Highway6 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Houston Press had a good article this morning on the potential of adding hundreds of miles of bike and jogging trails through Houston. This is a map of the current Utility Line easements in Houston. In the past, CenterPoint has been unwilling to allow trails on their land due to possible liability issues. However, there are two bills (SB 1793 and HB 3802) working there way through the Texas leg. that would treat these biketrails on private land as City Park land and thus protect CP from personal injury lawsuits. How Houston cyclists and runners can help -- Call 512-463-0128 and tell the staff for Sen Duncan (chair of the Senate Committee considering SB 1793) that you support the bill. Call #2: Call 512-463-0468 and tell the staff for Rep Jackson (chair of the House Committee considering HB 3802) that you support the bill. Call #3: Call your state senator, and ask him/her to support SB 1793. Call #4: Call your state representative and ask him/her to support HB 3802. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 I don't know if it's true because I don't know how committee scheduling in the Texas leg works, but the facebook group supporting this cause mentions this is a vital week to show support.To find out who your state reps are...http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sevfiv Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Yes! I have used Centerpoint easements as cut throughs before and thought it would be neat if they were at least mowed (in my area - not sure how they are in others). Actual bike trails would be more than awesome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 A good size chunk of Oyster Creek Park in Sugar Land, including paved hike and bike paths, runs through a powerline easment. Did Sugar Land make a special deal with CP or are they just putting up flak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Is this only for utilities, or would it include railway row as well? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 I don't know how much, if any, it actually helps.. but I've put in calls to Sen Duncan, Rep Jackson, Sen Rodney Ellis, and Rep Sarah Davis, encouraging them to support these two bills. Rep Davis is the one that filed it in the House, so her staff was pretty enthusiastic about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highway6 Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 Is this only for utilities, or would it include railway row as well?I think the bill was tailored to protection for utility companies. However, if you look at the map, in some places, the RR ROW is adjacent to CP's ROW... I'm particularly excited about the possibility of that N-S trail connecting Brays bayou trail, Memorial Park and its trails, and up to TC Jester and the White Oak trail. I would have to think that's top of the city's list too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Seems like such a win-win situation. That these existing right-of-ways could be put to additional purposes excites me; why shouldn't they benefit people in more than one way?I hope that the legal issues can be resolved quickly; and both sides will come to a sensible agreement. The public will be grateful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Why isn't the right-of-way that runs along 59 east of 610 mentioned? Railroad right-of-way, power lines...seems perfect to me. In the process, they can repave that part of Kirby, where a post-railroad patch was added years ago and still visible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLWM8609 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Why isn't the right-of-way that runs along 59 east of 610 mentioned? Railroad right-of-way, power lines...seems perfect to me. In the process, they can repave that part of Kirby, where a post-railroad patch was added years ago and still visible. I think light rail will occupy a portion of that easement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 I think light rail will occupy a portion of that easement.-1.I remembered that they were going to go on westpark from near Timmons or Cummins. Or at least, that was the plan on the most recent alignment notice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 -1.I remembered that they were going to go on westpark from near Timmons or Cummins. Or at least, that was the plan on the most recent alignment notice.Yeah, I seem to recall back in spring 2009 I printed out a map of the planned light rail routes (which were supposed to be well on their way to completion by 2011...) and was surprised that the US-59 paralleled ROW wasn't to be used for light rail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted April 9, 2011 Share Posted April 9, 2011 Yeah, I seem to recall back in spring 2009 I printed out a map of the planned light rail routes (which were supposed to be well on their way to completion by 2011...) and was surprised that the US-59 paralleled ROW wasn't to be used for light rail.I can see it being used for an additional line WAY down the road, but only in a fantasy form in which it would go down Allen Parkway down Kirby, taking a right on the ROW and using the existing U-line stops as an express.Nah, that will never happen. Hopefully they can turn it into some greenspace/park trail and elevate it parts to avoid traffic on the major roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAZ Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 Houston Press had a good article this morning on the potential of adding hundreds of miles of bike and jogging trails through Houston.I talked to a representative from the Bayou Greenway Initiative earlier this week, and they are very interested in adding hike and bike trails along utility rights of way. These trails would serve as north/south connections between existing east/west Bayou hike and bike trails. It sounds like the line running from Brays Bayou north through to Memorial Park would logically be at the top of their list.The Bills involved are HB3802 and SB1793 -- and it looks like both are faring well in the legislative process.From what I understand this initiative is being driven by Dallas / Forth Worth - where they don't have bayous and need to use utility easements for hike and bike trails. Oncor Energy, which maintains power transmission lines in DFW has been instrumental in it. Hopefully Centerpoint will follow suit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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