Hello Supporters - 

We need your support in sending emails to Mayor Turner and CM.  Below is another fact based template you can use for an email.  Please make sure you are cc:ing all the CM's and putting your address on the closing.  THANK YOU EVERYONE!  Keep fighting with us!  

 Mayor - mayor@houstontx.gov

District C - Abbie Kamin - 832-393-3004 - districtc@houstontx.gov

District H - Karla Cisneros - 832.393.3003 - districth@houstontx.gov

At-Large Position 1 - Mike Knox - 832.393.3014 - atlarge1@houstontx.gov

At-Large Position 2 - David Robinson - 832.393.3013 - atlarge2@houstontx.gov

At-Large Position 3 - Michael Kubosh 832.393.3005   atlarge3@houstontx.gov

At-Large Position 4 - Letitia Plummer - 832.393.3012   atlarge4@houstontx.gov

At-Large Position 5 - Sallie Alcorn - 832.393.3017 - atlarge5@houstontx.gov

David Fields Chief Transportation Planner DPW - 832-393-6600 - David.Fields@houstontx.gov Mayor - mayor@houstontx.gov

Mayor Turner,

Instead of a road diet, I ask that a High-intensity Activated crossWalK beacon (HAWK) and other crossing safeguards be installed at Nicholson and 11th Street for the safety of all users of the hike & bike trail, and that the road diet be abandoned. 

11th meets your Vision Zero Goal – no fatalities or serious injuries have occurred.  Additionally, in the 2020 Vision Zero Action Plan, 11th street was NOT identified as an unsafe street.  Therefore, 11th street is a safe street and speeds are not dangerous despite assertions to the contrary. The speed surveys that were done in 2019 are inadequate as there were only two done, and the surveys from 2020 are from the height of the Covid era when there was very little traffic anywhere. In short, the data supporting a road diet for 11th Street is sparse and does not support the Transportation Planning Department’s conclusions.

Many have requested a pedestrian hybrid beacon (PHB) or HAWK at the intersection of 11th and the Nicholson hike and bike trail because the crossing is dangerous. Due to the physical characteristics of the trail crossing, drivers cannot see and do not stop for users of the trail.

David Fields of your Transportation Planning Dept. has told us residents and business owners that a PHB or HAWK light cannot be installed at Nicholson because it is “illegal” because it would be too close to the Nicholson stop sign (or some other reason he could not name).

This is contradictory to the Federal Manual on Uniform Traffic Devices (MUCTD), the Texas MUCTD, the 2011 TxDOT Manual and the Houston Public Works Infrastructure Design Manual. 

In summary, a HAWK is not prohibited. BUT an engineering study must be done and approvals obtained. 

In the 2009 FHWA MUTCD Frequently Asked Questions – Part 4 – Highway Traffic

Signals, Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons, the following is found:

Q: Why does Section 4F.02 say that Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons should not be 

        installed at or within 100 feet of side streets or driveways that are controlled

by STOP or YIELD signs? Sometimes the only reasonable place to install a hybrid

pedestrian beacon is at the intersection.

A: The FHWA has been discouraging "half signals" for several decades

because of the issues such designs cause when the interruption of the

major-street traffic flow by a pedestrian actuation is used by side-street

drivers as their opportunity to turn onto the major street, in conflict with

the crossing pedestrians. Hybrid beacons placed at or adjacent to an

intersection with a STOP or YIELD sign controlled side street is a half signal

with the same operational and safety issues. The provision in Section 4F.02

is also consistent with the half-signal prohibitions that were adopted in

Sections 4C.05 and 4C.06. Please note that these provisions in 4C.05,

4C.06, and 4F.02 are Guidance, not Standards. Thus, based on an

engineering study or engineering judgment, a jurisdiction can decide to

install the device at such an intersection if it determines that is the best

location for it, considering all pertinent factors, and/or there are

mitigating measures, such as blank-out No Right Turn/No Left Turn signs

for the side street or making the side street one-way away from the

intersection. The decisions should be documented in the jurisdictions' files

as basis for deviating from a Guidance statement in the MUTCD. It should

also be noted that the National Committee on Uniform Traffic Control

Devices (NCUTCD) has recommended to the FHWA that the Section 4F.02

guidance against installing pedestrian hybrid beacons within 100 feet of an

intersection should be removed from the MUTCD, because a study of

hybrid beacons at intersections in Tucson, Arizona, did not find significant

operational or safety issues. The FHWA will give consideration to proposing

the removal of the 100 feet guidance for the next edition of the MUTCD.

The related 2011 TxDOT Manual Section 7: Pedestrian Hybrid Beacons requires an engineering study and approval from Traffic Safety Division (TRF) . The section is here: http://onlinemanuals.txdot.gov/txdotmanuals/tff/pedestrian_hybrid_beacons.htm

The residents and businesses most affected by the 11th Street project want a PHB or HAWK light at the Nicholson crossing not a lane reduction.

Many are very concerned that the fabric of our interior residential areas will be altered dramatically, putting children, pedestrians and bike riders in jeopardy if the proposed 11th Street project is implemented.  

Best personal regards,

Name and Address Please