This should be changed to illegal car parking in the bike lane. The bike lane is not completed yet. It will be a fabulous addition for bike safety.

The city makes a ton of money from those parking spaces all along Gray and there is no other public parking available in Midtown. Where do you think people who work in Midtown but live elsewhere are going to park their cars?

Take a look further down the street. There is still car parking next to the bike lane, with the parked cars protecting bicyclists. A traffic lane was eliminated, not parking.

Well, of course. Just what we need, eliminating a lane of traffic so a random cyclist can take a casual ride through Midtown. Urban planning at its finest.

Great angle! Please share more photos once it's complete.

All work along Gray has stopped, at least for now

Pavement markings can't be applied when the pavement is wet or below 45 degrees so progress may be slow this week.

Kay, not sure how you've gotten such a misconstrued take on the bike lane.

First, very little paid parking is actually being lost. I know this section isn't complete, but I've marked the areas that will be paid parking going forward in red on your image: https://i.imgur.com/v9UfWKX.png

Second, almost all of midtown still has street parking. They can still park there. Not to mention plenty of businesses provide their own parking as well.

Third, I ride through midtown "casually" on my bike frequently. Either going out to eat, buying groceries, and going to lots of Astros and Dynamo games. I'm looking forward to having a safer place to ride!

99% of the time Gray is completely empty of traffic! It's the perfect place to add a bike lane with all of that overcapacity.

Wow, as someone who lives on Gray I can't imagine where you got the idea that "99% of the time Gray is completely empty of traffic." My misconstrued view is based on what I see from my balcony. Parking is already non-existent in Midtown and curb parking is full day and night all along Gray and Travis not to mention the commuter buses that park along Gray and other streets taking up an entire lane. A few loud mouthed cyclists who pass through Midtown and other neighborhoods think their needs override those of us who have to live here. Take a look a what market-based parking has done to us, businesses are no longer required to provide customer parking.

This content is currently blocked. The content is either under review by SeeClickFix or has been confirmed by SeeClickFix for violation(s) of SeeClickFix Terms of Use (https://www.civicplus.com/terms-of-service). Content that aligns with SeeClickFix Terms of Use will be posted, and content that does not align with our Terms of Use will not be permitted for public viewing.

Metro buses park on the right in a "lane" that cars can also park in, so no effect on traffic, just frustrating if you don't realize the buses aren't going to move when you pull in behind them. I'm pretty sure the bike lane will end at Bagby, so the most crowded section of Gray will not loose a lane.

Wil, what was blocked?

I'm not sure what happened!

I had linked to a couple of pictures off-site that showed some Google Street View images of Gray being mostly empty during the work day, both street parking and the main lanes.

I do want to be clear that I'm not saying that nobody drives on Gray, I'm just saying that there is rarely heavy traffic.

As you mention, Gray transitions into two lanes at Bagby (which is where the bike lane will end).

I do live nearby, just off Bagby, and I'm not sure why Kay thinks that Gray St shouldn't be for me on my bicycle, when 95% of the cars that drive down live nowhere near the area.

Why shouldn't we have a bike lane for the people that live in the community when the only expense might be an extra 15 seconds on someone's 45 minute commute?

This screenshot of live traffic at 5:45, the middle of rush hour, shows that almost all of the streets in the area are green with free-flowing cars.

Kay nailed exactly why I chose to live in Midtown: more local businesses within easy walking and biking distance, fewer parking lots!

Did you see any cyclists out on Gray when you looked? There are parts of Midtown that are walkable but the sidewalks around Gray and Main / Travis are home to large groups of vagrants surrounded by piles of litter and human excrement. You are more than welcome to walk or cycle along them.

"Vagrants" on the sidewalk are a great reason to use a bike lane to avoid them. Most of the sidewalks in Houston are in worse shape than the roads (hard to believe) and its illegal to bike on the sidewalk in the "business district" (very poorly defined). Easy biking and walking to restaurants and bars is why I picked the area when I moved to Houston 12 years ago. If you don't like what's here, you can always move to the boring suburbs!

I typically ride on McGowen when traveling east/west because it's bi-directional, but I've already started shifting to the incomplete lanes on Gray.

I just love the comments from renters that we homeowners who have been here for 20+ years should move to the suburbs. Really?

Yeah, telling you to move isn't fair at all. Clearly you would have if you wanted to. I'm pretty sure the monthly maintenance/HOA at 2016 would pay for a mortgage in a lot of suburbs haha.

With how few people actually live in downtown and midtown I'm just not sure how you aren't more for embracing turning the streets into something more neighborhood focused.

Kay. I'm not a renter! Its obvious you just hate bicyclists. It was the only reason you posted to begin with.

This is worse than Nextdoor, as soon as you post something all the combatants with nothing to do rush in to argue. Just to be clear, I actually do have a bike and ride, only I know better than to ride on public streets. I'm done with this, good luck and I hope you don't get run over proving your point...if there is one

I've lived in Midtown over 80 years so my opinion is 4 times as valid.

"This is worse than Nextdoor, as soon as you post something all the combatants with nothing to do rush in to argue."

....what would you say the point of your post is?

Yes, when your initial 311 complaint is "Useless bike lane striping", its hard to not take that as combative to the bicycling community. Its not like Kay reported a pot hole and we don't want it fixed.
And telling us "I hope you don't get run over proving your point.." is exactly why we need bike lanes!

Get off my lawn!

Kay Walton pays her taxes!
Ok Boomer.

Your service request (#373833) has been closed.

Notes: Case Closed
Service Request Referred
Please refer to Service Request:101003717067