Everything will be fine, don’t worry about it.
As Houston residents continue to push for Polk Street to remain open through the planned $2 billion George R. Brown Convention Center expansion, Houston First has released a traffic study it says shows the closure will not significantly impact area traffic.
Released to the public on June 27, the traffic study analyzed 48 intersections surrounding Polk Street. It considered the impact of converting Leeland Street into a two-way road between Chartres and Austin and also accounted for the Texas Department of Transportation’s North Houston Highway Improvement Program, which will reconstruct Interstate 45 North between downtown and Beltway 8.
Houston First [presented] the traffic study to the public [on July 1 at] the George R. Brown Convention Center.
[…]
A representative for People for Polk, a community-led group advocating to keep Polk Street open, said Houston First’s traffic study is, “inadequate for determining the impact of this further degradation of our critical east-west connectivity.”
The group said the study only focuses on intersection in and immediately around Downtown, but leaves out any intersections in the Greater East End, which they say will be the most impacted by Polk Street’s closure.
“There is no consideration for the length and quality of detours for pedestrian, bicyclists, or transit riders. There is also no consideration for the additional overall travel time for any road users, including drivers, or for vehicular emissions that will result. We are hoping to get clarity on these questions and many more at the July 1 meeting,” the group wrote in a statement.
According to the study, the convention center expansion will result in the following closures and changes:
- Closure of Polk between Chartres and Avenida
- Closure of Jackson between Bell and Polk
- Closure of Hamilton between Bell and Polk, with a conversion to two-way between Bell and Leeland
- Closure of Clay between Jackson and Hamilton
- Closure of Chenevert between Bell and Polk
- Conversion of Leeland to a two-way between Chartres and Austin, potentially extending to Louisiana
- Conversion of Bell to a two-way between Chenevert and Hamilton
The study evaluated traffic conditions before and after the expansion and the I-45 reconstruction. It concluded that most intersections would continue to operate at acceptable levels, even with added traffic and modified routes. Some pedestrian crosswalks may experience congestion, but the study suggests those impacts can be mitigated with signal timing adjustments and sidewalk improvements.
See here, here, and here for some background. That public meeting did not assuage concerns about the forthcoming closure of Polk Street or of the process the city has followed to get to this point.
The event, held at the convention center, was led by a professional facilitator who framed the meeting as an informational session. Attendees were asked to submit written questions on index cards, which were then posed to a panel that included representatives from Houston First, Metro, Houston Public Works, and other project partners.
In the audience, members of the advocacy group People for Polk quietly held signs and passed around bingo cards labeled “Traffic Impact Bingo,” encouraging attendees to check off boxes when their concerns were substantively addressed.
By the end of the meeting, few if any attendees had completed a row.
Houston First CEO Michael Heckman opened the evening by recounting the history of the expansion and reiterating that the Polk Street closure had been extensively studied. He acknowledged community concerns and emphasized that the organization had met with neighborhood leaders and East End business owners.
“We committed to coming back to share the results of the traffic study,” Heckman said. “We’re following through on that.”
[…]
Residents with People for Polk were less convinced.
Kyle Rogers, who wore a “People for Polk” button and holding a sign called the town hall “a farce.”
“They told us what they’re doing,” Rogers said. “Michael Heckman, the CEO, said he reached out to the business community. I don’t believe that. Show me. He said he reached out to neighborhood constituents, to the super neighborhoods. That’s not true.”
Rogers said that even if outreach had occurred, it didn’t amount to a conversation.
The frustration wasn’t limited to community members. State Rep. Jolanda Jones, who represents House District 147, which includes most of downtown and the area surrounding the George R. Brown Convention Center, said she had not been contacted by Houston First or any other agency involved in the project.
“Let me be clear. I represent this area,” Jones said after the meeting. “They didn’t invite me. They literally haven’t spoken to me one time about any of this stuff. The way I found out was People for Polk told me about this meeting and asked me to be here.”
Jones described the meeting as more of a performance than a dialogue.
“I am very disappointed in this meeting. It really was not a public meeting. I would call it a dog and pony show,” she said. “They said what they wanted to say and had a narrative they wanted to portray.”
Peter Eccles, LINK Houston’s Director of Policy and Planning, said the traffic study did not look at how bus riders would see their mobility degraded as a result of this project.
“Polk Street is incredibly essential,” Eccles said. “It’s the only protected bike lane between downtown and East End and it carries two bus routes that in total carry 5,300 rides per day. Right now you can take the bus to the front door of the convention center. When this goes through, the closest stop will be over 1500 feet away.”
I’ve said before, there’s value in maintaining and modernizing the George R. Brown Convention Center. There’s value in attracting big events to Houston, and I want us to be in contention for anything we want to compete for. But we have to take into account the people who already live here, and that seems to be lacking in the way this project has moved forward. Again, it’s wild to me that a Mayor who is otherwise so obsessed with the unfettered mobility of cars on the streets would be so unconcerned about what this will do to people driving into downtown. (And also to bus riders and bicyclists, but we know where they stand.) I just don’t get it.
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This entry was posted in Planes, Trains, and Automobiles and tagged bicycles, buses, construction, downtown, George R. Brown Convention Center, Houston, Houston First, I-45, John Whitmire, Jolanda Jones, Metro, People for Polk. Bookmark the permalink.
