Triton

Do we know the impacts on the Houston Ave bridge yet, such as when they will begin dismantling and how long it will take to rebuild?

Agreed with most of what you said. As others are saying here, it's to slow traffic down and allow people to cross. I used to bike the Heights trail all the time and I dreaded every time I would come up to 11th street because it was impossible to cross. I kept thinking how crazy it was for mother's with strollers trying to get through there. That intersection has definitely improved. Where I do disagree with though is that the traffic has not changed substantially since the bike lanes have been installed.... there is noticeable backups on 11th, especially between Shepherd, Yale and Heights Blvd. And because of those backups, there is yet secondary effects of traffic taking "back roads", if you will, 8th street being the big one.. where traffic will exit near MKT at 7th and then travel down 8th to Yale. If anyone here attends the Superneighborhood 15 meetings, it is a major topic ever since the bike lanes were installed. And the city very much listens to these superneighborhood events. The negativity has been incredibly loud while Bike Houston and others considered it a done deal once the street was redone and moved on with other projects... with so much opposition and so little praise at these meetings, it's not unfathomable to see the 11th street bike lanes being removed.

I think it will still move forward but I imagine some of the design might change. I-45 to Airline might remain the same, but I-45 to Boundary had some opposition, not just from the nearby residents but also White Oak Music Hall. They are concerned about their Lyft/Uber spots and what it means for people driving to their venue. It gets backed up already with two lanes headed toward WOMH so there is no telling how bad it will get with just one lane. So it makes me wonder.... do they try to add a middle/turning lane here... perhaps during big shows they can shuffle traffic around with that center lane? A lot of unknowns at this point.

I will say, out of all the things to start with as mayor, this has to be the most bizarre ones. I can understand redoing a project in the planning stages but this feels more like a waste of money to completely redo a project that was just finished.

Whelp, I guess don't go to the 11th street thread. The Shepherd and Durham project sound protected for now.

I feel anytime I post in the Transportation forum, people are constantly using the sad emoji so I'm sorry to make this post as well... It is now widely known that for all new bike infrastructure or road makeover projects, every single one of them are on hold and being reassessed if they are not already under construction, from the mayor's office directly. The rumor mill is now saying that this project will likely be re-evaluated in the near future. There are too many residents in the area saying there is considerable traffic using W 8th (fewer on 10th) streets and that the minimal bike lane usage isn't justifying the traffic backups on 11th. (<--- edit: had this backwards) Let me reiterate, this is just a rumor at this point.

Our superneighborhood group has been notified that, both from Mario Castillo and Whitmire's office, that this project has been put on hold and is being reassessed, from Boundary to Airline.

Wow I had to do a double take. This looks super similar to our N Main area.

I mean they are two different offices so sure? I wasn't 100% on the first rumor but the person who told me made it sound like it was common knowledge within the mayor's office that this project would be redone. Then, the church confirmed in a Facebook group that the mayor's office had contacted their senior leadership and said the median would be removed and the street repaved. Sounded like the new curb ramps and other smaller improvements would remain.

This rumor might be turning into fact. Trinity Lutheran Church has been notified that the median and other improvements will be removed, per Whitmire's office. Let's see what actually happens. Sorry to spread the bad news yall.

So..... lol..... there are rumors that Mayor Whitmire's office is going to announce they are going to dismantle most of this project and just repave the roads.

This is probably really unpopular on this forum but I wish this project would have included some connection to Studemont. Yes yes, I know, that's making Houston more car centric but I just always felt the way to get back to Studemont was odd. That don't even have a u-turn up at Heights Blvd so it always causes a back up of people turning around going back to Studemont. I guess one of the big challenges would be to make it work with the existing bike trail... and that's probably why they avoid it, not to mention the local backlash.

Oh that's a good one but I had thought Sprouts had been closing stores. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/real-estate/article/sprouts-farmers-market-store-closures-sublease-18089185.php

We go to this one and you're right, it's packed. But still, this location would be far too close to the other one. The only exception I can think of is the rumors HEB planned to build on Kirby which was not that far from their Montrose and Buffalo Speedway location. But here we are in 2024 and that HEB has still not materialized. Target would be a good fit but they already have an upcoming location down the street. Walmart would just buy the entire lot and leave the rest as parking lot. I don't see them creating some sort of multi-family development... plus the other location is down the street at I-45. Whole Foods is in decline so I don't see that happening. Central Market isn't happening because the income levels to the north and east don't support having that (yes, Heights and Garden Oaks are rich but it's not Galleria/Uptown/River Oaks rich nor the same amounts of wealthy population). I think the only option I've seen on here that makes sense is Trade Joe's so far unless there are other grocery stores that could enter the market? I suppose ALDI could move here.

He likely went with it because they took the time to add "Garden Oaks" on the side of the building, but I get what you mean. I suppose it is possible but I highly doubt HEB would build yet another HEB on the same street just blocks north of their other location.

What grocery store could go into this location? Definitely not Whole Foods nor HEB.

I've lived in the Heights for over a decade and I've never noticed this building lol

Man this forum never ceases to amaze me how quick someone is able to notice and then post about a change.

Lol nice paint job!

Do they plan to do anything differently with the ramp that comes from Memorial and ends at a stop sign? I've always felt this is an awkward approach but perhaps you have to stop and turn to make sure you're not going to hit oncoming traffic.

Wow this looks incredibly nice

Yup, I've shared that with the Northside groups (most didn't even attend!) and the response has been overwhelmingly positive if TXDOT does agree to do it. I spoke with one of the TXDOT representatives at the Monday night townhall and he told it to me straight that this bridge is presenting considerable design challenges, especially since this will have to be around 34ft in the air, probably one of the higher pedestrian bridges in the Houston area. And because it will be that tall, they have to build long ramps leading up to the bridge for ADA compliance (although smaller staggered ramps are a possibility too). That's the key reason they decided to scrap it in the first place and instead build a path under the I-45 bridge along Little White Oak Bayou. However, after community engagement, TXDOT realizes that that path is not direct enough between the Northside and Germantown. So because it's still in design, there's no guarantee they are going to implement this bridge but fingers crossed!

Yup, we are losing connection on the Northside. The main route my son will need to take to get to his elementary school on the other side of the highway is being taken away. With that gone, I just hope we remain zoned to that school.

Looks like they decided to release the rest of the updates after tonight's Segment 2 town hall. Zoomed in: Segment 1 TxDOT-NHHIP-Stretch-Banners_Segment-2-12-3-23.pdf TxDOT-NHHIP-Stretch-Banners_Segment-1-12-3-23.pdf

You might be on to something. If you zoom into the TXDOT schematic, it appears you can see a single lane coming south from the westbound feeder. That would appear to match what COH has which is a single lane coming south while there's an underpass right next to that lane. So TXDOT builds the lane and COH builds the underpass. Very interesting!