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If you could wave a magic wand and redesign one Houston road, what would you change and why? – Houston Public Media

Theo

Gail Delaughter / Houston Public Media

Interstate 45 at its intersection with Sims Bayou in southeast Houston.

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There are many reasons why the roads we drive aren’t ideal: budgets, politics, traffic changes, wear and tear, safety, unintended consequences. But imagine for a moment if none of that mattered and you could, with a wave of a wand, rebuild a road you drive here in the Houston area the way you wanted it. Which road would you change? How would you change it? And why?

We asked your fellow Houstonians this question this week and received a number of fascinating (and detailed) responses.

In the audio above, we discussed several of these with a few guests who spend a lot of time thinking about how to get from point A to point B here in the Houston area. Robin Holzer is the deputy director of the nonprofit advocacy group BikeHouston. Christof Spieler is a structural engineer and urban planner who teaches at Rice University. And Gabe Cazares is the executive director of LINKHouston, which advocates for improved walking, biking, transit, and ride-sharing options in the Houston area.

SOME ROADS LISTENERS WOULD LIKE TO REDEVELOP:

Waugh from Washington to Dallas: CW wrote to us and said, “I would redevelop Waugh/Heights between Washington and Dallas. Waugh is oddly wide as it crosses Buffalo Bayou and Memorial, and the cloverleaf deprives the public of acres of usable parkland. Additionally, a redevelopment could incorporate bike and pedestrian paths that would provide a critical north-south connection (which doesn’t really exist east of Shepherd) and connect the Heights Blvd. bike paths to the Waugh/Commonwealth bike paths.”

Authorities say Lower Westheimer suffers from failing infrastructure.
Traffic along Lower Westheimer in Montrose.

Westheimer remade: Dan, a listener, said he wants to see Westheimer Road resurfaced, from Highway 6 to Montrose and downtown. His vision? “Reduce the number of car lanes to two in each direction, with two-way bike lanes on each side, light rail on each side with stops at almost every major intersection, sidewalks widened to eight feet on each side, shade trees planted between the sidewalks, and bike lanes every 50 to 75 feet. And a central median filled with shade trees.”

Other suggestions from Westheimer: A listener named Kate also wants changes along Westheimer. She focuses on the area from the 610 to downtown and wants to see wider and better sidewalks there and in Montrose north of the 59. She would also install more lights and pedestrian islands at mid-block crosswalks. Christopher wants the lanes on Montrose to be narrower so the sidewalks can be widened, with a bus-only lane. Jacob wants the 82 bus route from downtown to The Galleria via Westheimer to have a red bus-only lane.

Bus 82 Westheimer in the Westchase neighborhood.

Gail Delaughter / Houston Public Media

The 82 Westheimer bus in the Westchase neighborhood.

Left turn only: Virginia has a simple request to reduce speeds on West Dallas. She would like to have dedicated turn lanes, with a left turn lane and a ban on right turns on red lights for safety for her and others crossing the street.

Thoughts on 11th Street: Several listeners had thoughts about 11th Street in The Heights. Ann suggested removing the concrete curbs and bike medians and creating a center lane for turns and narrower painted bike lanes in each direction. Marian did not like the road diet (reduced lanes and medians) that was added there and decried the effect it had on local business owners.

Heights Bike Trails

Emmanuel Nunez

Bike lanes were added to a stretch of 11th Street in Houston’s Heights neighborhood in 2023.

Elevated highways: A caller named Jonathan wondered if, instead of constantly widening the highways, we should consider building them higher, that is, making them double-deckers. Marc from Conroe had a similar idea. He suggested building a single-lane elevated expressway down the middle of Highway 1488 between Magnolia and I-45, with an access point at Old Conroe Road and Kuykendahl. The other end would merge into the traffic between People’s Road and the highway. The toll could be minimal, and rush-hour and lunchtime traffic could be cut in half.

Exchanging loops for rail: A listener named James had big ideas. He’d like to replace the 99/Grand Parkway entirely with Houston Infinity Rail—a high-speed train with stations in Cypress along the 290, in Tomball, at Bush Airport and other stops in each county it would pass through, with rail tributaries and bus lanes from those stations to downtown, The Strand in Galveston, Katy Asian Town, The Woodlands and elsewhere.

Aerial view of downtown Houston.

Gail Delaughter/Houston Public Media

Aerial view of downtown Houston.

More highways in the city: Sam suggested tearing down “most of the freeways inside the 610 Loop (to) replace them with surface boulevards and/or reestablish the urban grid before the freeways are put in place… In my opinion, running freeways through the center of a city is a terrible decision that will almost always create a bottleneck in road design.”

Making connections: A listener named JS wrote: “I have long wished that 249 could be connected to I-45 or the 610 by a freeway or tollway. It is connected to 45 by a freeway, but there are so many traffic lights that it is not a route most people choose. Making this connection could alleviate traffic on I-45 and the North Belt, both of which are gridlocked during rush hour.”

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