new bike paths around town

[j_cuevas713]

So council member Kubosh wants proof people use the bike lanes. He said it's a "concern" for him. Send him any pictures you have!  https://www.instagram.com/reel/CrgIKN7AXTb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

[samagon]

Kubosh wants to put the kibosh on bike lanes?

[j_cuevas713]

4 hours ago, samagon said:

Kubosh wants to put the kibosh on bike lanes?

He can try all he wants but he's outnumbered 3 to 1. I just had about 5 groups I ride with blow up his emails. 

Edited April 27, 2023 by j_cuevas713

[springcityparts]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:22 AM, 004n063 said:

This is excellent. Looks like a 2ft buffer, so I'd be surprised if they don't add armadillos. If this extends down to Buffalo Bayou, then this plus the forthcoming massive 6th-610 Shepherd/Durham reconstruction will mean continuous protection from Buffalo Bayou up to 610.

This isn't exactly news, but until the barriers are installed, I'm always cautious with my optimism.

Does anyone have confirmation that they'll actually put up barriers - either armadillos or concrete?

[004n063]

Looks like they're about to start installing the curbs on the south side of Blodgett. Looks like both sides will have 9ft protected bike lanes, 6ft sidewalks, bus shelters with brickwork platforms and bikelane wraps, and a raised and narrowed crossing for the Columbia Tap.

From a purely utilitarian and urbanist standpoint, this might end up being the best street reconstruction I've seen in this city - which is saying something, considering the money that was spent on Post Oak and Bagby.

Just now, 004n063 said:

Looks like they're about to start installing the curbs on the south side of Blodgett. Looks like both sides will have 9ft protected bike lanes, 6ft sidewalks, bus shelters with brickwork platforms and bikelane wraps, and a raised and narrowed crossing for the Columbia Tap.

From a purely utilitarian and urbanist standpoint, this might end up being the best street reconstruction I've seen in this city - which is saying something, considering the money that was spent on Post Oak and Bagby.

Forgot to add the photo!

[Sunstar]

On 4/24/2023 at 6:22 AM, 004n063 said:

This is excellent. Looks like a 2ft buffer, so I'd be surprised if they don't add armadillos. If this extends down to Buffalo Bayou, then this plus the forthcoming massive 6th-610 Shepherd/Durham reconstruction will mean continuous protection from Buffalo Bayou up to 610.

This isn't exactly news, but until the barriers are installed, I'm always cautious with my optimism.

Right now it only goes as far as Feagan, followed by a generous sidewalk to Dickson. I’m unaware of any plans to extend the roadwork further towards the Memorial bridge and Buffalo bayou. 

[004n063]

3 minutes ago, Sunstar said:

Right now it only goes as far as Feagan, followed by a generous sidewalk to Dickson. I’m unaware of any plans to extend the roadwork further towards the Memorial bridge and Buffalo bayou. 

So Dickson to Washington? That's definitely short, but I wouldn't be surprised if it gets extended further.

[004n063]

Noticed this morning that they have made the Hawthorne@Montrose intersection a painted version of the Taft@Westheimer / Woodhead@Westheimer / Woodhead@W. Gray intersections, where there's a short lane leading up to the intersection and a (not yet operational) bike signal, except this one has big green bike boxes at the front of the intersection.

I guess the idea is that you "cut the line" and then move over in the bike box (better than re-merging as you cross) to wait for the light?

If that's the case, then unless anybody has better information, I would say that it sounds like Montrose is trying to turn its preferred on-street bikeways into bike priority streets. With the combination of central sharrows, speed bumps with bike-accommodating gaps, intersection bulbouts on Woodhead between Westheimer and Gray (and what looks like a curbed road diet on Hawthorne between Stanford and Roseland), and these intersection accommodations, it might... actually... work?

Once everything is in place and the bike signals are up and running, though, I think they'll need to take three more steps:

1) reduce the speed limits to 20 on all of these streets (parts of Hawthorne are still 30mph, not sure about the others),

2) add signage and send out educational material that explicitly uses the word "priority," and

3) continue to add physical infrastructure (medians, bollards, chicanes, etc.) that discourages motor vehicle through-traffic.

I think the city as a whole - and especially the Harrisburg and Memorial Heights TIRZs - should keep an eye on how this works out (both in terms of safety statistics and, more importantly, bike traffic and street-specific modeshare statistics). If successful, this ontvlechten approach could be a really great tool for neighborhoods with a lot of narrower ROW where proper bike lanes are difficult or impossible.

Edited May 4, 2023 by 004n063

[hindesky]

Woodhead at W. Gray. This is the south side of the intersection but the north side is already done exactly like this.

[004n063]

Not sure if this is news, but it was news to me, so here are a couple of updates on the area immediately southeast of the Medical Center:

1) Almeda's multi-use pathway is now continuous from MacGregor / Brays Bayou to Holly Hall (about 2 miles). The newest section, from just south of OST to Holly Hall, maintains a continuous grade across all apartment complex and business driveways, though it dips down to street level at intersections. Overall it's a high quality access boost, though I'd love to see a crossing island at OST.

2) Holly Hall's trail is continuous from Fannin to Ardmore. I don't think that's new, but I never made it that far south before.

3) El Rio St. and El Camino St. have a new two-way, curb-protected bikeway, making for a kind of lasso coming out from NRG.

The major streets down there, including Holly Hall and Almeda, are pretty rough for biking - cars have a lot of lanes and long gaps between lights, so a lot of them go very fast. But there are also a ton of apartments around there, and a lot of people who can now very comfortably bike or scooter to the Red Line, Brays Bayou, Hermann Park, the Museum District, and even Downtown via the Austin St. Corridor.

I would love to see the area work on a few other streets as well to really make this a bikeable district:

-Cambridge (maybe a bike path along the median from Holly Hall to OST, and then along the west side from OST to Brays?);

-Ardmore (one-way paths or curb-protected lanes on either side of the street?) from Holly Hall to Dixie (where it intersects across from the Columbia Tap trail);

-Pawnee/Hepburn (dedicated/protected facilities from Ardmore to Almeda, sharrows & traffic calming measures from Almeda to Cambrdige)

-El Paseo St (multi-use pathway along the median) from Almeda to Knight

-Knight Rd (widen the sidewalk into a multi-use pathway along the west side, or curb-protected on-street paths) from West Rd. to Holly Hall

-West Rd/East Rd (use existing pathways but eliminate discontinuities) and Bertner Ave (reconstruct the segment from East Rd to Brays Bayou so that it matches the segment between East Rd and West Rd) from Knight and Cambridge to Brays Bayou. 

Anyway, that's enough fantasizing for now. This was very encouraging to see. Uptown/Galleria: take notes. 

Edited May 6, 2023 by 004n063

[Amlaham]

Uptown/ the galleria area are sooooooo bike deprived. We legit have 0 bike lanes for one of the busiest/traffic heavy areas in Houston. In my opinion, the entire Uptown area needs a lot of work in terms of walkability/ biking infrastructure. For example, Memorial Park is technically part of Uptown Tirz yet there are no bike lanes that lead to it?!

[004n063]

2 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Uptown/ the galleria area are sooooooo bike deprived. We legit have 0 bike lanes for one of the busiest/traffic heavy areas in Houston. In my opinion, the entire Uptown area needs a lot of work in terms of walkability/ biking infrastructure. For example, Memorial Park is technically part of Uptown Tirz yet there are no bike lanes that lead to it?!

The bike problem with Uptown is very real and I think trickier to solve than other parts of the city.

Firstly, like the area I discussed in my previous post, it has lots of closed-off apartment "superblocks" that pretty much force everyone onto the major streets. Compare that to Montrose, the Heights, Third Ward, Second Ward/Eastwood, etc., where the grids are continuous and side streets are generally both safe and continuous (ergo useful). Secondly, while Buffalo Bayou does run through northern Uptown, there is no linear park like there are along other bayous and other parts of Buffalo Bayou.

Taken together, this means that Uptown would need to start with a pretty substantial network of on-street (or sidewalk-level, but on previously car-dedicated ROW) protected lanes. That could technically happen, but you'd need a lot of political buy-in and money to make it happen.

More likely, I think, you'd get a lane on, say, Richmond or Westheimer, and nobody would use it because it wouldn't connect to anything and would inevitably dump you out somewhere terrifying. But then you'd have the problem of taking away car lanes in probably the most congested part of the city, to apparently no effect.

Finally, I think there's a cultural issue. I might be generalizing here, but my sense of Uptown is that its destinations generally don't "feel" bike-friendly. In the central neighborhoods (with the exception of Downtown), I never think twice about possibly showing up with a bit of a sheen or maybe some chain grease on my legs. But everywhere I've been in Uptown has felt too buttoned up for that. But maybe that's just my own limited experience. Further out west on Richmond does seem to get more relaxed, anyway.

It's really too bad - the streets of Uptown are plenty wide and certainly could accommodate great bike infrastructure. I'm just not optimistic about it actually happening.

[springcityparts]

On 5/6/2023 at 3:53 PM, Amlaham said:

Uptown/ the galleria area are sooooooo bike deprived. We legit have 0 bike lanes for one of the busiest/traffic heavy areas in Houston. In my opinion, the entire Uptown area needs a lot of work in terms of walkability/ biking infrastructure. For example, Memorial Park is technically part of Uptown Tirz yet there are no bike lanes that lead to it?!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAkd8Gg0hy/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

[004n063]

5 hours ago, emmanume said:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CpAkd8Gg0hy/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==

For the Instagramless of us, can you explain the connection between AToTB and Uptown? I thought the proposed bridges were further east than that...

[TacoDog]

2 hours ago, 004n063 said:

For the Instagramless of us, can you explain the connection between AToTB and Uptown? I thought the proposed bridges were further east than that...

The twobridges instagram has turned into a Houston pro-bike project in beyond their namesake project. 

[samagon]

https://www.thedestinationtrail.com/engage

31 miles from 6th ward out to JSC and beyond.

[august948]

16 minutes ago, samagon said:

https://www.thedestinationtrail.com/engage

31 miles from 6th ward out to JSC and beyond.

Plus, they've been hard at work building out the Bray's Bayou trail past Hwy 6.  With that and this you could bike from Fulshear to JSC.  Now that's a bike ride.

[samagon]

1 hour ago, august948 said:

Plus, they've been hard at work building out the Bray's Bayou trail past Hwy 6.  With that and this you could bike from Fulshear to JSC.  Now that's a bike ride.

new route for the MS150? 😁

[004n063]

5 hours ago, august948 said:

Plus, they've been hard at work building out the Bray's Bayou trail past Hwy 6.  With that and this you could bike from Fulshear to JSC.  Now that's a bike ride.

Anyone got any progress photos on the west end of the Brays trail? I don't often go further west than Hermann Park, so it's been a while since I've been out there.

I recall reading about a Westchase connection on this thread, though. Anyone able to report on how that's coming along? Or is that my next weekend project?

[springcityparts]

https://thegoodmancorp.mysocialpinpoint.com/columbiatapsurvey#/ 
 

“Remember, anything inside the red outline is fair game. Now's your chance to potentially influence how state and federal funds are spent on improving safety and connectivity. Speak now or forever hold your peace! https://thegoodmancorp.mysocialpinpoint.com/columbiatapsurvey#/“

 

from friends of Columbia Tap WhatsApp group

[august948]

21 minutes ago, 004n063 said:

Anyone got any progress photos on the west end of the Brays trail? I don't often go further west than Hermann Park, so it's been a while since I've been out there.

I recall reading about a Westchase connection on this thread, though. Anyone able to report on how that's coming along? Or is that my next weekend project?

No photos, but I pass it often and the concrete is down between at least Eldridge and West Houston Center Blvd.  They're still working on the connections at each road.  Good sign of progress when they've got the "Trail Closed" signs up.

Are you referring to the road and bike trail work on Westpark west of Wilcrest?

[004n063]

35 minutes ago, august948 said:

No photos, but I pass it often and the concrete is down between at least Eldridge and West Houston Center Blvd.  They're still working on the connections at each road.  Good sign of progress when they've got the "Trail Closed" signs up.

Are you referring to the road and bike trail work on Westpark west of Wilcrest?

I'm referring to the segment at the current west end of the Brays trail, where it hits Braeburn Glen Blvd. I was under the impression that that was going to be extended to Arthur Storey Park, where it can join the budding Westchase trail network.

[august948]

5 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I'm referring to the segment at the current west end of the Brays trail, where it hits Braeburn Glen Blvd. I was under the impression that that was going to be extended to Arthur Storey Park, where it can join the budding Westchase trail network.

That's what I heard also, but I haven't looked at it over there.  I'll try to swing by some of those segments and see how it's progressing.

[004n063]

New(ish?) armadillos up on Heights Boulevard from Center St. to the Katy Freeway Service Road.

When combined with the 10ft path that runs along the east side of S. Heights from Willia to Center St., this is a tolerable connection from Spotts Park to the wide (albeit mainly just painted) bike lanes on Heights Blvd north of I-10.

That said, Spotts Park is not really a bike-friendly park, the Waugh Drive lanes through Montrose still end at w. Dallas, and that Waugh bridge + Waugh/Memorial cloverleaf is still a hellish nightmare, so there's still a lot of work that needs to be done on this corridor to make it really viable.

[wilcal]

2 hours ago, 004n063 said:

Waugh Drive lanes through Montrose still end at w. Dallas,

Fix coming in the next 1-3 years based on TIRZ project!

Quote

and that Waugh bridge + Waugh/Memorial cloverleaf is still a hellish nightmare

yeah.... that's probably going to take awhile unless someone comes up with $100 milly for it. 

[j.33]

2 hours ago, 004n063 said:

New(ish?) armadillos up on Heights Boulevard from Center St. to the Katy Freeway Service Road.

When combined with the 10ft path that runs along the east side of S. Heights from Willia to Center St., this is a tolerable connection from Spotts Park to the wide (albeit mainly just painted) bike lanes on Heights Blvd north of I-10.

Yes, they are new :). Kinda stumped why they didnt work with METRO on that bus stop because the armadillos are blocking the bus stop and now the bus cannot make it all the way to the curb. 

[j_cuevas713]

While I'm happy about the bike lane along Heights, I don't mind armadillos but the city doesn't move fast enough to repair those that are damaged or broken.  W Cavalcade is a gravesite for damaged armadillos. I've contacted the Greater Northside a couple of times to get those fixed and that was over 2 years ago. 

[jessicau]

On 5/16/2023 at 1:55 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

While I'm happy about the bike lane along Heights, I don't mind armadillos but the city doesn't move fast enough to repair those that are damaged or broken.  W Cavalcade is a gravesite for damaged armadillos. I've contacted the Greater Northside a couple of times to get those fixed and that was over 2 years ago. 

Have you tried 311?  There is a website you can make a report online. The city fixed some car poles that fell over on Quitman and Fulton. But one has fallen again.

[j_cuevas713]

4 hours ago, jessicau said:

Have you tried 311?  There is a website you can make a report online. The city fixed some car poles that fell over on Quitman and Fulton. But one has fallen again.

Oh yeah, I've filed 311's, contacted the Northside Management District, etc. .

[wilcal]

Lots of good discussion at the BAC Infrastructure meeting yesterday. They did mention that Commerce would be the next major city-tackled project. 

Based on some of the drawings I saw at the Eado TIRZ meeting awhile back, I think the plan is to effectively extend the Harrisburg Trail with a multi-use path with some type of greenery buffer. 

Some type of infrastructure would extend up to Austin St to connect to the bike lane there and Buffalo Bayou.

I ride this everyday on the way to work, and this has real potential to be a game changer for anyone else that might bike commute. Commerce is so rough that I've literally had some screws shake out of my bike.

They also talked about adding a lane going up San Jacinto to Wood St as part of the canal project.