hindesky

Poof and they are gone.

Workers are cutting up the old giant Sears sign. I always thought they might save it but I guess not. Trenching on the lot across from the main building. Prepping for the future crosswalks.

Pouring the concrete for the top floor.

Looks like they are removing the street bricks at the curb, this may be to pour the new curbs without damaging them. Glass has been going in and spotted some tiles on some of the east side walls.

Parking lot is full of contractors trucks for what I assume is removing equipment from the interiors. Mattress Firm's windows are boarded up. The only places still open are Signature Med and Safeway Medical Supply.

I was forced to listen to this a..hole while riding with someone in their car yesterday. I wanted to say something but didn't want to offend the driver and just kept my mouth shut while raging to myself. The man is insufferable to listen to.

2020 was the year Houstonians stayed out of their cars and grabbed a bike. A record 34 of them died. Dug Begley, Staff writer Jan. 12, 2021Updated: Jan. 17, 2021 4:52 p.m. The coronavirus pandemic sparked a surge in bike sales and bike riding across the Houston region at a time when pedaling — and driving — area streets is deadlier than ever. A sharp drop in driving could not stop road fatalities from reaching a record high based on data compiled by the Texas Department of Transportation. That lack of safety was especially true in 2020 for bicyclists, who represent a fraction of road users but 5 percent of those killed. Last year 31 men and three women died on area roads. The annual total of 34 exceeds that of 2019, which also was a record at 27 for the region in a single year. Based on a preliminary analysis — reports can take weeks to enter the state’s crash database maintained by TxDOT — crashes involving bicycles are down 15 percent while deaths are up 26 percent from 2019. Safety researchers and cycling advocates, however, were reluctant to draw too many conclusions from the early numbers or begin laying blame for the jump on any single cause. In fact, where crashes occurred and who died does not align with the noticeable increase in recreational cycling but, rather, the same factors present before the pandemic: a lack of safe space for bicycles, inadequate or absent lighting, and street design choices that enable drivers to speed. “These aren’t accidents,” said Joe Cutrufo, executive director of BikeHouston, a local advocacy group. “Our streets were intentionally designed to accommodate one mode and only one mode.” It is something Nicole Rees, 34, said she never noticed behind the wheel but is unmistakable on a bike. Rees dug her bike out of her Oak Forest garage last summer so she and her husband could ride around their neighborhood. “My god, the people not paying attention,” she said as she rested along White Oak Trail north of 43rd Street. “You see people doing everything but looking at the road. The combination of inattention and speed can be compounded by streets where drivers are not expecting to see cyclists, where there are few amenities for riding a bike safely and where in some cases drivers cannot see cyclists at all because of lighting. Yet despite bicycle use for recreation and commuting being higher in neighborhoods within and around Loop 610, that is not where fatalities are happening. Deaths of bicyclists within Loop 610 dropped from seven in 2019 to one last year. Instead, it is suburban areas where crashes are happening in larger numbers, such as in Houston along U.S. 90 and major streets nearby within the Sam Houston Tollway and along FM 1960 near Bush Intercontinental Airport, which were not built with bicycles in mind. The number of fatalities always has fallen off the farther from central Houston one gets, but last year some suburban counties logged increases, notably in Brazoria County where five bicyclists lost their lives. The county’s previous high was three in 2011. Busy intersections also are a problem spot, something that has carried into 2021. The city’s first bicycle fatality of the year occurred Jan. 5 when a man cycling on the sidewalk was struck as he tried to cross Westheimer at Fondren. An SUV driver turning onto Westheimer mowed the rider down and kept going. The hit-and-run remains under investigation, officials said. “If we wanted to design an intersection intended to repel bicyclists and maximize fatal crashes, it would look something like Westheimer and Fondren, where there are 16 lanes for cars and trucks and zero for people on bikes,” Cutrufo said. Last year’s rise in bicyclist deaths mirrors the increase in overall road deaths despite the pandemic-induced economic slowdown that has resulted in fewer vehicles on freeways and streets. In the 11-county Houston area, 718 roadway deaths were reported by police in 2020, with almost 60 percent being drivers or passengers in cars and trucks. Despite efforts at the state, regional and local levels to curtail crashes and a pandemic that at times cut vehicle use in half, wrecks continued to claim more lives, including a record 489 in Harris County, 267 of which occurred in Houston. Final totals could increase slightly as crashes late in the year are filed. The conclusion of researchers — who caution that 2020 information is preliminary — is that fewer miles of automotive travel is leading to fewer wrecks, but the resulting collisions and catastrophes occurring are more severe. As a result, few can say roads are any safer. “It is not better and it is not better despite our diminished travel,” said Robert Wunderlich, director of the Center for Transportation Safety at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. While advocates for safer streets have scored promises of more action from local officials — Mayor Sylvester Turner last month cheered the city’s recently completed Vision Zero action plan for eliminating roadway deaths — many of the improvements are months and years away. Even then, some of those efforts will never make every mile of Houston-area streets safe. Streets are not the only issue. Lighting often is a consideration in the deadly bike crashes around Houston. Of the 34 fatal incidents last year, 22 happened when it was dark, including 15 where there was no lighting whatsoever and seven in which some lighting was present. Of the 200 fatalities involving cyclists since 2011, 124 happened at night, making darkness more common where deaths occur than drugs or alcohol. In the decade, 74 of the 200 deaths were confirmed to have either the cyclist or the driver test positive for drugs and alcohol — though the presence of drugs does not mean for certain the person was impaired at the time. Change, Wunderlich said, must come from improvements in the infrastructure but also improvements in how cyclists and drivers alike use the space they are offered. “People are out there doing this thing, and as a motorist it is incumbent on you to know that situations are changing,” he said. “But I’ve got to say that the cyclists, if they do not start wearing reflective stuff or carrying lights, they are going to keep dying.” Texas law requires cyclists riding at night to have a front light and either a light or a reflector on the rear of the bike. Riders are urged but not required to wear reflective clothing and do what’s practical to be seen. “Of course cyclists have a duty to themselves and their family to be seen and follow the laws,” Cutrufo said, noting the difference in a car and a bicycle. “The greater burden of responsibility is on the drivers — that’s where the risk of harm is.” dug.begley@chron.com twitter.com/dugbegley I Knew one of the cyclists killed during 2020, Mark Brooker a mechanical engineer was a snow skiing buddy I met while we were both members of the Space City Cycling Club in the Clear Lake area. He was always talking about his ski trips and asked him to invite me sometime. From then he invited me on his annual ski trips for the next 11 yrs. He was an avid cyclist and did multiple Iron Man events all around the world. He loved racing and would bike to work to stay in racing shape. I too raced and also rode to work to stay in shape and would often see him heading eastbound to the chemical plant he worked at while I was commuting to work heading westbound to my job. He was killed in Independence Heights while on a training ride back in June of 2020. RIP Mark. Hindesky

From Bike Houston........ What does the new administration mean for people who bike in Houston? President Biden’s nomination of former South Bend, Indiana mayor and erstwhile presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg as transportation secretary signals a dramatic change at the U.S. Department of Transportation. Compared to the previous administration, which was decidedly more invested in rural infrastructure, Buttigieg and his team will have a considerably more city-focused agenda. We don’t know how Buttigieg’s leadership will impact Houston, but there are plenty of positive signs: When he was mayor of South Bend, Buttigieg used bonds and tax increment financing to fund a downtown street redesign program, and it paid off: in 2018, South Bend was recognized by the League of American Bicyclists as a Silver-Level Bicycle Friendly Community. As a presidential candidate, Buttigieg called for doubling funding for the Transportation Alternatives Program, which pays for things like sidewalks and bike lanes, and was the only candidate whose platform made any mention of Vision Zero. And since his nomination, he’s bemoaned “auto-centric” transportation planning and vowed to dismantle racist freeways (I-45, anyone?). Buttigieg’s boss rides a bike (a Trek FX) and he mentions hiking and biking trails in his clean energy plan. But more importantly, the president has already begun filling out the team with leading urban transportation experts like former New York City Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, who built more than 120 miles of protected bike lanes during her seven years at NYC DOT, who will be deputy secretary, and Dani Simons, who has held senior roles at Citi Bike and the Regional Plan Association (and is a fellow Transportation Alternatives alum!), who will be assistant to the secretary and director of public affairs. There will be hoops to jump through and murky political waters to navigate before we see any results from Mayor Pete’s DOT. But a city like ours, which has lofty goals but limited means, stands to benefit from a bigger pot of federal money for things like bike lanes and sidewalks. For now we’ll remain optimistic, but stay tuned for ways to take action when the time comes. Buttigieg calls this moment a “generational opportunity.” Let’s make sure Houston doesn’t miss out. Onward, Joe Cutrufo Executive Director

The fence is down and the sales trailer is gone too. Hopefully this is going to start soon.

I was hoping for something better but worse would have been to leave it like it was.

Almost 40 miles on my Saturday ride, I almost gave up while riding in TMC due to the heavy fog/drizzle but slogged on and it got better weather wise. Made a half hearted attempt to find a Bike Tag while heading home through Montrose but this one is a tough find. No luck.

Nature will always find a way to survive. Perfect use for this temporary parking lot until something else comes along. A great location for a farmers/vendor market.

I like these townhomes, apartments are coming along.

I was hoping to find some workers here so I could ask them what they are building but no one was there.

Some of the fencing has come down.

The lot has been elevated, packed and rolled. It only covers 2/3's of the empty space. I guess the remains portion is for the future office build.