
Houston, the epicenter of the oil and gas industry was ready to shed its reputation of being a car-centric city. Bicycle infrastructure projects were underway and the city had secured federal funding to expand public transit. Voters in Harris County, home to Houston, had approved billions of dollars to improve public transportation.
But after Democrat Mayor John Whitmire took office in January, everything changed. The city’s chief transportation planner left, bike infrastructure projects were stalled, and the region’s transit authority – largely appointed by the mayor – delayed parts of a $7.5 billion public transit expansion.
Advocates for transit and “safer streets” in Houston say they now suffer from whiplash, and fear the city is turning the clock back on transportation alternatives. It comes at a critical time for many U.S. cities that want to make a meaningful shift away from reliance on the automobile. Whether America can make this shift could depend on the outcome of city-by-city battles.
“Some people think it’s controversial to take away a lane from cars and to put in a bike lane. I think it’s controversial to only have one way of getting around,” said Joe Cutrufo, a cycling advocate in Houston. “We have choices in all other parts of our lives, but when it comes to transportation, we only have one option.”
Along with other cities nationwide, Houston faces a historic opportunity to diversify its transportation network, and in turn reduce air pollution. Billions of dollars of federal grants are available for cities to invest in transit, bicycle lanes and pedestrian safety projects, largely through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the Inflation Reduction Act.
Rhode Island is receiving over $55 million in federal dollars to modernize and upgrade its public transportation fleet. Roughly $3 billion has been allocated to California and Nevada to build out high speed rail. Another $3 billion has gone to New York City for a subway expansion. Los Angeles has pledged to make the 2028 Olympics car-free, with the help of federal money.
Some cities, however, have been reluctant to shift away from cars and trucks. In addition, the competition for grant money is highly competitive, with four applications submitted for each one that gets accepted.
Ever since the 1950s, American metropolises have been designed around cars. Houston is no exception: The nation’s fourth-largest city has grown synonymous with roads, boasting the widest freeway in the country, with concrete overpasses overlapping in the sky. The downtown itself is enclosed by loops of highways, with more in the works.
Whitmire, an attorney and former Democratic Party state lawmaker, did not respond to several requests for comment. But in past speeches and statements, Whitmire has dismissed bicycle lanes as “recreation projects” and said he wants to prioritize spending on road repairs. In the 2023 election, he received hundreds of thousands of dollars from energy companies, construction firms, real estate and big-ticket donors, and he vastly outspent his opponent, the late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tex.).
Leaders of the mayor-controlled regional transit board, known as Metro, say they want to focus on bolstering the current rail and bus system, rather than expanding it.
“Our number one priority is ridership,” said Metro Board Chair Elizabeth Gonzalez Brock. “We are not operating by the model of ‘Let’s build it and hope they come.’ We’re really focused on our core services and creating that transit culture in order to increase ridership.”
Whether Whitmire’s policies reflect a permanent shift in Houston remains to be seen. Some advocates for multimodal transportation believe the transition away from cars is already baked in, and will outlive his administration.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), who helped secure money for bike lanes and other alternatives to driving in the infrastructure law, said what Houston has achieved is “really remarkable” given its reputation for being a sprawling, car-dominated city with no zoning.
“They’ve actually done a pretty good job,” said Blumenauer, who co-founded the Congressional Bike Caucus. But, he added, Houston leaders “were on a path to do better.”
– – –
Reimagining the car city
Everything in Texas is big, and at 665 square miles, Houston is its biggest city, both by population and land area. Development is spread out and unzoned, making driving a necessity for those who can afford an automobile. Roughly 90 percent of Houstonians own a car, according to the 2022 U.S. Census American Community Survey.
Five years ago, Houston area residents made their priorities clear. Nearly 70 percent of those voting approved a bond referendum to spend $3.5 billion for the Metro to improve public transit. Over 60 percent of Houstonians would rather spend taxpayer money on public transit than highways, according to the 2020 Kinder Houston Area Survey.
While other cities are moving away from cars, that’s not the case in Houston. Here, advocates say their work is largely focused on improving road safety, affordability, air quality and access to transportation options.
In the largely immigrant neighborhood of Gulfton, many households have only one car, if any at all. That’s one reason Gulfton has Houston’s highest transit ridership, according to multimodal advocate Sandra Rodriguez, but workers still must spend up to two hours to on their transit commute. For those with disabilities, driving may not be an option and pedestrians in mobility chairs are more vulnerable to traffic accidents.
Rufus Cotton, 19, is one of those who would welcome options. He lives in a neighborhood where the nearest rail stop is more than a mile away, and the bus runs infrequently.
“There are places the bus won’t even take you,” he said.
The need for multimodal transit is also an environmental health issue, advocates say. The Houston region has the worst air quality in the country after Los Angeles, and cars and trucks on the road are bigger emitters of air pollutants than the fossil fuel and concrete industries.
Poor air quality can result in chronic health issues, and it tends to be worse in lower-income communities because of their proximity to highways and manufacturing facilities, said Molly Cook, a registered nurse at the Medical Center and state senator for the 15th district.
“People are exposed to toxins because somebody is not willing to invest,” Cook said, referring to policymakers who falter on transportation improvements. This lack of investment, she said, is “partly because of inertia, partly because of vested interests.”
Leaders of Metro say they are investing, but in a way that enhances how people want to travel now. Instead of spending money to expand the bus and rail system, Metro is using federal money from the infrastructure law to purchase electric buses, and regional grant money to upgrade bus shelters, fix sidewalks and improve accessibility. The city has also invested in “micro-transit” – providing free van rides in select neighborhoods to those who need help with short trips.
“After covid, we’ve seen interest rates, construction costs increase,” said Brock, the Metro board chair. “We would be looking at compromising our day to day operations … We just simply could not do that at this time.”
Gabe Cazares, executive director of the advocacy group Link Houston, said he remains hopeful the city can renew its focus on moving people, not just vehicles.
“We have a mayor who has been around Texas politics a really long time … who has a decidedly different approach to transportation policy,” said Cazares. But, he added, “We have seen that progress in mobility options are possible in the city of Houston.”
– – –
Unsafe at many speeds
In December 2021, Juan Flores, 46, was crossing a crosswalk on his bike with his daughter when a car ran a stop sign and collided with him. He escaped with stitches on his arm. His daughter had a bump on her head.
Less than a year later, a car turned into Flores while he was riding his bike in a parking lot. He emerged unscathed again, though his bike was reduced to a mangled piece of metal.
“It’s dangerous out there,” he said. “The problem is, with the people in Houston, they’re just not used to having that many bike riders around and people just don’t look for them. By the time they see, well, this is how accidents happen.”
Texas has recorded a death on its roadways – motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists – every day since Nov. 7, 2000, with an average of 12 deaths per day, according to the Texas Department of Transportation. In Houston, a lack of protected bike lanes and the crumbling sidewalks make cyclists and pedestrians more vulnerable. Some say road rage and fast driving has also contributed.
The safety of cyclists has been a core issue for Cutrufo, 41, who made a big shift in his life when he and his wife left New York City in 2020 to move south to Houston.
Since then, he’s become one of the best-known advocates for cycling infrastructure, through the nonprofit BikeHouston. The push for safer cycling has been at the forefront of conversations in the city despite opposition from some drivers who argue it will worsen traffic.
Houston is well-suited for cyclists, said Cutrufo, given its flat topography and agreeable weather for nine months of the year. Even so, bicycle infrastructure in the city remains limited to downtown, the bayous and a few neighborhoods.
Under then-mayor Sylvester Turner, the city received $100 million in federal funding to meet its 2020 commitment to Vision Zero, a pledge to eliminate all traffic deaths by 2030. The city unveiled a plan to construct 1,800 miles of bike lanes through the city, and already has over 300 miles of infrastructure.
When Whitmire took the mayor’s office in January, those projects lost some of their earlier support. The bike lane on Houston Avenue was slated for removal; another project was paused but then resumed after facing enormous pressure.
– – –
Ever-expanding roads
Even as advocacy mounts for alternatives, Texas is making plans to build even more highway lanes. For over a decade, TxDOT has planned to expand the Interstate 45 cutting through the center of Houston to improve congestion. When some Houstonians learned the highway would destroy more than a thousand homes, businesses and places of worship – largely in communities of color – they mobilized to oppose the project.
According to Michael Moritz, organizer with advocacy group Stop TxDOT I-45, transportation planners in Texas don’t analyze how more freeway lanes induce demand for more driving, adding to congestion. “The state just has billions and billions of dollars with which to build roads and highways for cars,” he said.
The Texas constitution requires 97 percent of TxDOT’s $15 billion annual budget to go toward roads, a law similar to those in other states. Little is left over in TxDOT’s funding to spend on multimodal transit, meaning that Houston seeks most of its funding for multimodal projects from the city, which is strapped for cash, or Harris County, which has a little more wiggle room.
Reception of multimodal projects varies by neighborhood. County Commissioner Rodney Ellis represents a precinct that includes Houston’s Third Ward, a predominantly Black neighborhood that has been home to Beyoncé and other artists. In recent years, he’s pushed the county to invest millions of dollars into bike lanes in the Third Ward and other neighborhoods.
For Houston, investments in new transportation options have become a chicken-or-the-egg problem: Should the city wait for higher ridership before it expands transit and bicycle facilities, or should it invest now, banking on the future?
Cutrufo said he knows where he stands.
“If you want to change the transportation culture in a place, you have to change the infrastructure,” he said. “The infrastructure tells people how to behave.”
(c) Washington Post
There are too many car lanes. Cars have too much of the public space. Give the streets back to the people.
Many themes in this very important article apply to many places, far beyond Houston.