Car-free Areas

[SpringTX]

Not including downtown pedestrian malls or town centers, are there any auto-free planned communities in Houston? I've read about some planned communities in other parts of the country that prohibit automobile traffic on their grounds. Usually in golf course communities or beach communities, the residents get around via motorized golf cart, bicycle, wheelchairs if appropriate, or by "shoe leather". Maybe there's even some sort of mini-train/tram (ok, no monorail jokes, please). I've seen some other articles about "neighborhood electric vehicles" (NEV's), which are basically smaller, slower electric cars used for tooling around inside a neighborhood: to the grocery store, pharmacy, country club, friend's house, etc.

Imagine the safety, lack of pollution, lack of noise, friendliness, and even fitness (from walking or bicycling) of such a community.

Take a planned community like The Woodlands, for example. What if the major streets (analogous to Woodlands Parkway, Research Forest, Grogan's Mill Drive, Panther Creek Drive, etc.) were open to automobiles...but the tertiary roads were all limited to bicycle, foot, golf cart, or other smaller vehicle? This assumes that we would design this community from the ground-up, planning for plenty of parking along these major routes, and some sort of public tram or golf cart shuttle service to get people to and from their cars when needed.

Has anyone seen anything like this anywhere else in the country? Does it make sense to try to implement? Or is this just a utopian dream better suited for amusement parks and retirement complexes?

[RedScare]

Why does just the thought of car free areas in Houston make me laugh?

Great idea, but I can't get over how amusing it sounds in Houston.

[Casual Observer]

Here's a good example of what a car-free area in Houston would be like: Kemah boardwalk. A quarter mile strip of pedestrian friendly space surrounded by 2 square miles of parking lot.

What a joke - err.. concept.

[Heights2Bastrop]

There is a suburb in SE Houston that is car-free. It

[groovehouse]

The 'Fruit Loop' at Memorial Park is car-free in the early evenings.

The 'Fruit Loop' is a loop at the park that is closed off to car traffic so cyclists and rollerbladers can ride in a circle, real fast!

[tigereye]

Main Street on the northern end of downtown is car-free on Friday and Saturday nights. The clubs down there are doing very well down there because of this "street party" atmosphere that is created on Main Street. I think the city should consider permanently closing down this stretch of Main Street, from Franklin Street to Main Street Square, to vehicles in favor of a spruced up pedestrian promenade, complete with fountains and artwork with fancy lighting to add to the budding street party atmosphere that already exists there. This is a huge opportunity to turn downtown

[Casual Observer]

I wouldn't close Main St. I would close maybe Texas from San Jacinto to Louisiana. That street would be better suited to serve as a "strip" for downtown.

I think we want to leave Main St. to the fine dining & retail (that will hopefully one day come).

[YakuzaIce]

I wouldn't close Main St. I would close maybe Texas from San Jacinto to Louisiana. That street would be better suited to serve as a "strip" for downtown.

I think we want to leave Main St. to the fine dining & retail (that will hopefully one day come).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well isn't one or two blocks already closed off, where the fountains are. I know it is by 1000 main. I can't remember is that the only block?

[Casual Observer]

Yeah - and it looks like crap. Its also non-functional and really destroys the idea of a "Main St."

[YakuzaIce]

Yeah - and it looks like crap.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How does it "look like crap"?

[Casual Observer]

It looks like crap in my opinion because I look at the functionality of a 3 block strip of closed street and see nothing. It served no purpose to shut Main St. down, and furthermore, it ruins the continuity of Main St.

You can close any street in all of Houston to place giant potted plants and a second rate water fountain show, and you choose Main St.??

[Kirzania]

I wouldn't close Main St. I would close maybe Texas from San Jacinto to Louisiana. That street would be better suited to serve as a "strip" for downtown. I think we want to leave Main St. to the fine dining & retail (that will hopefully one day come).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

/agree We need to leave Main St. open to cars, if anything, to help cleanse the gene pool.

[RedScare]

Terrorists? Please.

I bet this guy has a year's supply of plastic tarp and duct tape, as well.

[Kirzania]

Terrorists?  Please.

I bet this guy has a year's supply of plastic tarp and duct tape, as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

moo, the only reason I linked it is because of the running list he has of LR accidents. (Mostly just proving how people in Houston can't drive or look in their rearview mirrors.)

[Subdude]

It looks like crap in my opinion because I look at the functionality of a 3 block strip of closed street and see nothing. It served no purpose to shut Main St. down, and furthermore, it ruins the continuity of Main St.

You can close any street in all of Houston to place giant potted plants and a second rate water fountain show, and you choose Main St.??

Agree. Main Street "Square" wasn't well designed or situated. Almost every pedestrian mall that was created back in the 1970s has been returned to auto use. You would have thought they would have learned the lesson from that before closing Main St.

[kjb434]

New Orleans has Jackson Square. Cars just pass on the riverside.

Pedestrian only areas are nice, but they need to be weighed against the impact they have by removing a place for transportions. Obviously any place were the street is removed to give way to pedestrians will have to make sure the businesses along that stretch can have service entrances (for trash, workers, and supplies).

The Pavillions concept creates it's own pedestrian place while the strees can still serve the facility.

[HeightsGuy]

Closing down Main St for one block was a bad idea only in that it was one block, and the 1000 block. It should have been many more blocks, and down in the 100-500 block range.

I don't think you have a very good argument for opening the road back up for continuity sake. In downtown, Main is a two lane road with no left turns allowed. Even if you take the square away, if you plan to drive Main from one end of downtown to the other you must not be in much of a hurry. Even before rail came and took two lanes of the road, it was not a great road to travel if you needed to get somewhere in downtown.

[kjb434]

To me, as long as the businesses along Main street can handle not having vehicular traffic and deliveries, I say pave it in brikes and make it pedestrian.

Las Vegas did it to Fremont St where all the old casinos are.

[RedScare]

Dropping Main to 2 lanes did nothing to affect the traffic patterns. Fannin is 5 lanes heading south, and Travis, when completed, will be 5 lanes heading north. They could close off Main and it really wouldn't cause any problems.

Building owners opposed that at first, but now that they see that it's not a problem, most would probably not oppose it now. Main is so quiet now, compared to when the buses were there, it is unbelievable. I'd love to see it happen, and I office on Main.

[ssullivan]

Yeah even before the rail line was built the vast majority of traffic on Main St. was due to all of the Metro bus routes that ran down Main. Even then you couldn't turn left off Main St. in Downtown.

I personally don't have much problem with Main St. Square, other than the fact that it's very underutilized. It could be a lot more, but that's going to require more development in the area. If there were more restaurants and retail within that three block stretch, along with some street vendors, it could be a pretty nice area. I think it still has potential. But as for having a negative affect on traffic flow, I don't buy it. Main St. was nothing but a bus transit street for the last twenty years anyway, and there really aren't any businesses or parking facilities along Main that really need Main St. to get cars to them.

[Casual Observer]

I say open the street back up. You won't have a problem with metro as you have the light rail now. I wouldn't consider closing the street back down until your daytime foot traffic exceeds the area provided by the sidewalk.

Subdude made a good point - pedestrian malls didn't work in the 70's-80's, so why would they now?

[Subdude]

The problem with pedestrian malls is that people often perceived them as unsafe, and they ended up driving away retail, not encouraging it. For whatever reason, people like to be able to drive past stores. I think the current setup on Main, with relatively limited and slow-moving traffic, is a good way to go to encourage more retail development. Part of the problem with Main Street Square is that the block doesn't lend itself to much retail development to begin with - half the frontage on the block is dedicated to parking garages, although there was some talk about carving out some retail space from the First City building garage. Maybe it will pick up after the bakery on the ground floor of the Reliant building opens.

[HeightsGuy]

Yes, but isn't that parking garage the old Sackowitz building that's slated to be redeveloped? And caddie-corner will (maybe of course) be Houston Pavilions?

[The Voice of University Oaks]

It's probably too early to judge the success (or failure) of Main Street Square. Bob Eury and Downtown Houston Inc. built it, so they're going to have to be the ones responsible for its success. I do hope that something is done with that parking garage on the east side of the fountain. Nothing kills pedestrian activity like the blank wall of a parking garage at street level.

[largeTEXAS]

The two garages on Main St. Square will soon be retail. The corner where Corner Bakery is being built is about to see some REAL activity. That corner should be bustling with activity within the next 6 months.

Sakowitz is going to look awesome when converted. I'm excited!

[texasboy]

The two garages on Main St. Square will soon be retail. The corner where Corner Bakery is being built is about to see some REAL activity. That corner should be bustling with activity within the next 6 months.

Sakowitz is going to look awesome when converted. I'm excited!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Isn't that area already filled with retail? Where Corner Bakery is? The last time I was in Houston I could not recall any empty areas where possible retail could go in the vicintity of Corner Bakery. Other than Sakowitz, what two garages are you talking about?

[eelimon]

The 'Fruit Loop' at Memorial Park is car-free in the early evenings.

The 'Fruit Loop' is a loop at the park that is closed off to car traffic so cyclists and rollerbladers can ride in a circle, real fast!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is it called the 'Fruit Loop' b/c it used to be a place were gay men used to meet

[Saddleman]

Woo-Hoo! It's named after my people.

[kjb434]

^^^

I think you have won and award for the longest user name.

[ferronsfunctionals]

Has anyone seen anything like this anywhere else in the country?  Does it make sense to try to implement?  Or is this just a utopian dream better suited for amusement parks and retirement complexes?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Seattle used to have a very small section like that downtown - one street was prohibited to cars for about 3 blocks in a shopping district. But then, a very influential retailer in the area - Nordstrom - built a building right down there and successfully had that restriction removed. Now it is open to cars again.

I hate to say it, but this city is pretty much a joke for being biker friendly. the City doesn't do anything to promote biker safety either. There are several areas where there is a bike lane, and suddenly it turns into a pedestrian sidewalk. Or, it will go from a smooth paved road to a gravel pit in a matter of seconds, back into a paved road. This has been this way for several months, and it is clear that they simply do not value promoting pedal friendly roads.

I am truly afraid to ride my bike here and I used to ride 100+ miles a week before I moved here.