NewUrbanStreets

Avenida de las Americas (ADLA) was originally to be a major north-south boulevard on the east side of downtown but is now a street only seven blocks long and can never be longer. Why? The best place for the new stadium for the Astros Baseball team (known as Minute Maid Park) was the old passenger rail station yard and that blocked the northern expansion of ADLA. Not many years later the search for the best place to locate a new multi-purpose arena was found and hence the Toyota Center blocked the southern expansion of ADLA. (more…)

The City of Houston’s Department of Public Works and Engineering converted a parking and vehicular lane to a dedicated bike lane as you see here. The lane is “isolated” from the vehicular lane by the long stripped dome shapes that we Texans–not surprisingly–call armadillos.

Note the special signage as well as the special traffic signals for bike riders. Look closely at the red lens as it shows a red bike rider.

I also noticed at one intersection it appeared the bike signal turned green ahead of the vehicular green signal by several seconds. My traffic engineering buddies would call that preemption to allow the bike rider to get into the cross street before the cars start.

You can see the lane on Dallas St. in downtown Houston.

Click here to see a one-page paper about the lane, how it fits in the street and a location map.

How well they work will be interesting to watch.

The Greater East End Management District has developed an alternative use for a wide esplanade on Navigation Blvd. just east of downtown Houston.  There will be more posts to hi-lite the good ideas but for the first post this one is about an unusual bike rack.

As you can see it is the word “lauGh” neatly cut from a sheet of steel, hot-dip galvanized and anchored in the concrete sidewalk. In this case the concrete was stained red and text was added to indicate it is a bike rack. I was told that initially everyone thought it was art and not to be used for securing their bike.

On the day after earth day I want to share a well done high-security wall that was built to nurture slivers of green space in a location where soon there will be none. The photo shows the location and how nicely the planting space fits into the wall without taking up precious sidewalk width. (more…)

If you have read a few of my posts about paver surfaces you have read about the importance of sand in the joints. As I walked from a meeting back to the office the other day I was reminded of a situation that should/could be avoided that can accelerate the migration of the sand.

The problem is when small slices or pieces of pavers are needed to fill a very narrow gap that is too wide to be only sand. So, the gap is filled with a 1-inch or less “slice” of paver that is floating on top of the sand bed and between the concrete edge of the recess and the next paver. (more…)

Concrete unit pavers are getting a bad reputation in some circles as they have not provided a care-free pavement. But, there is no such thing as care-free pavement. Some just need more care than others and that is the case with concrete unit pavers–particularly in high traffic situations in a wet environment. Ironically loose sand is what holds them together. (more…)