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What if I told you that 11th Street is way more dangerous now than it was pre-project? By the very same parameters that were used to argue that 11th Street needed a road diet? That it is more dangerous now in 2025 by the same "Texas average for 4+ lanes undivided" metric that was used in 2019? Would you want to repair it now, or leave it for later? But the city has no money to repair it now! you say.

How about a study to find out what is going on with 11th Street? A rigorous third party study can and should be done to see if the project truly makes 11th Street safer or if it is a hazard to anyone venturing on it.

Ernst & Young did an efficiency study which the city has used in its budget preparations for FY 2026. There is also the Texas A&M University Transportation Institute. Either of these could be commissioned to do an independent third party study. Or the city could do one itself, but would be subject to charges of bias. At least we would have more information. Data is available to be analyzed.

Do you think the city should commission a study of the 11th Street Safety Improvement Project to determine if the road diet and bike lanes should stay or go in a later fiscal year when more money may be available? 

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During the Greater Heights Super Neighborhood Council (SNC15) meeting on 4/15, President Kevin Strickland advanced a letter of support for discussion. The letter to be sent to the mayor supporting the 11th Street Safety Improvement Project (aka bike lanes) had been prepared and signed by Kevin Strickland the day before the meeting and is the same letter that was requested from Houston Heights Association but declined. 

Chris Parma of Walk and Roll Houston^1 reviewed the results with visuals for the council of the unfinished “draft” report by Houston Public Works dated 3/16/2024. There are a few things to keep in mind re this presentation.

1. One is that the HPW draft report has not been issued as “final” for over a year because there are a number of problems with it, according to city officials. Anti-car advocates^2 flog this report as if it were factual when in fact it is being used as propaganda.
2. The draft report was not obtained via a Texas Public Information Act request, according to city officials. The city obtained a letter from the Texas AG Ken Paxton to stop its release via the TPIA. It was leaked…by someone in Public Works it is believed.
3. Kevin Strickland is a founder of Walk and Roll Houston and he continues his association. Strickland and Walk and Roll Houston are strong supporters of the 11th St project.
4. By calling on Walk and Roll Houston to explain the results of the draft report, Strickland tried to distance himself from the issuance of the letter so that his actions appear impartial. But as president of SNC15, he had already decided to issue the letter. The presentation to the council was just a formality.
5. SNC15 claims to represent your interests to Houston City Council via District C Council Member Abbie Kamin and District H CM Mario Castillo.

Emmanuel Nunez, one of if not the principal creator of I Love 11th Street and A Tale of Two Bridges, also an ardent supporter of the 11th St project, was given the floor to comment.

No one with an opposing view was invited to speak at length to SNC15 in an official or authoritative capacity.

Then the discussion opened to the council and only one delegate had questions:

• Who made the award to HPW for the project? What do we know about the organization?
• When will the final report be released? What is the reason we need to send this letter right now versus having information for full understanding and perspective?
• Do we have sales tax information we can look at? We need to look at companies that have closed on 11th.

Strickland and Nunez made attempts to provide answers but not all questions were fully answered, and the delegate said so.

Then discussion was opened to the floor. There was a general airing of thoughts, feelings, world travel experiences, anecdotal stories, what-ifs and what-abouts in support of the project; a denouncing of Mayor Whitmire for acting within the scope of his office; and a proffering of solutions for this and that. No one offered other data in support for sending the letter.

But some others had studied the available data and stood to speak. Jason Starr, a financial analyst, went through the draft report point by point and determined that it was meaningless as it was based on too little data (one traffic count pre- and one traffic count post-project completion) and had no control group against which to compare results. Jerry Gause, a professional engineer (retired), reviewed the crash data available for 10 years to show there was no change in safety after project completion. Both pointed out that crashes had gone up substantially in the area post-project.

Strickland ignored these points and asked for a vote.

One delegate moved that the matter be tabled for further study. No one seconded. In the end, the vote was 5 yes, 1 no and 2 abstentions. We heard shortly afterward that the delegate voting no was replaced. Guess they did not get the memo.

How does this strike you? One side says 11th St is great but cannot speak to the data in a believable way. The other side says hold on there may be a problem and we have data. Bear in mind that a lot of bullying has been going on to try to shut up opposition to the project and there is money behind it. They don’t want to hear from the big middle.

Let’s have a proper study of the 11th Street Safety Improvement Project. Put this baby to bed, one way or another. 

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^1 Walk and Roll Houston on its website states that they

"believe in freedom of mobility for everyone, regardless of age or ability….[but is] not an advocacy organization. Instead, we identify local projects where we can have meaningful, intentional impact and prioritize those projects and then organize the community to take action.”

Clicking through on linked words (“Identify,” “11th Street,” and then “Protect 11th Street”) takes the reader to the page where one is urged to !! Protect 11th !! —

“You may have heard: Mayor Whitmire is considering tearing out the 11th Street improvements that made our neighborhood safer….We cannot let this happen.”

Not an advocacy organization? To state that Walk and Roll Houston is not an advocacy organization is at best disingenuous or mendacious at worst.

No board of directors or founders are listed on the Walk and Roll Houston website, and no one claims to represent the 501(c)(3) organization, but Strickland is listed as principal officer of the tax exempt organization on the IRS website. You can look it up yourself here.

^2 Anti-car advocates include Dominic Anthony Walsh of Houston Public Media, Jay R. Jordan at Axios, and The Leader here and here, among many others.