Recent Streetsblog NYC posts about Houston

Houston Mayor Calls for “Paradigm Shift” Away From Highway Widening

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 29, 2016 | No Comments

Newly elected Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner gave a remarkable speech yesterday in Austin [PDF], calling on the state to change its transportation priorities and stop pouring billions into widening highways. Turner told the Texas Transportation Commission, the appointed board that leads Texas DOT, that the state needs a totally new transportation paradigm. The speech is phenomenal, and […]

Ridership on the Upswing After Houston’s Bus Network Redesign

By Angie Schmitt | Jan 4, 2016 | No Comments

In August, Houston debuted its new bus network, reconfigured to increase frequent service, expand weekend hours, and improve access to jobs. The implementation was contentious at times, and when we last checked in on the results — two months after the changes took effect — bus ridership was down 4 percent overall but up dramatically on weekends. That was to […]

The Movement to Eliminate Traffic Deaths Gains Strength in Texas Cities

By Angie Schmitt | Sep 24, 2015 | No Comments

Texas cities are some of the most dangerous places in the U.S. to walk or bike — or drive, for that matter. In 2013, the per capita traffic death rate in Texas was 24 percent higher than the nation as a whole. And because so many people live in the state, it regularly leads the nation in total […]

Crashes Doubled After Houston Banned Red Light Cameras

By Angie Schmitt | Aug 12, 2015 | No Comments

Law enforcement officers warned there would likely be an uptick in collisions when Houston debated banning red light cameras in the early part of the decade. Turns out they were absolutely right. Houston voters banned the life-saving technology in 2010, with the press mostly cheering them along. Last year Houston PD examined how that’s impacted safety at intersections. According […]

Take a Look at Houston’s First On-Street Protected Bike Lane

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 9, 2015 | No Comments

Is that a beautiful sight or what? This two-way protected bike lane is all the more stunning because it’s in downtown Houston. This weekend, construction crews began putting down green paint on Lamar Street for the city’s first on-street protected bike lane, which is expected to be finished by March 8. The three-quarter-mile bike lane […]

Houston’s Plan to Make “Bicycle Interstates” Out of Its Utility Network

By Angie Schmitt | Jul 29, 2014 | No Comments

This post is part of a series featuring stories and research that will be presented at the Pro-Walk/Pro-Bike/Pro-Place conference September 8-11 in Pittsburgh. Long lanes of grass alongside power lines are almost as ubiquitous in Houston as highways. There are roughly 500 miles of high-voltage utility rights-of-way criss-crossing the city, and they’re mostly just dead spaces, forming weedy barriers between neighborhoods. […]

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