along the way.  Connecting inside the loops to other trails and you could easily do a multi-day tour of the broader Houston area by bike, staying at hotels along the way.

There are also 2 new trails on the proposal stage that will connect the west end of Brays Bayou trail to George Bush Park trails. Both will try to get some extra money allocated for providing access to federal lands.

https://www.change.org/p/fm-1093-trail-from-westheimer-to-barker-cypress

https://www.change.org/p/support-building-the-westheimer-access-trail

[hindesky]

"The Southwest Houston TIRZ’s proposed multiyear improvement plan budget totals $49.5 million and entails street reconstruction, drainage and detention improvements, and the redevelopment of Sharpstown Mall, according to the agenda item.

If the ordinance passes, the TIRZ’s FY 2023-24 budget will be $28.8 million with just under $26 million of that designated for the design and reconstruction of the Club Creek Detention Basin and Park, improvements to Corporate Drive from Beechnut Street to Bellaire Boulevard, and the design and reconstruction of a 3.12-mile concrete hike and bike trail between the Westpark Tollway and the Southwest Freeway, connecting at the Brays Bayou Greenway Trail."

https://communityimpact.com/houston/heights-river-oaks-montrose/government/2023/01/30/houston-city-council-to-vote-on-budgets-for-main-streetmarket-square-upper-kirby-southwest-houston-tirzs/

[004n063]

Coming from the east, this was as far as I could get today (a few hundred yards south of 59). Looks like they may be building a bridge here, so maybe a 59 underpass on the south/west bank? (Photo taken from the north/east bank)

 

This (Braeburn Glen Blvd) is where the new segment begins:

Here's the current endpoint (top photos) on the map:

Feels like not a whole lot of progress, so I'm wondering if they're taking a kind of "all over" approach, like they are with Sims Bayou. Anybody have updates on Brays Bayou segments north of 59?

[ultimate_ed]

We saw that as well (I had some pictures myself, but yours cover everything we saw).  I was wondering about those bridge pieces as well.  They don't really make a lot of sense for crossing 59 itself.  It looks more like something to bridge across the bayou.  On the map, I see that is a utility corridor that runs south from that junction of 59 and the bayou trail.  Maybe a trail to run south through that utility corridor?

I drive south on the Beltway in the afternoons coming home from work and I've seen no sign of trail development yet for that section of Brays Bayou yet.

[august948]

They're continuing to make progress on the segments between Eldridge and the beltway (Fiorenza->Driscoll->Storey parks).  Haven't investigated east of the beltway yet.  Also haven't heard the opening date.

[sapo2367]

On 7/29/2023 at 10:37 AM, 004n063 said:

Coming from the east, this was as far as I could get today (a few hundred yards south of 59). Looks like they may be building a bridge here, so maybe a 59 underpass on the south/west bank? (Photo taken from the north/east bank)

 

This (Braeburn Glen Blvd) is where the new segment begins:

Here's the current endpoint (top photos) on the map:

Feels like not a whole lot of progress, so I'm wondering if they're taking a kind of "all over" approach, like they are with Sims Bayou. Anybody have updates on Brays Bayou segments north of 59?

 

Checking the Houston bike plan map, it does look like they will go under 59 on the south bank 

https://mycity.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=4b5467e117d0459b84e2f2e94ba4fdc2&extent=-10619481.073%2C3470289.6806%2C-10609291.0617%2C3475071.7722%2C102100

 

[skwatra]

Somewhat off topic, but I noticed a proposed north-south path along the Union Pacific tracks from Bellaire up to Memorial Park. Anyone have info on how serious that proposal is? You could effectively get safely (dedicated) and easily from Hermann Park to Memorial Park with that connection (without having to go all the way east of downtown).

[springcityparts]

The only active project there is a connection between San Felipe and Memorial Drive. It’s taking forever to coordinate with centerpoint and Union Pacific and thus the cost has ballooned but the city is still going at it  https://www.h-gac.com/uploads/transportation-improvement-program-call-for-projects/30043512262014100539AM.pdf

[august948]

Drove over the new path today on Synott and it looks complete in both directions as far as you can see.  I'm hoping they will at least get the Fiorenza to Storey park segment complete asap, even if there's more to do connecting it east to the existing trail at 59.