A Houston Public Works draft report obtained by Axios states that measures to slow traffic along 11th Street in the Heights have achieved key safety goals.
Why it matters: The project — a polarizing rebuild completed under former Mayor Sylvester Turner — has drawn skepticism from Mayor John Whitmire, who questioned its effectiveness after assuming office and ordered a formal review.
- The review is one of several Whitmire requested for street safety projects initiated during Turner’s tenure that reduced the width or number of vehicle lanes.
- Whitmire has reversed the city’s course on other street safety projects installed on Turner’s watch, calling one of them the work of “anti-car activists” in Turner’s administration, one of whom he fired months after taking office.
The intrigue: Houston Public Works submitted the report’s latest draft to Whitmire in March and he continues to mull the fate of the work, including a pair of bike lanes.
What they found: Changes to 11th Street resulted in slower traffic, fewer and less severe crashes, and a 200% increase in people using a crucial new trail crossing, per the report.
The report also shows that the societal cost of crashes along 11th Street during the same time frame dropped from $1.5 million in 2019 to $268,000 in 2023 after construction was complete.
See here for some background. This all sounds pretty good to me, and as a regular user of 11th Street I can personally confirm it’s much less highway-like. A fine thing, given that this is a residential neighborhood.
There’s also this:
The draft report shows that there aren’t any negative impacts on the Houston Fire Department equipment. In fact, HFD submitted comments on an early design of the project in 2022, where it identified a continuous median between Shepherd and Yale that caused concern, but ultimately that median was not constructed.
“HFD has confirmed that the implemented design fully addresses their concerns,” the report said. “HFD has not identified any negative safety impacts to their operations based on the implementation of the 11th St safety improvement project.”
If it’s good enough for the Fire Department, then it’s surely good enough for the Mayor. Right?
As I pointed out to the Mobility Mayor, when you have a crash, there are hundreds of thousands of man hours lost, much more than slow traffic could ever cause. Most drivers don’t have the talent for fast driving, although they are deceived by their computerized cars.