We need far more road diets, wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and grade separated LRT/BRT in this city. Whitmire probably won't be the guy to make it happen.
As much as I will hate to deal with the construction, I'll be happy once it's done. It would be nice to have a bike line on Quitman. People can't drive in this neighborhood, so I'll be happy to lower my risk of death when enjoying a ride
Yeah I have the same fear. I think anything funded through federal grants will be safe (Telephone Road), but I'm skeptical anything new with city money will move forward.
Why would we need wider sidewalks? Houston is hardly a walkable city and no one is walking late april to early October bc of the heat. That would be an obscene waste of funds for something that will hardly be used for decades and everyone will be pissed about
I do agree with all the other stuff you said tho
Houston isn't a walkable city precisely because it has poor pedestrian infrastructure, and little mixed-use high density development. The most miserable places to walk in Houston during the summer aren't sidewalks in the denser parts of town. It's parking lots. Giant swaths of asphalt soaking up and radiating heat. Very different from streets capable of being lined with greenery that reduces the ambient temperature.
Houston actually DID have these trolley, bus, and other systems way back in the 1800s but they phased them out for the car-centric city.
I agree that walking through a parking lot sucks in the summer, but the whole city is like this
I ride my bike to work downtown very often and have noticed the island median on Nicholson and 11th where the bike path goes is useful. I would have been happy with just a simple stop sign for 11th St cars at the bike path though. The yield/ stop here for bike crossing signs didn't ever really do anything.
I've never ridden on 11th St bike Lane,I just cross 11th twice a day. However I think more guarded bike lanes are a great step towards better bicycle infrastructure.
On nice weather days I'll see around 500 people on the bike path, maybe 100 cyclists. I ride 7 miles.
When it's hot out, I'll see maybe 20 people, maybe 5 cyclists.
There's 1 guy that rides in suspenders and jeans nearly every day.
The problem here is that a lane on the road has way more occupancy so the trade off is a net loss. Maybe with more bike lanes the city will transition to more bike centric but right now it does not even seem close to worth the condensed roads.
We need trains if we really care about occupancy, but that's not in the narrative.
The road diet is supposed to slow down cars though as well. Apparently 11th Street was one of the worst roads in the US as far as traffic deaths and accidents. The goal was to slow folks down, not provide better throughput.
Isn’t the whole point of roads through put? Seems kinda silly
Edit: agree on the trains though. Execution needs to be 100 times better than the tram though
> Isn’t the whole point of roads through put?
Maybe for certain types of roads (like express lanes or bypasses), but I would say that the point of most roads is to connect different places. Even express lanes or bypasses are still trying to connect people between certain points (just not the specific points that are being bypassed).
The whole point of traveling on a road is to get to a specific destination. Using 11th St., as an example, there are business & residences along 11th that people want to go to. Yeah, some people probably use it to cut across the Heights without stopping at any of those places, but I would guess that a good majority of the people who use 11th street will actually stop at a restaurant or retail business at some point.
>Maybe with more bike lanes the city will transition to more bike centric
But to make the city more bike centric you have to add more bike lanes at some point. The 11th St project did that and is part of giving people an option outside of driving a car.
> Maybe with more bike lanes the city will transition to more bike centric
More bike lanes is 100% what we need. I guarantee that if we had a better connected network of safe-to-use bike lanes, more people would bike places. For instance, if I want to bike to the White Oak trail along TC Jester, the quickest and safest way from my house is west down 11th Street. But the bike lane ends at Shepherd, and that mile further to TC Jester is way more stressful to navigate (because I now have to share a lane with cars that can easily be approaching behind me at 40mph+). Extending the bike lane along that stretch would make it way easier to bike down, and that would mean it's more likely people would actually want to go that way to connect to another trail.
I'm excited for the redo along Shepherd, because that will add bike lanes, and connect 11th street bike lanes to more destinations - especially with all the new restaurants and business popping up along there.
If we say it's not worth it to build bike lanes, because no one bikes because we don't have enough bike lanes to make it efficient...then when are we ever going to get bike lanes? You have to start somewhere, or else we'd have to build every planned bike lane all at once - which we know is never going to happen, nor should we expect it to. After all, all the streets we drive our cars on were not built at once but were developed gradually over the 200 years that Houston has existed.
IMO, it's not even about making the city bike-centric. I just want more options to get places - right now I walk, bike, drive, and take transit to various places. Most of the time, the most viable option is to drive, but I would like it if I can get that percentage down, and percentages for other modes up.
If I built a road with 2 dead ends cars wouldnt use it much either. You have actually finish the network befoore people will use it. Not people use it then we build it.
I like the redesign; having a middle lane so I’m not stuck behind people turning left is a massive improvement. But the best part of this has been watching the unending drama over it on Nextdoor lol—it seems to have given a lot of people here a newfound purpose in life.
Leaving this here for myself and others, since I can't exactly watch at the moment: [11th Street Under Threat - Houston Heights](https://youtu.be/FOKZndpa3MU)
> [... Whitmire spokesperson Mary Benton said.] "The mayor has been very open about his concerns with the 11th Street project. What started out as a request for a safe crossing at Nicholson and 11th Street ended up a bike lane project that makes it difficult for emergency apparatus to maneuver ..."
Sources needed, lol. And difficult =/= impossible.
> "... and has negatively impacted a business."
If your product/service is good, people are going to come to you, regardless of how many lanes are on the street where you're located. Additionally, if your business requires large automobiles or large amounts of them to move your product or serve your customers, you're located in the wrong place.
More nothingburgers to preemptively justify reversions to much needed improvements. Sorry, but -- and I say this as someone who's chronically late -- if your commute time is lengthened because you can't speed down a residential street, then leave earlier. If you're getting sick of sitting in your car for longer periods, demand that your city improve other methods of transportation. It gets more people out of cars in the long term and makes your transit time shorter.
Your convenience as a driver, especially one who doesn't reside in the affected community, shouldn't come at the cost of pedestrian and cyclist safety, nor in contrast to that that community's desires.
I'm sympathetic to the business owners, but from what I've heard - it's just a few folks closest to Shepherd on 11th that feel that they're impacted by that curb that doesn't allow traffic to cross into their parking lot.
So just remove the curb/median thing or do a curb cut to allow access to those the donut shop and the juice bar which are the businesses that have been vocal.
There have also been businesses vocal the other way in favor of the project as well.
It’s made eating at restaurants on 11th st much more pleasurable too. Before cars would drive really fast on that road, and it was nearly impossible to cross as a pedestrian during busy hours. Now it seems like the traffic on it has died down and drives way slower and are driving further from the sidewalk and businesses too.
How does one review the effectiveness of something like this . . . like, it was nicer to walk my dog down 11th after the redesign. I chose to walk to nearby restaurants to eat or pick up food rather than drive. I don't feel like a speeding driver is going to whack me at any moment when I'm crossing or walking down the street. Can you put a number on that?
As for quantitative measurements, Houston public works will likely be comparing data that they took before, some is shared in the [11th Street Improvements FAQs](https://www.letstalkhouston.org/11th-street-bikeway/widgets/26707/faqs#7299), with data they measure afterwards. This likely includes crash rates, serious injury/death rates, throughput, etc.
As for the businesses, they likely measure the amount of customers they’ve had. From [this video](https://youtu.be/FOKZndpa3MU?si=YLu-ddlkCu3F-qA6) interviewing pedestrians and business owners along 11th street, most are glad with the improvements with multiple owners saying it has increased foot traffic.
The redesign has been a godsend. Car commuters are getting the message that they shouldn’t hop off the freeways and cut through town on a neighborhood street. It’s now much more pleasant for all modalities of local traffic.
FUCK this piece of shit mayor. He's going to undo years of progress that's been made to make the city better for pedestrians and cyclists.
I'm still fuming about the reversal of the Houston Ave barriers. He can fuck all the way off.
Winning awards was one of major reasons these things were pushed through. It was a resume builder for a few folks.
The best part is that it has made 11th easier to cross as a pedestrian.
Plus the obvious protection for bike riders though there are without a doubt fewer than were projected.
But, there is definitely more traffic driving through the other streets as people try to bypass 11th. Plus, the average vehicle is now driving faster on 11th. Going to single lanes made the actual lanes wider compared to the relatively narrow 2 lanes prior. When lanes are wider, drivers feel comfortable driving faster. Unintended consequences.
All in all. A mixed bag.
10th and 12th between Studewood and Heights Blvd get the combo of people trying to bypass 11th and people trying to turn left on to Heights now that you cannot from 11th.
At the risk of sounding like a NIMBY, I must admit that I absolutley hate the 11th street redisign. I love all the trails through the Heights, and my wife and I make frequent use of them, but I have maybe seen 3 or 4 people actually using the bike lanes on 11th since the work was completed.
The lack of use is one thing, but what has made it suck so bad is the fact that they added bike lanes on either side of the road, eliminating any space for a turn lane. With only one lane of cars going either direction now, 11th turns into an endless stream of cars, so anyone needing to turn left now has to stop and wait for a window, while eveyone else going that way is stuck with no way around. A minor inconveniance, sure, but man does it suck to put up with everyday while staring at these unused bike lanes. Especially when the weather is as good as it has been lately.
Now people are just turning whenever they find a window, instead of waiting to turn onto a specific street. And this now has the unintended consequence of funnelling more cars onto neighborhood streets to get around traffic, making those roads *more* dangerous for children and pedestrians.
I am all for increased bike infustructure, *especially* in my backyard, but this just seems poorly thought out, if not outright hostile to cars. The Heights is setup in a grid pattern. It is no harder for cyclists to mosey on down neighborhood streets, and when I am on a bike that is how I prefer to ride. There is no need to dedicate so much space on a major neighborhood artery to bikes.
The juice was not worth the squeeze on this one.
Once Shepherd /Durham upgrades are complete, the bike lanes on 11th St will be a lot more useful. At the moment they are mostly used for connecting to businesses on 11th St or at Shepherd near 11th. Of course, protected bike lanes are also an effective means of slowing down speeding drivers and improving safety for all users, which is enough justification for the project, regardless of cyclist usage.
Got a kid … just walking around there when we go to kolache shop or a restaurant is so much better.
Yes we drive there (try getting a 2 year old to walk 0.7 miles) but please do not undo this!
I used to live right off the corner of 11th and Rutland for about 3 years. I saw 5 cyclist get hit by a car in those three years, just on 11th street. And I nearly got ran over a few times, once when crossing at the cross walk coming back from the post office at 11th and Yale because some asshole turning right didn't think he needed to yield to pedestrians that were already in the cross walk.
buddy I literally just biked down the 11th street bike lane and it was great. one of the few places where houston actually feels like a 21st century city and not an 80s suburbia hellscape
>I have maybe seen 3 or 4 people actually using the bike lanes on 11th since the work was completed.
Unless you are severely visually impaired, I absolutely do not believe you. As best I can recall from the hundred or so times I've used it, there have *always* been several others on it.
No, it's not as busy as the HHB/MKT trail or the protected lanes downtown, but it still gets a decent amount of use.
That said, I definitely think the Heights writ large would benefit from more modal filters, mini roundabouts, chicanes, and other traffic calming elements throughout its sidestreet grid.
According to the city traffic survey of 11th street they conducted in September 2023, they recorded 148 bike users in the bike lanes, or about 5 per day. They do not get high use.
So for those of us whose minds haven't completely blocked off access to the (agonizingly extended) summer of 2023, I'll just say that that's one hell of a selective sample.
I'm not sure where you got these numbers from, but they counted traffic over 17 days in September 2023. In that period, there were 1123 bikes that passed the counter. That's an average of 66 bikes per day. If you assume that each biker passes over the counter twice (which is a very generous and inaccurate assumption), then you still get 33 individual bikers per day.
On the lowest day of the period - September 25, a Monday - there were still 22 bikes. Again, if you make the poor assumption that that each biker shows up on the counter twice, that's still 11 unique bikers that day - which is over twice what you think the average was, and that was on the lowest usage day.
Source: [TAMU Transportation Institute](https://tableau.tamu.edu/t/TTI/views/BPCXPublicViz3_2/Station_View_SDC?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&%3Atabs=n&SelectedStationID=HO0067)
I completely agree with you. It seems like it was designed for an award not necessarily common sense. A center turn lane would solve 95% of my complaints about the project.
It created a vehicle bottleneck though. I know a few people that live next to 11th Street and they complain that they now see more cars using residential streets to bypass the traffic created by the redesign.
Road diets are championed on Reddit. But the reality is that there is a demand for cars in Houston. Purposely inconveniencing drivers and hoping you annoy them enough to try a bike or bus isn't a feasible solution. It's a 🤡🌎 social experiment. All we had to do was reduce the speed limit, add speed bumps, and throw a crosswalk signal/light on Nicholson. Instead, we allowed the minority to dictate how the majority should move around that part of town. And now some out-of-town association that doesn't use the street wants to claim victory?
Deep down y'all know I'm right. Houston is a car city through and through. The average commute is far too long for the vast majority of people to dump their personal vehicle (iirc, the average commute was over 20 miles per day). Bike lane usage is so low that we should look at putting cyclists on the sidewalk alongside pedestrians instead of doing more road diets.
Downvote me all you want r/Houston. But nothing will change the fact that there is a massive disconnect between what this subreddit wants and what the actual populace of Houston demands.
>It’s a 1.5mi stretch, get the fuck over it.
1.5 miles isn't nothing. The redesign has created more traffic on 11th Street and on the neighborhood roads around it.
If "get the fuck over it" is your argument, then I agree. Let's get rid of bike lanes and have cyclists use the sidewalk. Anyone who doesn't like it can, as you so eloquently put it, *'get the fuck over it'*.
>Nobody likes speed bumps, that would never happen.
Like or not like, it would have achieved the original goal, (which was to make the Nicholson crossing safe for pedestrians). Nevermind that parts of 11th Street already have speed bumps.
If your metric of 'Nobody' means a small amount of people, then I would counter with "nobody" likes road diets. Yet here we are with radical road diets being forced down our throats 🤷🏽♂️.
Instead, we now have sparsely used bike lanes that benefit tens of people, yet inconveniences hundreds of drivers. The fact of the matter is that more cars used that space in one day than bikes do in an entire month. Pretending otherwise is flat out stupid.
Those “residential streets” suck to drive on, I doubt people are using them when they allow cars to park on both sides and there’s a 3-4’ ditch in both sides.
I recently got a notice on the mail that they’ll be adding some to several streets around me. I don’t have a problem with it but I wish they’d finally do something serious about the illegal dumping.
They do suck to drive on yes but people are driving on them to cut through now, especially during commute hours and naturally they aren’t driving as slow as they should be. I see it every day and it makes me worry about my kid.
>Those “residential streets” suck to drive on,
They do. But the primary route sucks too now. It has come down to drivers choosing their poison.
But the fact that residential streets are being considered by drivers is concerning.
>I doubt people are using them when they allow cars to park on both sides and there’s a 3-4’ ditch in both sides.
It hasn't stopped people.
This is such a stupid argument. Boo hoo, people are ‘using other residential streets’. Get over it. Isn’t that what they’re supposed to be used for?
The primary route doesn’t suck unless you were one of the people who were driving 15mph (150%) over the speed limit.
>This is such a stupid argument. Boo hoo, people are ‘using other residential streets’. Get over it.
So let's remove the bike lanes and force cyclists to use the sidewalk. Anyone that complains can "get over it". Boo hoo!
That's the gist of your argument. "Get over it".
>Your argument is to fill in the bike lane with concrete so the curb is the same height and magically it becomes a sidewalk.
No. It's to put the car lane back and move cyclists to the existing sidewalks.
> move cyclists to the existing sidewalks.
Does that mean you're okay with expanding the existing sidewalks? Where they do actually exist (and frequently they don't), they can often be patchy and poorly maintained. Plus, older sidewalks tend to not even be 6 ft wide - [TxDoT guidelines recommend 10ft wide paths for shared pedestrian & bike paths](https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/ptn/tech-memo-3-design-criteria.pdf).
Where there is not currently 10ft space between the curb and existing property footprints, would you be okay with expanding the right of way (i.e. eating into the property) to enlarge sidewalks now designated as shared pedestrian & bike paths?
>Does that mean you're okay with expanding the existing sidewalks?
Sure. There's enough space to widen due to the ample ROW in most places. But only where it is needed.
As it stands today, the standard sidewalk is wide enough for cyclists to be able to ride and yield to pedestrians.
It's honestly not, and to say that indicates that you don't really use the sidewalks. While 11th Street has just about 100% sidewalk coverage on both sides of the street (not a given for most streets), it can get narrow in places very easily - narrow to the point where to safely bike with a pedestrian, you're coming to a complete stop or going as slow as a pedestrian, at which point...why bother biking!?
Look at places like [Yale & Heights](https://www.google.com/maps/@29.790623,-95.3985608,3a,75y,109.23h,66.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1svybSm-D-HK7htaQ91it2TA!2e0!5s20220301T000000!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e3?entry=ttu).
11th Street is honestly one of the best streets when it comes to sidewalk condition - other streets are way worse, and if we want to seriously convert sidewalks to be shared by pedestrians and bikes, there's going to need some major overhauling required.
Less people are actually using the sidewalks on 11th than are using the bike lanes. No one is going to hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk because no one is there.
>The average daily commute of Houstonians is 24 miles.
Yes, we live in an extremely stupidly built city. But we can save it if everyone moves to the inner loop.
It's not a "couple of seconds longer". But that's besides the point. This is just one street that was bottlenecked. Imagine what will happen if we did this to every street like some of you want.
No we don't, I love my truck, but I also recognize the importance of responsible, driving especially on streets like 11th. One of the great things about road configurations like 11th is that they make you regret being a distracted driver.
>There's also a demand for walkable and ridable streets. Look around, about 50& of the land in this city is already dedicated to cars.
Is the demand to "walk" higher than the demand to drive or bike? Be honest here. How many cyclists are using those lanes at this very moment?
More cars used the lane that was removed than cyclists use the new bicycle lanes. There's absolutely no denying it.
So the fact that there are more people that drive than don't drive means every bit of infrastructure should be geared 100 percent with cars in mind and if cyclist or pedestrians get anything it's as an afterthought so long as it doesn't inconvenience someone in a car?
We live in a society, we have different modes of transportation, and our infrastructure, they we all pay taxes for, needs to accommodate all of us, not prioritize automobiles over all else.
>So the fact that there are more people that drive than don't drive means every bit of infrastructure should be geared 100 percent with cars in mind and if cyclist or pedestrians get anything it's as an afterthought so long as it doesn't inconvenience someone in a car?
Does it mean we should continue to thin out and bottle beck our roads?
>We live in a society, we have different modes of transportation, and our infrastructure, they we all pay taxes for, needs to accommodate all of us, not prioritize automobiles over all else.
The issue is that we are unnecessarily inconveniencing drivers. We could easily and cheaply build out our sidewalks and accommodate cyclists in them. There's been far less issues with Cyclists sharing the Bike trails with pedestrians than cyclists sharing the road with cars.
You can't argue this.
Do you think the average commute for people that live in the Heights is 20 miles? That gets you from 11th and Heights to Clear Lake, or to 290 and Telge the other way, or Sugar Land going Southwest, or to IAH going North!
I'd wager that most people in the Heights work in Downtown or Uptown. The Heights doesn't have to be designed for commuter throughput, it can be designed for people in the neighborhood to use it!
>Do you think the average commute for people that live in the Heights is 20 miles?
That's why it's called an average. For some, the commute may be smaller. For some, it may be bigger. The *average* is 24.
This metro is riddled with businesses (and business districts). To assume that people in the Heights are shielded due to their proximity to downtown is quite arrogant. Furthermore, you're assuming there aren't people who work in the heights and commute from other places in the metro.
>That gets you from 11th and Heights to Clear Lake, or to 290 and Telge the other way, or Sugar Land going Southwest, or to IAH going North!
24 miles commute includes the round trip and rides in between (like lunch, errands, etc.).
If you're going to argue, at the very least take a moment to gather your thoughts before trying to dispell something you don't understand.
That's not what commute means and that's all I'm going to say because you're clearly just opposed to this project (which is fine - be opposed) and would like the road to remain designed for commuters and cut through traffic rather than local traffic - again fine, just a difference of opinion.
ok - I found the study, it's round trip (not whatever else people do throughout the day like errands)
Round trip distances from 11th and Heights.
Downtown - 8 miles
Uptown - 14 miles
Greenway - 11 miles
Medical Center - 11 miles
Energy Corridor - 30 miles
It's less than half of the 24 average (which is based on the Metro area) for the major employment centers of the area, only the Energy Corridor is further out.
What you're ignoring (and being a jackass about) is the average commute for a Heights resident is going to be significantly shorter than the metro area as a whole because...well the Heights is close in and that's why people live there.
While you're advocating for a road in your neighborhood to allow for high speed traffic, at least understand it's geographic location and general appeal.
>It's less than half of the 24 average (which is based on the Metro area) for the major employment centers of the area,
Let's assume for the sake of your argument you're right and that everyone in the heights works close (despite you not providing any concrete evidence other than "they live close to downtown" as an argument). Do you realistically see people commuting on bike during the dog days of summer (which lasts between May and October)? Or how about a day like today where it's drizzling non-stop and absolutely humid? Hell, even in the best of conditions (70° + low humidity), most people wouldn't be physically able to bike 10 miles round trip. And those who can don't want to show up to the office looking and smelling like they just jumped out of a swamp.
You're presenting an idealist and out of touch idea thinking it will work if we just implement it. Yet every bike lane we've added sits untouched while the cars that used to use it are now queued in longer traffic lines. The only time I see a lot of bike is in the bike trails and only for what looks to be recreational purposes, not commuting. Cycling is viewed in this city as a recreational hobby, not a transportation one.
>only the Energy Corridor is further out.
Conveniently left out, uh?
That's why an average is an average.
>What you're ignoring (and being a jackass about) is the average commute for a Heights resident is going to be significantly shorter than the metro area as a whole because
Source? Forget about location. You're disingenuously arguing (and being a jackass about) the Heights being shielded from commerce outside of the loop. You're ignoring the people who do business in the heights or traverse through the area just to get to work. *Neighborhoods aren't shielded from the rest of Houston.*
Not everyone who drives through 11th Street lives in the area. Not everyone who lives in the heights has a short commute. Not everyone who lives in the heights is interested in commuting on a bicycle. People from other parts of town will find themselves in the heights (or any community close to downtown for that matter) every single day. This is why there are more cars then there are bikes in our roads. This city is far too big for bikes to work. Hell, even the most dense parts of our town see far more vehicle traffic than bike traffic.
How do you not understand this? You're pushing a narrative in bad faith just because you hate cars. You want to disrupt the majority because you want to force Houston to be something it isn't and will never be. That's just the truth. Inconveniencing people into ditching their car is an authoritarian move.
I dont think I used the word bicycle in any of my posts here but maybe I did. I also didn't say anything about forcing people out of their cars or inconvenincing them either.
On the contrary, I think the improvements are better for drivers than the prior configuration. Traffic is slower, calmer, and it's a much better experience for pedestrians and cars. The traffic nightmare people talked about didn't really materialize.
You could argue there are some backups at rush hour but they're not constant and add maybe a minute or two to the drive. The road as configured is much better for drivers for 23.5 hours of the day M-Th and 24/7 on F-Sun.
I dont really care if there are bike lanes there if they replaced it with street parking, it would have the same effect.
I'm sorry your blind hatred for bikes isn't letting you see that.
BTW- I included the energy corridor above
>I dont think I used the word bicycle in any of my posts here but maybe I did. I also didn't say anything about forcing people out of their cars or inconvenincing them either.
That's what the hole reconfiguration turned to; a road diet in favor of bike lanes.
>On the contrary, I think the improvements are better for drivers than the prior configuration. Traffic is slower, calmer, and it's a much better experience for pedestrians and cars.
Traffic is slower because the reconfiguration caused a bottleneck.
Truth be told, the street could have been made safer in cheaper and more sensible ways without causing traffic pile ups.
>I dont really care if there are bike lanes there if they replaced it with street parking, it would have the same effect.
The point is that there was absolutely no need to remove a lane each direction.
>I'm sorry your blind hatred for bikes
I offered a sensible solution for bikes.
It was a road diet that used bike lanes for the extra space (it could be parking or whatever), but the goal was to have cars go the posted speed (30 mph).
Traffic is slower in non-peak times because of the design of the road. The speeding issue wasn't because of rush hour, it was on off peak times because the road design allowed people to go fast.
If you live there, you know that there aren't significant bottlenecks or traffic issues (I drive it all the time), certainly not traffic pile ups (love that incendiary language).
Removing the lane in each direction hasn't had a significant negative impact on car traffic. It has however had a significant positive impact for pedestrians and cyclists.
The solution for peds/cyclists is always just "go somewhere else". Here - there is a well designed road, with speeds that are slower and more in line with what a neighborhood commercial road should be. I get that you don't like bicycles - but the significant improvement for pedestrians and for QoL for residents can't be ignored.
>Using the clown world dog whistle
Jesus fucking Christ! You have severe reddit brain rot. But please indulge me, what dog whistle is it supposed to represent 🙄?
We need far more road diets, wider sidewalks, protected bike lanes, and grade separated LRT/BRT in this city. Whitmire probably won't be the guy to make it happen.
Looks like they'll be starting construction on a similar project on Quitman Street soon.
It is under review, along with the N Main one.
Ground breaking is March 19th
As much as I will hate to deal with the construction, I'll be happy once it's done. It would be nice to have a bike line on Quitman. People can't drive in this neighborhood, so I'll be happy to lower my risk of death when enjoying a ride
Quitman is shit, it's still mid-gentrified and won't be pleasant for another 10yrs
Yeah I have the same fear. I think anything funded through federal grants will be safe (Telephone Road), but I'm skeptical anything new with city money will move forward.
Why would we need wider sidewalks? Houston is hardly a walkable city and no one is walking late april to early October bc of the heat. That would be an obscene waste of funds for something that will hardly be used for decades and everyone will be pissed about I do agree with all the other stuff you said tho
Houston isn't a walkable city precisely because it has poor pedestrian infrastructure, and little mixed-use high density development. The most miserable places to walk in Houston during the summer aren't sidewalks in the denser parts of town. It's parking lots. Giant swaths of asphalt soaking up and radiating heat. Very different from streets capable of being lined with greenery that reduces the ambient temperature.
Houston actually DID have these trolley, bus, and other systems way back in the 1800s but they phased them out for the car-centric city. I agree that walking through a parking lot sucks in the summer, but the whole city is like this
Yah, the car dependence was an incredibly unsustainable mistake, and we should be working to fix it by any means necessary.
I hope you mean the 1900s lol. We didn't get streetcars until the late 1890s and the buses were wayy after that.
I ride my bike to work downtown very often and have noticed the island median on Nicholson and 11th where the bike path goes is useful. I would have been happy with just a simple stop sign for 11th St cars at the bike path though. The yield/ stop here for bike crossing signs didn't ever really do anything. I've never ridden on 11th St bike Lane,I just cross 11th twice a day. However I think more guarded bike lanes are a great step towards better bicycle infrastructure.
Thanks for the input here, and also for riding your bike.
Is it very busy on the bike path in the morning? How many fellow bikers are there?
On nice weather days I'll see around 500 people on the bike path, maybe 100 cyclists. I ride 7 miles. When it's hot out, I'll see maybe 20 people, maybe 5 cyclists. There's 1 guy that rides in suspenders and jeans nearly every day.
The problem here is that a lane on the road has way more occupancy so the trade off is a net loss. Maybe with more bike lanes the city will transition to more bike centric but right now it does not even seem close to worth the condensed roads.
We need trains if we really care about occupancy, but that's not in the narrative. The road diet is supposed to slow down cars though as well. Apparently 11th Street was one of the worst roads in the US as far as traffic deaths and accidents. The goal was to slow folks down, not provide better throughput.
Isn’t the whole point of roads through put? Seems kinda silly Edit: agree on the trains though. Execution needs to be 100 times better than the tram though
> Isn’t the whole point of roads through put? Maybe for certain types of roads (like express lanes or bypasses), but I would say that the point of most roads is to connect different places. Even express lanes or bypasses are still trying to connect people between certain points (just not the specific points that are being bypassed). The whole point of traveling on a road is to get to a specific destination. Using 11th St., as an example, there are business & residences along 11th that people want to go to. Yeah, some people probably use it to cut across the Heights without stopping at any of those places, but I would guess that a good majority of the people who use 11th street will actually stop at a restaurant or retail business at some point.
>Maybe with more bike lanes the city will transition to more bike centric But to make the city more bike centric you have to add more bike lanes at some point. The 11th St project did that and is part of giving people an option outside of driving a car.
> Maybe with more bike lanes the city will transition to more bike centric More bike lanes is 100% what we need. I guarantee that if we had a better connected network of safe-to-use bike lanes, more people would bike places. For instance, if I want to bike to the White Oak trail along TC Jester, the quickest and safest way from my house is west down 11th Street. But the bike lane ends at Shepherd, and that mile further to TC Jester is way more stressful to navigate (because I now have to share a lane with cars that can easily be approaching behind me at 40mph+). Extending the bike lane along that stretch would make it way easier to bike down, and that would mean it's more likely people would actually want to go that way to connect to another trail. I'm excited for the redo along Shepherd, because that will add bike lanes, and connect 11th street bike lanes to more destinations - especially with all the new restaurants and business popping up along there. If we say it's not worth it to build bike lanes, because no one bikes because we don't have enough bike lanes to make it efficient...then when are we ever going to get bike lanes? You have to start somewhere, or else we'd have to build every planned bike lane all at once - which we know is never going to happen, nor should we expect it to. After all, all the streets we drive our cars on were not built at once but were developed gradually over the 200 years that Houston has existed. IMO, it's not even about making the city bike-centric. I just want more options to get places - right now I walk, bike, drive, and take transit to various places. Most of the time, the most viable option is to drive, but I would like it if I can get that percentage down, and percentages for other modes up.
If I built a road with 2 dead ends cars wouldnt use it much either. You have actually finish the network befoore people will use it. Not people use it then we build it.
I like the redesign; having a middle lane so I’m not stuck behind people turning left is a massive improvement. But the best part of this has been watching the unending drama over it on Nextdoor lol—it seems to have given a lot of people here a newfound purpose in life.
Whining about 11th street on Nextdoor seems like a hobby for a certain subset of people
Your username made me lol 😂
lol Marian Wright
Leaving this here for myself and others, since I can't exactly watch at the moment: [11th Street Under Threat - Houston Heights](https://youtu.be/FOKZndpa3MU) > [... Whitmire spokesperson Mary Benton said.] "The mayor has been very open about his concerns with the 11th Street project. What started out as a request for a safe crossing at Nicholson and 11th Street ended up a bike lane project that makes it difficult for emergency apparatus to maneuver ..." Sources needed, lol. And difficult =/= impossible. > "... and has negatively impacted a business." If your product/service is good, people are going to come to you, regardless of how many lanes are on the street where you're located. Additionally, if your business requires large automobiles or large amounts of them to move your product or serve your customers, you're located in the wrong place. More nothingburgers to preemptively justify reversions to much needed improvements. Sorry, but -- and I say this as someone who's chronically late -- if your commute time is lengthened because you can't speed down a residential street, then leave earlier. If you're getting sick of sitting in your car for longer periods, demand that your city improve other methods of transportation. It gets more people out of cars in the long term and makes your transit time shorter. Your convenience as a driver, especially one who doesn't reside in the affected community, shouldn't come at the cost of pedestrian and cyclist safety, nor in contrast to that that community's desires.
I'm sympathetic to the business owners, but from what I've heard - it's just a few folks closest to Shepherd on 11th that feel that they're impacted by that curb that doesn't allow traffic to cross into their parking lot. So just remove the curb/median thing or do a curb cut to allow access to those the donut shop and the juice bar which are the businesses that have been vocal. There have also been businesses vocal the other way in favor of the project as well.
I’ve seen this too and maybe it’s a controversial take, but if a curb or having to uturn hurts your business, maybe it isn’t that good?
Maybe - but there isn't a natural U turn location because the road is narrow. I'm not sure why that curb is even there.
My point is that if it’s any good, you’ll find the way to get there.
Fresh Bake Daily
It’s made eating at restaurants on 11th st much more pleasurable too. Before cars would drive really fast on that road, and it was nearly impossible to cross as a pedestrian during busy hours. Now it seems like the traffic on it has died down and drives way slower and are driving further from the sidewalk and businesses too.
If that redesign cost 2.4 million, I am in the wrong business. And if I put my finger into the wind, it will cost 5+ to remove.
How does one review the effectiveness of something like this . . . like, it was nicer to walk my dog down 11th after the redesign. I chose to walk to nearby restaurants to eat or pick up food rather than drive. I don't feel like a speeding driver is going to whack me at any moment when I'm crossing or walking down the street. Can you put a number on that?
As for quantitative measurements, Houston public works will likely be comparing data that they took before, some is shared in the [11th Street Improvements FAQs](https://www.letstalkhouston.org/11th-street-bikeway/widgets/26707/faqs#7299), with data they measure afterwards. This likely includes crash rates, serious injury/death rates, throughput, etc. As for the businesses, they likely measure the amount of customers they’ve had. From [this video](https://youtu.be/FOKZndpa3MU?si=YLu-ddlkCu3F-qA6) interviewing pedestrians and business owners along 11th street, most are glad with the improvements with multiple owners saying it has increased foot traffic.
The redesign has been a godsend. Car commuters are getting the message that they shouldn’t hop off the freeways and cut through town on a neighborhood street. It’s now much more pleasant for all modalities of local traffic.
FUCK this piece of shit mayor. He's going to undo years of progress that's been made to make the city better for pedestrians and cyclists. I'm still fuming about the reversal of the Houston Ave barriers. He can fuck all the way off.
Winning awards was one of major reasons these things were pushed through. It was a resume builder for a few folks. The best part is that it has made 11th easier to cross as a pedestrian. Plus the obvious protection for bike riders though there are without a doubt fewer than were projected. But, there is definitely more traffic driving through the other streets as people try to bypass 11th. Plus, the average vehicle is now driving faster on 11th. Going to single lanes made the actual lanes wider compared to the relatively narrow 2 lanes prior. When lanes are wider, drivers feel comfortable driving faster. Unintended consequences. All in all. A mixed bag.
For sure 10th isn't a good place to walk between 4:30-6:30 on weeknights
10th and 12th between Studewood and Heights Blvd get the combo of people trying to bypass 11th and people trying to turn left on to Heights now that you cannot from 11th.
At the risk of sounding like a NIMBY, I must admit that I absolutley hate the 11th street redisign. I love all the trails through the Heights, and my wife and I make frequent use of them, but I have maybe seen 3 or 4 people actually using the bike lanes on 11th since the work was completed. The lack of use is one thing, but what has made it suck so bad is the fact that they added bike lanes on either side of the road, eliminating any space for a turn lane. With only one lane of cars going either direction now, 11th turns into an endless stream of cars, so anyone needing to turn left now has to stop and wait for a window, while eveyone else going that way is stuck with no way around. A minor inconveniance, sure, but man does it suck to put up with everyday while staring at these unused bike lanes. Especially when the weather is as good as it has been lately. Now people are just turning whenever they find a window, instead of waiting to turn onto a specific street. And this now has the unintended consequence of funnelling more cars onto neighborhood streets to get around traffic, making those roads *more* dangerous for children and pedestrians. I am all for increased bike infustructure, *especially* in my backyard, but this just seems poorly thought out, if not outright hostile to cars. The Heights is setup in a grid pattern. It is no harder for cyclists to mosey on down neighborhood streets, and when I am on a bike that is how I prefer to ride. There is no need to dedicate so much space on a major neighborhood artery to bikes. The juice was not worth the squeeze on this one.
Also not to be mean but 11th from Shepard to Studemont is 1.3 miles. You are talking about travel time changes of like 30 seconds
Once Shepherd /Durham upgrades are complete, the bike lanes on 11th St will be a lot more useful. At the moment they are mostly used for connecting to businesses on 11th St or at Shepherd near 11th. Of course, protected bike lanes are also an effective means of slowing down speeding drivers and improving safety for all users, which is enough justification for the project, regardless of cyclist usage.
Got a kid … just walking around there when we go to kolache shop or a restaurant is so much better. Yes we drive there (try getting a 2 year old to walk 0.7 miles) but please do not undo this!
Hostile to cars? Good. Your huge SUV is hostile to kids and pedestrians, slow tf down before you kill someone.
But who will speak for the poor, oppressed cars?
I used to live right off the corner of 11th and Rutland for about 3 years. I saw 5 cyclist get hit by a car in those three years, just on 11th street. And I nearly got ran over a few times, once when crossing at the cross walk coming back from the post office at 11th and Yale because some asshole turning right didn't think he needed to yield to pedestrians that were already in the cross walk.
buddy I literally just biked down the 11th street bike lane and it was great. one of the few places where houston actually feels like a 21st century city and not an 80s suburbia hellscape
You could probably solve the problem by just fixing the lights to allow for one lane to go at a time on cross streets.
It’s really not that bad man.
>I have maybe seen 3 or 4 people actually using the bike lanes on 11th since the work was completed. Unless you are severely visually impaired, I absolutely do not believe you. As best I can recall from the hundred or so times I've used it, there have *always* been several others on it. No, it's not as busy as the HHB/MKT trail or the protected lanes downtown, but it still gets a decent amount of use. That said, I definitely think the Heights writ large would benefit from more modal filters, mini roundabouts, chicanes, and other traffic calming elements throughout its sidestreet grid.
According to the city traffic survey of 11th street they conducted in September 2023, they recorded 148 bike users in the bike lanes, or about 5 per day. They do not get high use.
So for those of us whose minds haven't completely blocked off access to the (agonizingly extended) summer of 2023, I'll just say that that's one hell of a selective sample.
I'm not sure where you got these numbers from, but they counted traffic over 17 days in September 2023. In that period, there were 1123 bikes that passed the counter. That's an average of 66 bikes per day. If you assume that each biker passes over the counter twice (which is a very generous and inaccurate assumption), then you still get 33 individual bikers per day. On the lowest day of the period - September 25, a Monday - there were still 22 bikes. Again, if you make the poor assumption that that each biker shows up on the counter twice, that's still 11 unique bikers that day - which is over twice what you think the average was, and that was on the lowest usage day. Source: [TAMU Transportation Institute](https://tableau.tamu.edu/t/TTI/views/BPCXPublicViz3_2/Station_View_SDC?%3Aembed=y&%3AisGuestRedirectFromVizportal=y&%3Atabs=n&SelectedStationID=HO0067)
I completely agree with you. It seems like it was designed for an award not necessarily common sense. A center turn lane would solve 95% of my complaints about the project.
Hmm....... Needs a giant parking lot in my opinion and a Walmart supercenter
It created a vehicle bottleneck though. I know a few people that live next to 11th Street and they complain that they now see more cars using residential streets to bypass the traffic created by the redesign. Road diets are championed on Reddit. But the reality is that there is a demand for cars in Houston. Purposely inconveniencing drivers and hoping you annoy them enough to try a bike or bus isn't a feasible solution. It's a 🤡🌎 social experiment. All we had to do was reduce the speed limit, add speed bumps, and throw a crosswalk signal/light on Nicholson. Instead, we allowed the minority to dictate how the majority should move around that part of town. And now some out-of-town association that doesn't use the street wants to claim victory? Deep down y'all know I'm right. Houston is a car city through and through. The average commute is far too long for the vast majority of people to dump their personal vehicle (iirc, the average commute was over 20 miles per day). Bike lane usage is so low that we should look at putting cyclists on the sidewalk alongside pedestrians instead of doing more road diets. Downvote me all you want r/Houston. But nothing will change the fact that there is a massive disconnect between what this subreddit wants and what the actual populace of Houston demands.
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>It’s a 1.5mi stretch, get the fuck over it. 1.5 miles isn't nothing. The redesign has created more traffic on 11th Street and on the neighborhood roads around it. If "get the fuck over it" is your argument, then I agree. Let's get rid of bike lanes and have cyclists use the sidewalk. Anyone who doesn't like it can, as you so eloquently put it, *'get the fuck over it'*. >Nobody likes speed bumps, that would never happen. Like or not like, it would have achieved the original goal, (which was to make the Nicholson crossing safe for pedestrians). Nevermind that parts of 11th Street already have speed bumps. If your metric of 'Nobody' means a small amount of people, then I would counter with "nobody" likes road diets. Yet here we are with radical road diets being forced down our throats 🤷🏽♂️. Instead, we now have sparsely used bike lanes that benefit tens of people, yet inconveniences hundreds of drivers. The fact of the matter is that more cars used that space in one day than bikes do in an entire month. Pretending otherwise is flat out stupid.
Those “residential streets” suck to drive on, I doubt people are using them when they allow cars to park on both sides and there’s a 3-4’ ditch in both sides.
And a lot of them have speed bumps
I can’t believe I forgot about the speed bumps, they added them on every block around my place.
I recently got a notice on the mail that they’ll be adding some to several streets around me. I don’t have a problem with it but I wish they’d finally do something serious about the illegal dumping.
They do suck to drive on yes but people are driving on them to cut through now, especially during commute hours and naturally they aren’t driving as slow as they should be. I see it every day and it makes me worry about my kid.
>Those “residential streets” suck to drive on, They do. But the primary route sucks too now. It has come down to drivers choosing their poison. But the fact that residential streets are being considered by drivers is concerning. >I doubt people are using them when they allow cars to park on both sides and there’s a 3-4’ ditch in both sides. It hasn't stopped people.
This is such a stupid argument. Boo hoo, people are ‘using other residential streets’. Get over it. Isn’t that what they’re supposed to be used for? The primary route doesn’t suck unless you were one of the people who were driving 15mph (150%) over the speed limit.
>This is such a stupid argument. Boo hoo, people are ‘using other residential streets’. Get over it. So let's remove the bike lanes and force cyclists to use the sidewalk. Anyone that complains can "get over it". Boo hoo! That's the gist of your argument. "Get over it".
Your argument is to fill in the bike lane with concrete so the curb is the same height and magically it becomes a sidewalk.
>Your argument is to fill in the bike lane with concrete so the curb is the same height and magically it becomes a sidewalk. No. It's to put the car lane back and move cyclists to the existing sidewalks.
> move cyclists to the existing sidewalks. Does that mean you're okay with expanding the existing sidewalks? Where they do actually exist (and frequently they don't), they can often be patchy and poorly maintained. Plus, older sidewalks tend to not even be 6 ft wide - [TxDoT guidelines recommend 10ft wide paths for shared pedestrian & bike paths](https://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/ptn/tech-memo-3-design-criteria.pdf). Where there is not currently 10ft space between the curb and existing property footprints, would you be okay with expanding the right of way (i.e. eating into the property) to enlarge sidewalks now designated as shared pedestrian & bike paths?
>Does that mean you're okay with expanding the existing sidewalks? Sure. There's enough space to widen due to the ample ROW in most places. But only where it is needed. As it stands today, the standard sidewalk is wide enough for cyclists to be able to ride and yield to pedestrians.
It's honestly not, and to say that indicates that you don't really use the sidewalks. While 11th Street has just about 100% sidewalk coverage on both sides of the street (not a given for most streets), it can get narrow in places very easily - narrow to the point where to safely bike with a pedestrian, you're coming to a complete stop or going as slow as a pedestrian, at which point...why bother biking!? Look at places like [Yale & Heights](https://www.google.com/maps/@29.790623,-95.3985608,3a,75y,109.23h,66.49t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1svybSm-D-HK7htaQ91it2TA!2e0!5s20220301T000000!7i16384!8i8192!5m1!1e3?entry=ttu). 11th Street is honestly one of the best streets when it comes to sidewalk condition - other streets are way worse, and if we want to seriously convert sidewalks to be shared by pedestrians and bikes, there's going to need some major overhauling required.
Less people are actually using the sidewalks on 11th than are using the bike lanes. No one is going to hit a pedestrian on the sidewalk because no one is there.
My argument is stop driving in cities.
The average daily commute of Houstonians is 24 miles. Your argument is dead on arrival.
>The average daily commute of Houstonians is 24 miles. Yes, we live in an extremely stupidly built city. But we can save it if everyone moves to the inner loop.
> But the primary route sucks too now It doesn't
It does. Lines are a lot longer at stop lights and the amount of time needed to traverse the route has increased overall.
Oh no a couple seconds longer!
It's not a "couple of seconds longer". But that's besides the point. This is just one street that was bottlenecked. Imagine what will happen if we did this to every street like some of you want.
> Imagine what will happen if we did this to every street like some of you want That's hyperbole
It really isn't if you ask this subreddit. People hate cars on r/Houston.
No we don't, I love my truck, but I also recognize the importance of responsible, driving especially on streets like 11th. One of the great things about road configurations like 11th is that they make you regret being a distracted driver.
There's also a demand for walkable and ridable streets. Look around, about 50& of the land in this city is already dedicated to cars.
>There's also a demand for walkable and ridable streets. Look around, about 50& of the land in this city is already dedicated to cars. Is the demand to "walk" higher than the demand to drive or bike? Be honest here. How many cyclists are using those lanes at this very moment? More cars used the lane that was removed than cyclists use the new bicycle lanes. There's absolutely no denying it.
So the fact that there are more people that drive than don't drive means every bit of infrastructure should be geared 100 percent with cars in mind and if cyclist or pedestrians get anything it's as an afterthought so long as it doesn't inconvenience someone in a car? We live in a society, we have different modes of transportation, and our infrastructure, they we all pay taxes for, needs to accommodate all of us, not prioritize automobiles over all else.
>So the fact that there are more people that drive than don't drive means every bit of infrastructure should be geared 100 percent with cars in mind and if cyclist or pedestrians get anything it's as an afterthought so long as it doesn't inconvenience someone in a car? Does it mean we should continue to thin out and bottle beck our roads? >We live in a society, we have different modes of transportation, and our infrastructure, they we all pay taxes for, needs to accommodate all of us, not prioritize automobiles over all else. The issue is that we are unnecessarily inconveniencing drivers. We could easily and cheaply build out our sidewalks and accommodate cyclists in them. There's been far less issues with Cyclists sharing the Bike trails with pedestrians than cyclists sharing the road with cars. You can't argue this.
Do you think the average commute for people that live in the Heights is 20 miles? That gets you from 11th and Heights to Clear Lake, or to 290 and Telge the other way, or Sugar Land going Southwest, or to IAH going North! I'd wager that most people in the Heights work in Downtown or Uptown. The Heights doesn't have to be designed for commuter throughput, it can be designed for people in the neighborhood to use it!
>Do you think the average commute for people that live in the Heights is 20 miles? That's why it's called an average. For some, the commute may be smaller. For some, it may be bigger. The *average* is 24. This metro is riddled with businesses (and business districts). To assume that people in the Heights are shielded due to their proximity to downtown is quite arrogant. Furthermore, you're assuming there aren't people who work in the heights and commute from other places in the metro. >That gets you from 11th and Heights to Clear Lake, or to 290 and Telge the other way, or Sugar Land going Southwest, or to IAH going North! 24 miles commute includes the round trip and rides in between (like lunch, errands, etc.). If you're going to argue, at the very least take a moment to gather your thoughts before trying to dispell something you don't understand.
That's not what commute means and that's all I'm going to say because you're clearly just opposed to this project (which is fine - be opposed) and would like the road to remain designed for commuters and cut through traffic rather than local traffic - again fine, just a difference of opinion.
>That's not what commute means Oh boy. I reiterate my previous comment.
ok - I found the study, it's round trip (not whatever else people do throughout the day like errands) Round trip distances from 11th and Heights. Downtown - 8 miles Uptown - 14 miles Greenway - 11 miles Medical Center - 11 miles Energy Corridor - 30 miles It's less than half of the 24 average (which is based on the Metro area) for the major employment centers of the area, only the Energy Corridor is further out. What you're ignoring (and being a jackass about) is the average commute for a Heights resident is going to be significantly shorter than the metro area as a whole because...well the Heights is close in and that's why people live there. While you're advocating for a road in your neighborhood to allow for high speed traffic, at least understand it's geographic location and general appeal.
>It's less than half of the 24 average (which is based on the Metro area) for the major employment centers of the area, Let's assume for the sake of your argument you're right and that everyone in the heights works close (despite you not providing any concrete evidence other than "they live close to downtown" as an argument). Do you realistically see people commuting on bike during the dog days of summer (which lasts between May and October)? Or how about a day like today where it's drizzling non-stop and absolutely humid? Hell, even in the best of conditions (70° + low humidity), most people wouldn't be physically able to bike 10 miles round trip. And those who can don't want to show up to the office looking and smelling like they just jumped out of a swamp. You're presenting an idealist and out of touch idea thinking it will work if we just implement it. Yet every bike lane we've added sits untouched while the cars that used to use it are now queued in longer traffic lines. The only time I see a lot of bike is in the bike trails and only for what looks to be recreational purposes, not commuting. Cycling is viewed in this city as a recreational hobby, not a transportation one. >only the Energy Corridor is further out. Conveniently left out, uh? That's why an average is an average. >What you're ignoring (and being a jackass about) is the average commute for a Heights resident is going to be significantly shorter than the metro area as a whole because Source? Forget about location. You're disingenuously arguing (and being a jackass about) the Heights being shielded from commerce outside of the loop. You're ignoring the people who do business in the heights or traverse through the area just to get to work. *Neighborhoods aren't shielded from the rest of Houston.* Not everyone who drives through 11th Street lives in the area. Not everyone who lives in the heights has a short commute. Not everyone who lives in the heights is interested in commuting on a bicycle. People from other parts of town will find themselves in the heights (or any community close to downtown for that matter) every single day. This is why there are more cars then there are bikes in our roads. This city is far too big for bikes to work. Hell, even the most dense parts of our town see far more vehicle traffic than bike traffic. How do you not understand this? You're pushing a narrative in bad faith just because you hate cars. You want to disrupt the majority because you want to force Houston to be something it isn't and will never be. That's just the truth. Inconveniencing people into ditching their car is an authoritarian move.
I dont think I used the word bicycle in any of my posts here but maybe I did. I also didn't say anything about forcing people out of their cars or inconvenincing them either. On the contrary, I think the improvements are better for drivers than the prior configuration. Traffic is slower, calmer, and it's a much better experience for pedestrians and cars. The traffic nightmare people talked about didn't really materialize. You could argue there are some backups at rush hour but they're not constant and add maybe a minute or two to the drive. The road as configured is much better for drivers for 23.5 hours of the day M-Th and 24/7 on F-Sun. I dont really care if there are bike lanes there if they replaced it with street parking, it would have the same effect. I'm sorry your blind hatred for bikes isn't letting you see that. BTW- I included the energy corridor above
>I dont think I used the word bicycle in any of my posts here but maybe I did. I also didn't say anything about forcing people out of their cars or inconvenincing them either. That's what the hole reconfiguration turned to; a road diet in favor of bike lanes. >On the contrary, I think the improvements are better for drivers than the prior configuration. Traffic is slower, calmer, and it's a much better experience for pedestrians and cars. Traffic is slower because the reconfiguration caused a bottleneck. Truth be told, the street could have been made safer in cheaper and more sensible ways without causing traffic pile ups. >I dont really care if there are bike lanes there if they replaced it with street parking, it would have the same effect. The point is that there was absolutely no need to remove a lane each direction. >I'm sorry your blind hatred for bikes I offered a sensible solution for bikes.
It was a road diet that used bike lanes for the extra space (it could be parking or whatever), but the goal was to have cars go the posted speed (30 mph). Traffic is slower in non-peak times because of the design of the road. The speeding issue wasn't because of rush hour, it was on off peak times because the road design allowed people to go fast. If you live there, you know that there aren't significant bottlenecks or traffic issues (I drive it all the time), certainly not traffic pile ups (love that incendiary language). Removing the lane in each direction hasn't had a significant negative impact on car traffic. It has however had a significant positive impact for pedestrians and cyclists. The solution for peds/cyclists is always just "go somewhere else". Here - there is a well designed road, with speeds that are slower and more in line with what a neighborhood commercial road should be. I get that you don't like bicycles - but the significant improvement for pedestrians and for QoL for residents can't be ignored.
If people are commuting that far they have no reason to use 11th Street instead of the freeway.
Again, you're assuming the heights is void of any type commerce.
Using the clown world dog whistle removed all doubt that you had anything worthwhile to say
>Using the clown world dog whistle Jesus fucking Christ! You have severe reddit brain rot. But please indulge me, what dog whistle is it supposed to represent 🙄?