HOUSTON – Questions over when crews will resume repairs to a pedestrian and bike bridge over White Oak Bayou moved closer to being answered Thursday, following an update on the project’s status.
Fire in Aug. 2020 temporarily shuttered the MKT Bridge along the Heights Hike and Bike Trail. While repairs had begun, crews stopped work in Sept. 2021 after determining some of the damage was structural. Since then, very little was heard about the project’s status. The bridge has remained closed since then.
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“The closure of the MKT Bridge isn’t just an inconvenience, it’s a safety issue when residents have to go onto major streets as alternatives. I’m actively working with our city department, which received plans from the Houston Parks Board on Tuesday,” District C City Councilor Abbie Kamin wrote in a statement to KPRC 2.
While Kamin confirmed plans for the project have been submitted, it remains unclear when the city council will take up a vote on approving plans, leaving many who use the connector frustrated.
“It’s dangerous,” said Peter Bell, referring to a detour that greets those trying to cross the bridge at its foot.
“It’s a pedestrian bridge. It’s not taking any heavy traffic and it’s actually creating a hazard here because people are on bikes and dog walkers and pedestrians now have to walk and go over the highways and cross the roads in order to get back across,” Bell said.
The detour includes several busy streets and isn’t the safest option, said Joe Cutrufo, the executive director of BikeHouston.
“[The bridge] is a critical connector for people who want to get around on a bike, especially if they want to get around without having to mix it up with cars and trucks,” Cutrufo continued.
While Cutrufo said he understood the process of repairing the bridge would take time, he and others feel the project would have been completed had the bridge been for motor vehicles.
“It’s been over 500 days and we want to know when it’s going to reopen – and we want our elected officials – Mayor Turner, the city council, to take this bike and pedestrian bridge just as seriously and just as urgently as they would if it carried cars and trucks.”
Cutrufo said residents deserved better communication about the project’s future.
“A little bit of communication goes a long way for people to know who’s responsible for the closure. To know how long it’s going to be closed, why it’s closed. These things are important and people who are out walking and biking in the city – they want to know why their infrastructure is not working,” he said.
Councilor Kamin said plans are underway on a connector between two trails that dead-end, allowing for more than one route in the area.
“When the new path connection is completed early this year, it will provide a safe alternative to the MKT Bridge,” Kamin wrote in a statement.