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Harris County Toll Road Authority Hempstead Highway Study - 2005/06/23 16:43
FROM: Me!
TO: Mike Strech, P.E.
Director
Harris County Toll Road Authority
330 Meadowfern Dr.
Houston, TX 77067
Dear Mr. Strech:
Subject: HCTRA Hempstead Highway Feasibility Study
I have heard that HCTRA is going to undertake a feasibility study
concerning conversion of Hempstead Highway into a Toll Road / HOV
lane. I have comments concerning this concept.
1. Access to the West Little York METRO Park & Ride. Currently, the
north end of Hempstead Highway at Brittmoore Rd. is the fastest way
for any vehicle to get from FM529 to the West Little York Park & Ride
(FM529 > Golden Gate Dr. > Port Northwest Dr. > Brittmoore Rd. >
Hempstead Highway). I encourage your study group to look at ways to
improve this connection, and not simply divert Park & Ride users
coming from the west on FM529 onto West Little York Rd. itself in
order to access the Park & Ride. West Little York is narrow, crowded,
and slow compared to FM529, and it is not at all safe for bicycles,
whereas FM529 is, it has specifically marked bike lanes, and they are
good (I use them to get to work). If the FM529 to West Little York
Park & Ride connectivity (such as it is) is eliminated, there will be
no way for bicycles to access this METRO Park and Ride, and we will be
going backwards in terms of encouraging people to leave their cars at
home and ride their bikes to take public transit.
2. Bicycle Access to I-610 Loop Generally from the Northwest.
Hempstead Highway is used by bicyclists to get inside the I-610 Loop.
This very month, June 2005, I used Hempstead Highway to get to and
from Jury Duty in Downtown Houston. Teri Kaplan, The TxDOT Bicycle &
Pedestrian Coordinator, told me (telephone conversation) that she sees
bicycles pass by her office on Washington; I will bet that many of
them came from Hempstead Highway. If Hempstead Highway is converted
to only Toll & HOV, and bicycles are banned, then an important bicycle
corridor will be lost.
3. Social Justice. Hempstead Highway goes through a heavily Hispanic,
low-income area, where people are often too poor to afford a private
automobile. Many times during my commutes, I often see Hispanic
workers traveling via bicycle along this corridor. If bicycle travel
along this corridor were curtailed, that would be a travesty of social
justice. In effect, the mobility of low-income local residents would
be compromised in order to facilitate affluent suburbanites' car
commutes. I happen to be an affluent suburbanite, and that very idea
is repellent to me; how is that "loving thy neighbor as thyself?"
4. Recreation. One of the refrains we hear over and over again in the
County is that residents are crying out for "Quality of Life". Well,
Hempstead Rd. to the northwest of Hegar Rd. is used extensively by
bicyclists on the weekends. The Northwest Cycling Club turns out a
couple of hundred riders every week who ride from Zube Park or the
Hockley Community Center, and they ride on Hempstead Rd. from Hegar
Rd. as far out as Hempstead in Waller County and back again. What a
great, zero-expenditure way to enhance "QOL" in the northwest corner
of Harris County, by just doing nothing and leaving well enough alone.
I hope that your study group will give these comments due
consideration. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Sincerely Yours,
Me!
Cc:
Steve Radack, Pct. 3
Jerry Eversole, Pct. 4
Scott Barker, METRO
Advisory Board, BikeHouston
Northwest Cycling Club e-mail distribution list
Dan Raine, H-GAC
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