Although the one-way bike lane won’t be protected by physical barriers, the proposal is an improvement over the mayor’s initial plan to only include sharrows on the Austin Street project.
After pushback from local bike advocates, Houston Mayor John Whitmire walked back plans to kill a protected bike lane on Heights Boulevard, indicating that the street will now receive a one-way, unprotected bike lane, reports Ryan Nickerson in the Houston Chronicle.
Construction crews had already removed “armadillo”-style barriers from Heights Boulevard and, on March 31, began removing a protected bike lane from Austin Street in Midtown. Whitmire said the new Heights Boulevard design will “improve the mobility and the access of the homeowners and certainly the fire station and it will allow the bike lane to continue.”
Mayor Whitmire has come under fire in recent months for his efforts to dismantle Houston’s bike infrastructure. “When asked whether the new lane will include a physical separation — such as a curb or an armadillo — Whitmire simply said the project would follow the Heights Boulevard model. That lane is unprotected, though it provides a dedicated space for cyclists next to vehicle traffic.” Optimistically, the change could signal that the mayor is listening to the public.
Read the full story: Pivoting, Whitmire says Austin Street will get a dedicated bike lane, but no physical barrier
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