Not one, but two popular trail bridges spanning White Oak Bayou were struck by loose construction materials from ongoing work along Interstate 10, closing both spans as well as a key stretch of trail, isolating portions of the running and cycling path.
“These closures demand an urgent response,” said Robin Holzer, deputy director of Bike Houston. “All of these agencies must work together immediately to plan and create a safe network of detours, as required by the City’s design manual. Thousands of Houstonians are depending on them.”
The MKT Trail Bridge near Studewood closed in late January, shortly after construction debris slammed into the former railroad bridge. On Tuesday, Houston Public Works closed the other span, also often called the MKT Trail Bridge near Hogan.
“It was not safe,” said Erin Jones, acting communications director for Houston Public Works.
On Wednesday morning, based on the Hogan bridge’s condition, crews also closed the segment of the White Oak Trail that curves below the bridge, further dividing the trail system and stranding many downtown bike commuters.
“We recommend anyone who uses the bridge to take Houston Avenue to Washington Avenue to get to downtown Houston or take Hogan Street to Main Street,” Jones said. “The city is taking immediate action to bring in contractors to repair the bridge.”
Though Jones said contractors are “getting on it fast,” she said the timeline and cost for the Hogan trail bridge have not been determined.
A city assessment said the bridge was struck by construction material, though officials could not say whether it was the same material that hit the Studewood bridge upstream or different debris.
Texas Department of Transportation officials said they are working with the contractor on the site to see if repairs or detours in the area can be created to bypass the bridges.
“We understand that the active transportation community is keenly interested in this is a very important project,” TxDOT spokeswoman Kristina Hadley said. “Safety is TxDOT’s highest priority, and we want to minimize the impact to the traveling public and the community.”
[…]
Though the bridges do not carry the weight of vehicles and appear unscathed across their tops, the supports and some of the trail surface are affected, officials said. At the Hogan bridge, the seams of the surface are divided by a large gap, typically covered by a metal plate. That gap has widened, Jones said.
“It would cause someone to fall,” she said.
Officials are now working on a plan to either repair or replace the Hogan bridge, Jones said. They first have to determine what is worth repairing, and then determine if a completely new bridge is needed or quick repairs can be made. The area is expected to be significantly affected by the looming rebuild of Interstate 45.
Emphasis mine, because whatever happens from here, these trails will be among the many existing infrastructure items that will also be endangered or at least made less accessible during the I-45 construction, which as we know will take many, many years to complete. Maybe we’ll have Star Trek-like transporters by then, or maybe looming AI will render the entire concept of “mobility” meaningless.
Anyway. See here and here for some background. There’s an embedded GIS map at that second post that shows where the two outages are, and there’s an illustration of it in this story. I sure do hope we’re able to get workarounds and repairs in place as soon as possible.
The Hogan bridge was always bad, two severe bumps at either end where the central segment was higher by a couple of inches than the approach sections. Hopefully that will be corrected by something more than ad hoc ramps.