11th Street Bikeway

We have an update on the 11th Street Project after the City’s presentation on December 16th (which we advertised via social media). For those who don’t know, the City plans to implement a “road diet” on 11th Street between Shepherd and Michaux: removing one car lane, converting the middle lane to a turning lane (like on Studewood) for most of the road, and adding separated bike lanes. The general idea is to reduce car speed, while maintaining traffic volume, and add infrastructure to make it safer for people walking in biking in the area. The City is currently at 30% design phase and hopes to start construction this coming Summer.

Two particular points of interest for our neighborhood. The first is the location and design of protected crosswalks on 11th Street, such as around Hogg Middle School. The second relates to sections of the project inside our neighborhood. The Houston Bike Plan includes Michaux as a bike thoroughfare to connect 11th Street to the White Oak Bayou Trail. As part of the 11th Street Project, the City plans to (i) add bike signage on Michaux and (ii) install a pedestrian/bike island refuge at Michaux and White Oak.

There are trade-offs for all of these projects. I’m in communication with the City, and would like to get a sense for what our neighbors think about these two points in particular. To be clear, we are likely past the “no go” stage; the project is almost certainly happening. However, there is opportunity to improve the project and have our voices heard in the final design. If you have comments on how the project could improve—and just not general opposition—or are interested in meeting (virtually) about these issues, please contact me (Brad Snead) at infrastructure@woodland-heights.org.

The meeting presentation can be found here: https://houstonbikeplan.org/planned/11th-street/ (look in the public engagement section). Individual comments and questions can be submitted here: www.letstalkhouston.org/11th-street-bikeway.