Our deadly streets
To function efficiently, our roads must work for all users
IN Houston, the mundane task of crossing the street is too often a harrowing experience. Pedestrians break into a quick trot, and sometimes a full-on sprint, as if afraid for their lives. Our pedestrians step it up for good reason: We know our streets are deadly.
Mayor Sylvester Turner has tapped Houston veteran engineer Karun Sreerama to head Public Works. Sreerama must leverage every element of his stellar résumé to bring the right leadership to the $2 billion-a-year, 4,000-employee enterprise.
Cities around the country have realized that intelligent street design is at the heart of keeping citizens safe. Our competitor cities of Denver, Los Angeles and Chicago have revamped their approaches, changing design criteria in ways that save taxpayers money, and make driving, walking and cycling safer.
Streets reflect a community’s priorities, and, to function properly, they must work for all users.
Houston’s Public Works Department has been slow to get the memo. City Hall has talked about the idea of “complete streets” for years now — the idea that streets should be designed for all users — but gains on the ground have been too few.
Consider the recent reconstruction of Broadway between Interstate 45 and Hobby Airport. Taxpayers spent millions on rebuilding the street, and Houston welcomed Super Bowl visitors with fresh flowers on the revamped median.
Meanwhile, residents of the many apartment buildings along Broadway face a street with higher-speed traffic and no safe crossings for thousands of feet in either direction.
Hundreds of Houstonians die every year in automotive accidents, scores of them pedestrians and cyclists.
Most sadly, our outdated street designs contribute to the death of several school children every year. Last August, on the first day of school, a 4-year-old was hit and killed in the crosswalk in front of KIPP:Connect in Gulfton. Simple, cost-effective measures such as curb bumpouts to shorten the crossing or better-painted crosswalks might have prevented the tragedy.
Look carefully at the next report of a pedestrian fatality on Houston’s streets, and you’ll likely find a flawed street design, streets with wide lanes built to maximize traffic speed, and safe crossings few and far between.
The deadly results are captured in the 2016 “Dangerous by Design” report, which ranks Houston the most dangerous city for walking in Texas and 15th-most dangerous in the country. Nationally, low-income people are much more likely to be killed by cars.
Turner has made “Complete Communities” the cornerstone of his tenure. Complete Communities are neighborhoods that are self-sufficient by virtue of interconnected transit and commercial environments with
“For too long, Houston has prioritized attempts to ease traffic congestion over the safety of people using the streets.”
safe ways to get around. Current street design practices in Houston are an affront to the mayor’s priorities. Sreerama is academically prepared and professionally positioned for the challenge at hand.
Beyond his department, Houston needs Sreerama to work closely with Metro, TxDOT and Harris County commissioners to make sure their projects contribute to safer streets. Challenging the status quo will also mean demanding his former competitors from the consulting engineering community emerge from their 1960s paradigms and help move our city forward.
Public Works has committed employees who care about making our streets work better for all citizens. Our consulting engineers can learn new approaches. Our peer cities have shown examples of cost-effective designs and fixes.
Council is leading with the passage of a citywide bike plan. The mayor is behind Complete Communities.
We look to Sreerama for the leadership and skills to steer Public Works toward a better city for Houstonians.