Bike lanes have turn out to be Houston’s tradition conflict.
Driving is irritating sufficient in Houston, however image it on a motorcycle: You’re pedaling down a busy avenue. It’s most likely a scorching day. You’re making an attempt to observe all the security pointers whereas additionally trusting that drivers round you’ll respect your spot on the highway. And let’s face it, that belief is commonly misplaced.
It’s a problem Houston’s biker group faces day-after-day. Our concrete jungle of a metropolis has lots of enhancing to do in the case of walkability and bike-friendly infrastructure. However the discourse round it has created considerably of a divide over time.
“I feel in Houston, there’s a feeling that streets are for vehicles, and I can’t blame some individuals for feeling that approach as a result of simply go searching—take a look at how we’ve designed these streets,” says Joe Cutrufo, government director of BikeHouston. “In lots of instances, the streets are designed in a approach that it seems they’re meant for under vehicles, and we observe the cues that infrastructure provides us.”
Via his work with BikeHouston, he hopes to assist remodel the town into a spot the place biking may be achieved safely. Cutrufo describes utilizing a automobile or bike as a instrument, and in life, we use the suitable instrument for a job. If he’s solely transporting himself a mile or two from the place he lives, together with just a few private objects, he doesn’t have motive to make use of his automobile. If he’s getting groceries and transporting his two kids, that’s a unique story.
“I feel affordable individuals can agree that having transportation selections provides to high quality of life,” he says.
But it hasn’t at all times been that straightforward on this city. In the event you sort “bike lanes Houston” into X, you’ll see heated debates on the subject between people who find themselves for and in opposition to them—and each center floor you may consider. Cutrufo believes the polarization comes from some individuals’s notion that Houston’s streets must be designed to ensure drivers don’t really feel inconvenienced. And Cutrufo blames Mayor John Whitmire’s administration for inflicting a fair greater divide between bikers and drivers.
“By eradicating bike infrastructure, Mayor Whitmire has primarily politicized the act of using a motorcycle in Houston,” Cutrufo says. “I feel he has validated the emotions of people that imagine that bikes don’t belong in Houston.”
Since taking workplace in January 2024, Whitmire has gone on an infrastructure reversal spree, pausing or undoing bike and pedestrian tasks that had been principally established throughout the earlier administration. The newest occasion to trigger a stir within the biker group is the reconstruction of Austin Avenue. The road had been included within the Houston Bike Plan, which was unanimously adopted by Houston Metropolis Council in 2017.
Austin Avenue is without doubt one of the newest areas that may see a change to its bike lanes.
“Austin Avenue is arguably the backbone of utilizing the bike community [in Houston],” Cutrufo says. “It successfully connects Buffalo Bayou to Brays Bayou. The primary consumer of Austin Avenue shouldn’t be a leisure bicycle owner, it’s somebody who’s going to work.”
Previous to its redesign, months of group engagement occurred to make sure that the adjustments to Austin Avenue would successfully serve its surrounding group. Ultimately, the town settled on making a two-way bike lane with concrete dividers. However Cutrufo says all of this was ripped to shreds in a single day.
BikeHouston started to suspect Austin Avenue is likely to be beneath evaluation by Whitmire after the group filed a Texas Public Data Act request. The paperwork obtained confirmed an e mail alternate discussing removing of the bike lane between Houston Public Works and a contractor. In late March, building crews started working on eradicating the concrete dividers, which led to speedy outcry.
“The distinction between how Austin Avenue was put in and the way it was torn out is staggering,” Cutrufo says.
Whitmire initially supposed to interchange the protected lanes with “sharrows” or shared lane markings, however after the backlash he acquired, he made revisions. Below the brand new plan Austin Avenue can have a devoted bike lane, along with avenue parking, much like Heights Boulevard’s design.
“That is crucial transportation infrastructure, and no matter how [Whitmire] feels about individuals who get round on bikes, the mayor has an obligation to make sure that everybody can get round his metropolis no matter how they journey,” Cutrufo says.
Whitmire advised Houston Public Media in an April Good day Houston interview that he’s basing his selections to take away bike lanes on listening to the group and their considerations. He famous that he’s dedicated to bike mobility, however with a give attention to connectivity of trails and recreation. He has additionally at instances referred to as officers from the administration earlier than him “anti-car activists.”
Marlene Gafrick, Whitmire’s advisor on infrastructure, says the mayor’s duty is to consider the great for all Houstonians, not one group. The problem the administration is dealing with, is how and the place to responsibly present for bikes with out negatively impacting others, she says.
“We try to take a commonsense, data-driven method on all the pieces we do on the metropolis,” Gafrick says. “The latest adjustments to Austin Avenue had been supposed to be aware of the problems we heard from residents that stay on the road, lack of parking and stable waste assortment. As well as, a hearth station misplaced a coaching space. Listening to the considerations of the biking group, adjustments had been made to the revisions.”
Information from the Kinder Institute’s Election 2023: Priorities and Issues of Houston Residents report, which surveyed over 2,000 Houstonians, reveals that 38 % wished so as to add bike lanes on extra streets, whereas 73 % had been hoping to see improved infrastructure. The latter was the second-highest precedence for residents, tied with reasonably priced housing.
The Austin Avenue drama isn’t Houston’s first rodeo with bike lane controversy. Metropolis councilmember Sallie Alcorn says she had seen an aggressive transfer towards constructing bike lanes since she labored as a staffer beneath former councilmember Stephen Costello a few decade in the past. However now that’s altering.
“I feel they’re simply the place [the bike lanes] are and if it’s impacting mobility and all of that,” Alcorn says. “It did begin a little bit little bit of a tradition conflict. I’ve mentioned this within the horseshoe earlier than—I feel in each metropolis there’s this sort of combat. Irrespective of the place you’re—Paris, Boston, New York—there’s at all times sort of a combat when a motorcycle lane comes and adjustments any person’s visitors sample. It’s onerous.”
Arguments are additionally popping again up once more for eleventh Avenue’s redesign, which was achieved beneath former mayor Sylvester Turner. Previous to the redesign, Cutrufo says there weren’t many individuals biking alongside eleventh Avenue, so the argument was “Oh, they took away a automobile lane and put in bike lanes, why would they do this?” However he notes that the thought for the venture was to make a harmful avenue protected for everybody.
Latest research present that bike lanes have made eleventh Avenue safer.
A 2019 research confirmed that eleventh Avenue between Shepherd Drive and Heights Boulevard, on the time a four-lane undivided roadway, had 10 % extra crashes than different equally designed Texas roads. After a redesign accomplished in 2023, the road now has fewer lanes for vehicles however added bike lanes and different security options like a central left-turn lane. In response to a earlier report by Houston Public Works, the venture was efficient in making a safer avenue for all. The information reveals slower visitors, together with fewer extreme crashes.
“There are a number of research now that present that if you make a avenue protected for strolling and biking, you make it protected for driving, too,” Cutrufo says.
Regardless of the information, there are ongoing discussions amongst individuals who wish to see the road return to what it was, primarily enterprise house owners who really feel it contributes to extra visitors.
Alcorn notes that on the horseshoe—the desk the place councilmembers and the mayor sit—metropolis council hears either side of the argument and takes all considerations severely; she says some enterprise house owners have praised the redesign. Gafrick says a few of the greatest considerations embrace service supply points for hearth and stable waste assortment, lack of avenue parking and normal mobility, lack of upkeep of the bike lanes, and that the lanes had been put in no matter property house owners’ positions. Cutrufo believes the group of people that’d wish to see it return to what it was, although, is similar as these beforehand in opposition to it.
Cutrufo says lots of the divide may be fastened by means of training and advocacy. In his position at BikeHouston, he continuously goes to Austin to testify at committee hearings and sometimes speaks at Houston Metropolis Council conferences and privately with councilmembers.
“You get essentially the most bang to your buck by making an attempt to teach individuals who even have the facility and the sources to construct infrastructure and alter coverage,” Cutrufo says.
Alcorn is outspoken on her help for public transportation in Houston. On the finish of every work week, you’ll discover her doing “no-car Friday,” a practice that got here from one in all her staffers again when she took workplace in 2020. On such days, you may see her using her new electrical bike or on a bus zooming round city.
“I feel it’s nice to get out of your automobile and see the place you may get to in a unique mode,” Alcorn says. “And it additionally taught me lots about what individuals face, attending to bus stops, navigating bike lanes, and strolling on damaged sidewalks. It’s given me an amazing perspective on find out how to get round Houston with no automobile. And lots of instances it’s not very simple or pleasant in any respect.”
With all of the discourse, Alcorn says either side ought to attempt to come collectively and compromise.
“Much less yelling at one another, and extra working collectively,” she says.
