Westheimer Just Started Plans to Pave Streets, Says Mayor Whitmire

Calling it a “new start” for infrastructure improvements, Houston Mayor John Whitmire used a Metro repaving project along Westheimer to declare that more work would be coming on city streets.

“People complain and know we can do better on our streets,” the mayor said, standing in front of a row of workers. “We are not going to tolerate our broken infrastructure.”

As a result, he said drivers should expect to see workers on many neglected streets, smoothing them out and remedying what he considers unacceptable conditions.

But tackling the miles of broken curbs, pockmarked streets, cracked concrete, burst pipes and crumbling drainage will take more than just the city’s resources, the mayor said.

“We’re going to look at all options to finance this project,” he said, noting the city’s other looming fiscal challenges.

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Along Westheimer, the Metropolitan Transit Authority is footing the bill for work worth more than $12.2 million. Officials added $2.3 million earlier this year to planned improvements along the street related to new bus stops and repaving.

“The original plan was for Metro to put a band-aid on the bus lane,” Metro President Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock said.

The additional work repaves two sections of Westheimer, from Loop 610 west to near Wesleyan, then from Montrose east to Bagby. By adding repaving, Metro allows the city to delay a more substantial overhaul and reconstruction of lower Westheimer that would have narrowed the street east of Montrose.

Brock called the move to a single project a better use of resources, defending the use of transit agency money for road work.

“We should look at this as taxpayer dollars, and how can we use taxpayer dollars to meet these needs,” she said, noting that bus stops and street improvements benefit directly to bus users.

Metro and the city are working closely to ensure construction addresses many issues along Westheimer, from drainage to pavement conditions, said Tom Jasien, interim CEO of the transit agency .

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This coordination is important to keep all traffic moving, including many bus riders. Route 82 service along Westheimer is the metro’s busiest bus route, with higher ridership than all other transit routes in the area except the Red Line which runs through the downtown. Along the way, Metro officials plan to spend $46.2 million on various improvements to bus stops and curbs, as well as the street and some drainage along it.

The work, part of Metro’s long-range plan that voters approved in 2019, is one of three so-called BOOST corridor initiatives that group together improvements along major routes with the overall goal of improving entire route for passengers.

Work also continues along the 56 Airline/Montrose and 54 Scott bus routes. Additionally, similar projects continue to upgrade bus shelters around the Houston area and add traffic signal priority, where warranted, along bus routes so that buses can avoid red lights if a few additional seconds of green allowed them to pass.

Whitmire praised the work along Westheimer as common-sense improvements that improve not only bus service but also the condition of some of the city’s busiest streets. He said building on that collaboration will be important for the city to get its infrastructure in order, citing the need to leverage federal, state and Harris County funds to maximize what the city can spend .

“It pays to work together,” Whitmire said.

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However, the focus on street repairs comes as some struggle with the city’s reluctance to move forward on some planned projects. Shortly after residents complained about tree loss along Montrose related to a drainage and street project, sponsored by the Montrose Management District, Whitmire’s team halted the permit process . City officials also suspended construction on part of Shepherd and Durham due to what they said was the removal of a vehicle lane to widen sidewalks for cyclists and pedestrians.

Meanwhile, Metro, with new members appointed by Whitmire, is touting Westheimer’s new work while slowing down the public process of his other long-term projects in the works. Portions of Metro’s webpage detailing its three bus rapid transit projects, currently under design, were removed last week.

“Since most of the new board members have not had the opportunity to review the proposed projects, we wanted to suspend items that appear to be advocacy,” Jasien said when asked on deletion.