HOUSTON – Right now, there are a total of 340 miles of high comfort bike lanes, meaning all ages and abilities can safely use these bike lanes and 22 miles of those are on-street protected bike-only lanes. In 2020, Houston bikeways completed four new miles of on street bike lanes.
Today
- Cleburne
- Hutchins
- Gray Street: between 3rd Ward and Midtown.
- Houston ave.: 20th Street to Katy Freeway
- Austin Street: McGowen to Holman
Still yet to come to your neighborhood:
- Tierwester and Blodgett: near TSU
- North Main Street at Boundary Street
- Deerwood in Westchase area: West of the Beltway
Back in 2018, Bike Houston launched the Build 50 Challenge to take action towards the construction of more than 50 miles of high-comfort bike lanes over the course of one year.
If you didn’t know, there are high comfort bike lanes that are safe enough a 10-year-old can ride on the bike lane. They are usually wider.
Then, there’s protected on-street bike lanes: There’s a buffer between the bike-only lane and the vehicles on the street. Usually, the buffer can be striping or there could be another buffer to separate the people on bikes from traffic, like a lane of parked cars.
The City of Houston sprawls over 637 square miles and according to Bike Houston. A total of 33% of all trips in Houston are three miles or less, a distance that is easily and often faster on a bike than using a car.
Melissa Beeler, a transportation planner with Houston Bikeways said, “Leeland Street is getting a new bike lane that’s under construction right now.”
Leeland Street is just one of the many streets in Houston getting a bike-only lane and as a whole, Houston Bikeways is committed to creating 1,800 miles of bike lanes around town. This commitment is not only a necessity but a true indication of the change in the culture of Houston transportation.
“I 100% see the change in the City of Houston as an institution and neighborhoods in terms of what they want to see as street improvements in their neighborhoods,” said Beeler.