Ripping out the Abandoned Rail on Walker St.

[hindesky]

A contractor is ripping out the old rail road rails along Walker St. between Emancipation Ave. and Hutchins St.

[EaDolivin]

Nice. I wish they would do this on Commerce St from St. Charles to Velasco!

[wilcal]

9 hours ago, EaDolivin said:

Nice. I wish they would do this on Commerce St from St. Charles to Velasco!

City of Houston Bicycle Advisory Committee mentioned that this is the next city-focused bike project. Complete street rebuild and extending some form of the Harrisburg Trail and bike lanes to San Jacinto St in downtown 👀

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[hindesky]

[hindesky]

[samagon]

nice. I'll send this over to my friend. he ate his poop as we crossed the rails here on our bicycles.

[Texasota]

That is an unacceptable alternative to "ate shit"

[mkultra25]

5 hours ago, samagon said:

nice. I'll send this over to my friend. he ate his poop as we crossed the rails here on our bicycles.

By any chance, does your friend have four legs? 

[wilcal]

I'm glad that we can cuss on HAIF now. Was always frustrating to have the cuss words replaced with a random word instead.

[samagon]

21 hours ago, wilcal said:

I'm glad that we can cuss on HAIF now. Was always frustrating to have the cuss words replaced with a random word instead.

a welcome improvement!

now that I know this, yeah, he totally ate his shit.

[j_cuevas713]

On 6/2/2023 at 10:44 AM, hindesky said:

Is that a new wide sidewalk? 

[cspwal]

That’s the road bed - you can see the side walk height behind it. That’s just how far they had to dig down to remove the rails properly

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[hindesky]

 

[hindesky]

They are resurfacing the street all the way to St. Emanuel St.

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[phillip_white]

3 hours ago, HoustonMidtown said:

 

Seems like a bad spot for a light pole. Does this mean the street is being closed to cars?

[Justin Welling]

53 minutes ago, phillip_white said:

Seems like a bad spot for a light pole. Does this mean the street is being closed to cars?

I believe it will be a TOUCAN (or I could be totally wrong), but if I am right, It'll look like this:

 

 

So the intersection will only allow right turns for cars (not straight or left) but allow pedestrians and bikes to cross safely to the Columbia Tap Trail. 

Edited July 28 by Justin Welling

[JBTX]

56 minutes ago, phillip_white said:

Seems like a bad spot for a light pole. Does this mean the street is being closed to cars?

Almost certainly part of a bike lane. There was one on the road before.

[HoustonMidtown]

There is an identical one across Emancipation in the same location (you can see it in Hindesky's pic above)

[phillip_white]

3 hours ago, Justin Welling said:

I believe it will be a TOUCAN (or I could be totally wrong), but if I am right, It'll look like this:

So the intersection will only allow right turns for cars (not straight or left) but allow pedestrians and bikes to cross safely to the Columbia Tap Trail. 

3 hours ago, JBTX said:

Almost certainly part of a bike lane. There was one on the road before.

1 hour ago, HoustonMidtown said:

There is an identical one across Emancipation in the same location (you can see it in Hindesky's pic above)

The bike lane was originally two way on the north side of the street, but the base is in the center. And I doubt the pole would be between two directions of bike travel.

After some researching on intersection design, I'm GUESSING they will split up the bike lanes to match car lanes (safer) and the pole will actually be part of an island for the crosswalk.

Whoever is correct gets a lifetime supply of internet credibility! 

[TXK]

Page 22 of the Goal Park Master Plan shows a raised median on Walker and a few other raised curbs at that intersection for the bike/ped crossing across Emancipation into the park. Calls it a EHRA Safe Crossing and I don't know what that means, but the Toucan picture looks like the right idea.

[phillip_white]

12 hours ago, TXK said:

Page 22 of the Goal Park Master Plan shows a raised median on Walker and a few other raised curbs at that intersection for the bike/ped crossing across Emancipation into the park. Calls it a EHRA Safe Crossing and I don't know what that means, but the Toucan picture looks like the right idea.

[HoustonMidtown]

Push button pole it is !!

[HoustonMidtown]

Orange paint outlining the future curbs

 

[HoustonMidtown]

Rebar in place for curbs

 

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[HoustonMidtown]

Pouring concrete today

 

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[cspwal]

Why fill in the medians with concrete instead of greenscaping? I noticed the same thing on the medians on Hwy 3 in clear lake

[samagon]

probably maintenance costs. 

I agree though, if a point of the city is to make cooler, then you'd think things like this would be a perfect opportunity for green.

[HoustonMidtown]

Signals being installed

 

[004n063]

It appears that there will be curb-protected bike lanes on both sides of Walker from St. Emmanuel to Emancipation, where Walker briefly pedestrianizes as the trailhead of the Columbia Tap trail.

These connect to the EaDo/Stadium stop (Green and Purple lines) via the path that runs behind (west side of) the Dynamo stadium, and to the Polk St. protected bike lanes by way of the Bastrop promenade.

Through-traffic volumes in EaDo are generally pretty low - mostly just people trying to park. But explicitly bike-oriented infrastructure like this is still valuable for a couple of reasons:

1) Due (I'm assuming) to its warehousey history, EaDo's streets are wide. This can lead to higher speeds than are appropriate, so the protected infrastructure helps improve safety.

2) An obvious, visible network in the neighborhood helps bring more people - be they children, seniors, or just people who hadn't really thought much about biking before, but who are frequently frustrated by EaDo parking - into the fold. 

However, while this is encouraging, there are still important gaps. I would personally like to see facilities on McKinney, Samson and/or York, Texas and/or Rusk, and (in my dream$) a railyard flyover (and Purple Line stop!) from Ennis@Rusk to Velasco@Texas. These would help complete the connections to Downtown, Second Ward, and Eastwood.

[JClark54]

3 hours ago, 004n063 said:

Through-traffic volumes in EaDo are generally pretty low - mostly just people trying to park. But explicitly bike-oriented infrastructure like this is still valuable for a couple of reasons:

1) Due (I'm assuming) to its warehousey history, EaDo's streets are wide. This can lead to higher speeds than are appropriate, so the protected infrastructure helps improve safety.

2) An obvious, visible network in the neighborhood helps bring more people - be they children, seniors, or just people who hadn't really thought much about biking before, but who are frequently frustrated by EaDo parking - into the fold. 

Through traffic on Walker alone, or the streets it crosses? At least one photo covers Walker at Emancipation, which is the second most traveled east-west roadway in the east end. Emancipation at Harrisburg is one of only two separated crossings of the Galveston Sub (the other being Wayside, some three-plus miles away), so by nature traffic is quite high all the time. The high vehicle traffic volume is why the signalized, protected crossings are going in. 

Edited September 16 by JClark54

[JClark54]

3 hours ago, 004n063 said:

However, while this is encouraging, there are still important gaps. I would personally like to see facilities on McKinney, Samson and/or York, Texas and/or Rusk, and (in my dream$) a railyard flyover (and Purple Line stop!) from Ennis@Rusk to Velasco@Texas. These would help complete the connections to Downtown, Second Ward, and Eastwood.

The designs for the York underpasses are not yet finalized, but those used in the grant application show bike lanes and sidewalks. 

 

[004n063]

16 minutes ago, JClark54 said:

Through traffic on Walker alone, or the streets it crosses? At least one photo covers Walker at Emancipation, which is the second most traveled east-west roadway in the east end. Emancipation at Harrisburg is one of only two separated crossings of the Galveston Sub (the other being Wayside, some three-plus miles away), so by nature traffic is quite high all the time. The high vehicle traffic volume is why the signalized, protected crossings are going in. 

I totally forgot to include Emancipation in my "needs facilities" list. But I meant Walker and just most of the streets in EaDo. It's a tight grid without a ton of commuter traffic, so outside of Polk, Leeland, Emancipation, Samson, and York, traffic volumes and speeds are usually pretty low.

However, only the area enclosed by Emancipation, Polk, St. Emanuel, and Walker has the wider sidewalks, bulbouts, etc., that make it both safer and more inviting for pedestrians. 

The rest of the neighborhood still has the "bones" for great walkability (though a small market would be nice), but the actual pedestrian facilities are mediocre. 

I really like the approach they've taken to urbanizing the neighborhood - that is, by starting with the core and then rippling out. I just hope they keep that going, that's all.

[JClark54]

2 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I totally forgot to include Emancipation in my "needs facilities" list. But I meant Walker and just most of the streets in EaDo. It's a tight grid without a ton of commuter traffic, so outside of Polk, Leeland, Emancipation, Samson, and York, traffic volumes and speeds are usually pretty low.

However, only the area enclosed by Emancipation, Polk, St. Emanuel, and Walker has the wider sidewalks, bulbouts, etc., that make it both safer and more inviting for pedestrians. 

The rest of the neighborhood still has the "bones" for great walkability (though a small market would be nice), but the actual pedestrian facilities are mediocre. 

I really like the approach they've taken to urbanizing the neighborhood - that is, by starting with the core and then rippling out. I just hope they keep that going, that's all.

Oh, yes, Walker in EaDo sees little traffic. It breaks up twice -- once for the trail/light rail and again at the freight rail line -- thus making it not ideal for through transit. The EaDo TIRZ reps told me they were pushing something sturdier than armadillos due to the abundant freight truck traffic in the area. They break armadillos with ease. The EED did the same on Lawndale, and is planning to follow suit on the Polk revamp. 

Edited September 17 by JClark54

[cspwal]

Yeah the armadillos are definitely being decimated by trucks along Polk

[samagon]

worse than decimated.

I know when my office was in downtown, commuting from Lawndale and Telephone, I'd jog up to McKinney at York/Samson to make my commute into downtown. quick and easy access.

according to my mom, both of my grandparents chose to commute down McKinney as well, they had a house near Lawndale and Dismuke and both worked for SP. 

kind of interesting to me that I would have naturally gravitated towards the same route they chose for their commute. McKinney was so good because it is relatively unused, wide, and also has very few intersections with stoplights.

[HoustonMidtown]

Stripes going down.....they are also adding a stoplight at Emancipation

 

[HoustonMidtown]

 

[hindesky]

[004n063]

Imagine a future in which every street in EaDo looks like this or the redone Dallas/Lamar/Hutchins. 

Separated bike facilities on McKinney and Emancipation feel like priorities to me, though I could see St. Charles instead of Emancipation, since it's a better candidate for a road diet. And if the facilities were to cross the tracks (zigzag ped gate across the purple line, bridge over Harrisburg and the RR tracks, then it'd be a great connection to the future facilities on Commerce.

[JClark54]

I don't have concrete evidence to support future McKinney bike lanes, but I feel it's in the works. The York/Commerce/Navigation grade separation grant proposal included a graf and bullet point covering a future pedestrian bridge on McKinney over the below-grade York section. With the street being as wide as it is through EaDo, there must be a plan to add hike-and-bike or bike lane infrastructure on that road if a pedestrian bridge is in the works. 

[samagon]

On 10/10/2023 at 7:12 AM, 004n063 said:

Imagine a future in which every street in EaDo looks like this or the redone Dallas/Lamar/Hutchins. 

Separated bike facilities on McKinney and Emancipation feel like priorities to me, though I could see St. Charles instead of Emancipation, since it's a better candidate for a road diet. And if the facilities were to cross the tracks (zigzag ped gate across the purple line, bridge over Harrisburg and the RR tracks, then it'd be a great connection to the future facilities on Commerce.

I was imagining if something like this were tried in the Heights.

which naturally led to me imagining the number of entitled drivers that would either run into this, or complain of how unsafe it is, or impossible to navigate with their oversized emotional support trucks.

[HoustonMidtown]

They were removing all the barrels on blockades to open up Walker - the street lights were also turned on

[Andrew Ewert]

On 10/17/2023 at 9:06 AM, samagon said:

which naturally led to me imagining the number of entitled drivers that would either run into this, or complain of how unsafe it is, or impossible to navigate with their oversized emotional support trucks.

hate how accurate this is

[wilcal]

Dynamo still paying to close street and park over bike lanes

 

[JClark54]

Yeah, I saw that, too. The people reverse-parking the vehicles in the bike lanes were wearing stadium polos.