Let's Close Main Street To Cars

[kylejack]

The Vulnerable Road Users Ordinance that was passed by Houston’s City Council requires motorists to give 3 feet of space when passing a vulnerable road user (cyclists, pedestrians, etc.)  This ordinance makes it impossible for a motorist to legally pass a cyclist on Main Street in Downtown or Midtown, as demonstrated in these pictures.

 

 

 

What if we were to close Main Street to motor vehicle traffic and make it an exclusively pedestrian and bicycle corridor?

 

It seems to me that it would enhance cyclist and pedestrian safety, encourage the type of walkable retail and bars/restaurants that Downtown needs, decrease motorist frustration at being stuck behind a bicycle, and enhance motorist and transit safety by eliminating the motorist [illegal] left turns that still hit the Metro rail cars sporadically.

 

Already, driving Downtown on Main Street is not ideal for a motorist. The ban on left turns and the pedestrian zone that cuts off Main Street at Main Street Square make it not very useful to a motorist for traveling through Downtown. If you add in now being stuck behind cyclists as well, it just seems to make more sense to re-route that traffic to Fannin or Travis, where there are plenty of lanes for cars to travel.

 

With all of the new businesses coming in on the North side of Downtown (Goro & Gun, Pastry War, Batanga, Bad News Bar, OKRA, Clutch City Squire, El Gran Malo, etc.), having an even safer pedestrian environment for customers to move about promotes greater economic activity. This also ties in nicely with the city’s new BCycle rental bike program. Tourists or Houstonians visiting Downtown and renting a BCycle could be directed to our fantastic Main Street bike lane to check out the rest of Downtown or as a way to get to points in Midtown.

 

If I count right, about 20 parking spaces would be lost along Main Street. The enhanced pedestrian, transit, and bicycle experience should easily make up for any small inconvenience this might cause. Main Street Square could be reconfigured to allow for a bike lane to pass through the current pedestrian environment.

 

I live and work downtown and think it would really improve quality of life.  I think this could get us a lot of positive national attention to take the move of closing Main Street to motor vehicle traffic and embracing other modes of transportation. What do you think?

 

[Slick Vik]

Sounds good to me. Pedestrian streets are always nice.

 

Also would make the bike sharing much more attractive given that there would be somewhere in downtown to easily bike.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Slick Vik

[august948]

The Vulnerable Road Users Ordinance that was passed by Houston’s City Council requires motorists to give 3 feet of space when passing a vulnerable road user (cyclists, pedestrians, etc.)  This ordinance makes it impossible for a motorist to legally pass a cyclist on Main Street in Downtown or Midtown, as demonstrated in these pictures.

What if we were to close Main Street to motor vehicle traffic and make it an exclusively pedestrian and bicycle corridor?

It seems to me that it would enhance cyclist and pedestrian safety, encourage the type of walkable retail and bars/restaurants that Downtown needs, decrease motorist frustration at being stuck behind a bicycle, and enhance motorist and transit safety by eliminating the motorist [illegal] left turns that still hit the Metro rail cars sporadically.

Already, driving Downtown on Main Street is not ideal for a motorist. The ban on left turns and the pedestrian zone that cuts off Main Street at Main Street Square make it not very useful to a motorist for traveling through Downtown. If you add in now being stuck behind cyclists as well, it just seems to make more sense to re-route that traffic to Fannin or Travis, where there are plenty of lanes for cars to travel.

With all of the new businesses coming in on the North side of Downtown (Goro & Gun, Pastry War, Batanga, Bad News Bar, OKRA, Clutch City Squire, El Gran Malo, etc.), having an even safer pedestrian environment for customers to move about promotes greater economic activity. This also ties in nicely with the city’s new BCycle rental bike program. Tourists or Houstonians visiting Downtown and renting a BCycle could be directed to our fantastic Main Street bike lane to check out the rest of Downtown or as a way to get to points in Midtown.

If I count right, about 20 parking spaces would be lost along Main Street. The enhanced pedestrian, transit, and bicycle experience should easily make up for any small inconvenience this might cause. Main Street Square could be reconfigured to allow for a bike lane to pass through the current pedestrian environment.

I live and work downtown and think it would really improve quality of life.  I think this could get us a lot of positive national attention to take the move of closing Main Street to motor vehicle traffic and embracing other modes of transportation. What do you think?

I thought about this as well when they passed the 3 foot ordinance, not specifically about Main but about how this might effectively block some of the narrower streets around town and require motorists to follow bicycles if there isn't another lane available or oncoming traffic is too great. About Main, though, what stretch are you talking about and are there parking garages entrances/exits there that would have to be moved and/or can't be moved in some cases? What about cross streets as well? To make it really nice for pedestrians you'd want to block off the cross streets so you could go the whole length without having to worry about traffic, but what would that do to traffic flow in downtown?

On side note, I haven't seen any publicity yet for the new ordinance so I'd guess that most Houstonians don't even know they have to give the leeway around bikes. Has there been any significant push for public awareness on this yet?

Edited May 30, 2013 by august948

[Slick Vik]

What about cross streets as well?

 

That's a good point, they'd probably have to be closed one block going each way as well, because dead ending into a pedestrian street is pointless.

[august948]

That's a good point, they'd probably have to be closed one block going each way as well, because dead ending into a pedestrian street is pointless.

That's true, but that would expand the problem of parking garages and other existing auto-oriented infrastructure. Not that it can't be solved, but there might be a lot of push-back from property owners who would have to reconfigure at high cost and/or rebuild from the ground up.

Edited May 30, 2013 by august948

[kylejack]

I thought about this as well when they passed the 3 foot ordinance, not specifically about Main but about how this might effectively block some of the narrower streets around town and require motorists to follow bicycles if there isn't another lane available or oncoming traffic is too great. About Main, though, what stretch are you talking about and are there parking garages entrances/exits there that would have to be moved and/or can't be moved in some cases? What about cross streets as well? To make it really nice for pedestrians you'd want to block off the cross streets so you could go the whole length without having to worry about traffic, but what would that do to traffic flow in downtown?

On side note, I haven't seen any publicity yet for the new ordinance so I'd guess that most Houstonians don't even know they have to give the leeway around bikes. Has there been any significant push for public awareness on this yet?

 

All parking garages on Main Street do not have a driveway on to Main Street but rather use other streets for entrances and exits.

 

As to cross traffic, yes, that would still go through. Think of it like how Main Street Square is handled now: The Main Street has been eliminated (allowing Bombay Pizza to have a patio and etc.) but cross traffic still goes through on McKinney and Lamar.

Edited May 30, 2013 by kylejack

[august948]

All parking garages on Main Street do not have a driveway on to Main Street but rather use other streets for entrances and exits.

As to cross traffic, yes, that would still go through. Think of it like how Main Street Square is handled now: The Main Street has been eliminated (allowing Bombay Pizza to have a patio and etc.) but cross traffic still goes through on McKinney and Lamar.

Sounds like it might be doable, then, without major infrastructure changes. Next question, was this idea floated for the rest of Main when the rail construction happened and, if so, was there significant opposition from property owners and businesses along Main? In other words, could the city get them on-board with a change like this?

[editor]

Chicago tried that in the 80's -- closed State Street (its equivalent of a Main Street) to traffic.  Made it all pedestrianized except for buses and horse-drawn carriages.

 

It is widely regarded as one of the biggest urban planning mistakes the city ever made, one that it is only now starting to recover from.  The lack of passing cars killed local businesses.  Lots of them went out of business.  With fewer cars there were fewer eyes in the area, and it became a very scary place to be.  The whole thing snowballed, and even returning the cars to the street didn't fully help because the place had already earned a reputation as a craphole with no retail.  It is only in the last five years or so that the place has started to recover.  But it's still nowhere close to what it was.

 

I'm all for everything pedestrian, and my intuition tells me that pedestrianized zones are great.  But this was one example where it failed.  Pedestrian zones seem to work in areas that already have a huge amount of foot traffic to make up for the lack of cars; that's why they work in plenty of cities in other parts of the world.  But I think removing the cars from Houston's Main Street is a premature notion.  When Main Street is such a huge, bustling district that it overflows into neighboring streets and is lively well into the night, even in the summer, then think about it.  Right now IMO, it's not ready.

 

Further reading:

http://interactive.wttw.com/remembering-chicago/state-street-pedestrian-mall

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2013/03/11/why-was-the-state-street-pedestrian-mall-a-failure/

[Slick Vik]

Chicago tried that in the 80's -- closed State Street (its equivalent of a Main Street) to traffic.  Made it all pedestrianized except for buses and horse-drawn carriages.

 

It is widely regarded as one of the biggest urban planning mistakes the city ever made, one that it is only now starting to recover from.  The lack of passing cars killed local businesses.  Lots of them went out of business.  With fewer cars there were fewer eyes in the area, and it became a very scary place to be.  The whole thing snowballed, and even returning the cars to the street didn't fully help because the place had already earned a reputation as a craphole with no retail.  It is only in the last five years or so that the place has started to recover.  But it's still nowhere close to what it was.

 

I'm all for everything pedestrian, and my intuition tells me that pedestrianized zones are great.  But this was one example where it failed.  Pedestrian zones seem to work in areas that already have a huge amount of foot traffic to make up for the lack of cars; that's why they work in plenty of cities in other parts of the world.  But I think removing the cars from Houston's Main Street is a premature notion.  When Main Street is such a huge, bustling district that it overflows into neighboring streets and is lively well into the night, even in the summer, then think about it.  Right now IMO, it's not ready.

 

Further reading:

http://interactive.wttw.com/remembering-chicago/state-street-pedestrian-mall

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2013/03/11/why-was-the-state-street-pedestrian-mall-a-failure/

 

Bagby seems like a better candidate since it has a lot of establishments on it people walk to anyway.

 

Blackfinn, Cyclone Anaya's, Farrago's, Shot Bar, Drinkery, Red Door, Dogwood.

[kylejack]

Chicago tried that in the 80's -- closed State Street (its equivalent of a Main Street) to traffic.  Made it all pedestrianized except for buses and horse-drawn carriages.

 

It is widely regarded as one of the biggest urban planning mistakes the city ever made, one that it is only now starting to recover from.  The lack of passing cars killed local businesses.  Lots of them went out of business.  With fewer cars there were fewer eyes in the area, and it became a very scary place to be.  The whole thing snowballed, and even returning the cars to the street didn't fully help because the place had already earned a reputation as a craphole with no retail.  It is only in the last five years or so that the place has started to recover.  But it's still nowhere close to what it was.

 

Main Street is a one-lane road with little traffic, though. Few cars pass because it is not a good street to drive on. Left turns are prohibited and Main Street Square cuts you off halfway through Downtown anyhow.

[lockmat]

What about Main outside of downtown? You have the same problem in midtown too.

Are people really going to follow this new law anyway?

[august948]

Main Street is a one-lane road with little traffic, though. Few cars pass because it is not a good street to drive on. Left turns are prohibited and Main Street Square cuts you off halfway through Downtown anyhow.

If there's not much traffic, then there should also be less issues with bicycles backing traffic up, shouldn't there?

How are the businesses on Main Street Square faring? That could be an indication on whether or not the idea would end up like Chicago's.

[Slick Vik]

How are the businesses on Main Street Square faring? That could be an indication on whether or not the idea would end up like Chicago's.

 

For once I agree with you. Other than around the park with Niko Niko's, businesses don't do well on Main except Macy's which closed and club venue.

[RedScare]

The photos in the first post explain fully what a non-issue this entire suggestion is. Rather than actually shut Main off to vehicles, I suggest that cyclists and pedestrians simply imagine that it is closed to cars. It's not like any cars will come down the street to bother you anyway.

[mfastx]

Agreed with the above post.  Besides, motorists don't go that fast on Main Street anyways, there shouldn't be any issues with following cyclists for a short period of time.

[august948]

The photos in the first post explain fully what a non-issue this entire suggestion is. Rather than actually shut Main off to vehicles, I suggest that cyclists and pedestrians simply imagine that it is closed to cars. It's not like any cars will come down the street to bother you anyway.

Critical Mass on Main! A few riders could effectively close it off, no further work needed.

[asubrt]

What is the reasoning behind not allowing bicycles on the sidewalk? It seems to me that a car/bike collision on the street would be a lot worse than a bike/pedestrian collision on the sidewalk. It's not like a have an overwhelming number of pedestrians downtown (or anywhere really).

[crunchtastic]

Great idea.  For lower Westheimer.

Already has the foot traffic. Actually, keep the street open for bus traffic only,  flanked by bicycle lanes. Peds stay on sidewalks. Would need to build a couple of parking garages, but hey, ground floor retail, right?

[august948]

What is the reasoning behind not allowing bicycles on the sidewalk? It seems to me that a car/bike collision on the street would be a lot worse than a bike/pedestrian collision on the sidewalk. It's not like a have an overwhelming number of pedestrians downtown (or anywhere really).

As I recall, there were complaints about bicycles on sidewalks, particularly in downtown and possibly related to bicycle messengers. This was about 13 or 14 years ago. Even if my memory is incorrect, they should get rid of that ordinance for the reason you stated.

[Houston19514]

As I recall, there were complaints about bicycles on sidewalks, particularly in downtown and possibly related to bicycle messengers. This was about 13 or 14 years ago. Even if my memory is incorrect, they should get rid of that ordinance for the reason you stated.

 

Yeah, that will promote pedestrian activity  ;-)     There is no need to change any rules to allow bikes on sidewalks.

[august948]

Yeah, that will promote pedestrian activity ;-) There is no need to change any rules to allow bikes on sidewalks.

Then I will remain an unrepentant outlaw.

[RedScare]

The bicycle messengers were kamikazis. Don't know if they caused the bikes off sidewalks rule, though. I think the rule is older than that. Regardless, I ride where I want/need to ride. If that is a sidewalk, so be it. I am respectful of the peds, so it is not a problem. No cop has ever looked twice at me.

[Purdueenginerd]

I'm a cyclist, the reason why were not on the side walks is because I'm going 20 mph. Which can severely hurt someone should I collide with them. Occasionally I do get on the sidewalk for safety reasons. But I drastically lower my speed and am very respectful.

That being said, I oppose closing Main Street. In addition to Chicago's mistake, I'd also cite Memphis, TN. They closed their main st years ago and eviscerated a multitude of downtown businesses. They even have a running 80 year old trolly on main...

Edited May 31, 2013 by Purdueenginerd

[august948]

The bicycle messengers were kamikazis. Don't know if they caused the bikes off sidewalks rule, though. I think the rule is older than that. Regardless, I ride where I want/need to ride. If that is a sidewalk, so be it. I am respectful of the peds, so it is not a problem. No cop has ever looked twice at me.

Yeah...could very well be my memory is off. Agree that being respectful and responsible is the key to making it no problem. If you need to do 20 on your cycle then the road is where you want to be not only for peds but for your own safety from poorly maintained sidewalks.

[kylejack]

What about Main outside of downtown? You have the same problem in midtown too.

Are people really going to follow this new law anyway?

 

I intend to take the entire lane when there is not enough space for a 3 foot pass.

 

I would like to see the pedestrian/bike zone extended through Midtown as well, but it's a lot more complicated with auto repair shops, the bus station, etc.

 

Definitely Downtown, though.

[kylejack]

The photos in the first post explain fully what a non-issue this entire suggestion is. Rather than actually shut Main off to vehicles, I suggest that cyclists and pedestrians simply imagine that it is closed to cars. It's not like any cars will come down the street to bother you anyway.

 

They can and they do. People unfamiliar with the area come down Main not realizing what a bad idea it is. A few weeks ago one told me to "get out of the road or I'm going to run your ass over."

[kylejack]

What is the reasoning behind not allowing bicycles on the sidewalk? It seems to me that a car/bike collision on the street would be a lot worse than a bike/pedestrian collision on the sidewalk. It's not like a have an overwhelming number of pedestrians downtown (or anywhere really).

 

Sidewalks should be for pedestrians, and riding on the sidewalk contains hidden dangers.

 

Example: If you're riding past a bush, building, or other obstruction while someone is exiting the driveway, drivers typically pull all the way across the sidewalk and stop at the road to check for traffic. Pedestrians move slow so it is easy to hit the brakes if you spot a pedestrian on the sidewalk, but cyclists move significantly faster and run the risk of getting hit.

[Ross]

They can and they do. People unfamiliar with the area come down Main not realizing what a bad idea it is. A few weeks ago one told me to "get out of the road or I'm going to run your ass over."

 

That's when you stop, pull out the cell phone, and call the police and complain about the terroristic threat you just received. Yet another good reason to get a CHL and carry a firearm.

[samagon]

If only there were no median, they could have made a comfortably sized bike lane on each side of the street.

[musicman]

Hmmm so first you are scared of cars and now you are scared they can't pass you?  This is a bad idea period.