Houston is Building their First On-Street Protected Bike Lane

Photo by BikeHouston on Twitter

On February 8, 2015, construction crews in Houston, TX, began laying down green paint for what will be the city’s first ever protected bike lane.

The two-way, three-quarter mile lane will run along Lamar Street, between Discovery Green east of the business district and Sam Houston Park on the west side. It will be protected from auto traffic by low-lying striped humps and have intersection signals especially for cyclists. The cycle track is replacing a parking lane and is slated to be ready for late March.

Although the cycle track is only ten blocks long, it will serve as a route connector for two well-used off-road cycle paths.

Moreover, its symbolic importance to Houston’s growing biking community is not diminished by its length. While short, the development of a protected bike lane on a busy downtown street represents a large first step on the side of the municipality in taking cycling for transportation seriously.

In a city that has typically been car-centric in their transportation infrastructure, the Lamar Street protected lane represents the beginning of what will hopefully be a long-line of bike-focused infrastructure in the near future. The city’s biking community has taken notice, with the announcement of the lane receiving praise from local advocates and casual riders alike.