News New rodeo bike lane fills gap in high-demand area

[KPRC2]

Rodeo Houston should be prepared to welcome lots of bike traffic in 2023 because when this project is finished, anyone who can ride to Brays Bayou will be able to ride all the way into NRG Park.

Here’s what it is:​

• This bike lane was announced in March just before the start of this year’s rodeo season-- but the project didn’t make it to the finish line.
• • “Last year, BikeHouston approached the city of Houston looking for a better way to get people to and from the rodeo. They weren’t able to get something built in time for last year’s rodeo but told us that there were some plans in the works to improve the right of way for people on bikes coming down from Hermann Park and Brays Bayou along Almeda to NRG,” Joe Cutrufo with BikeHouston said.
• The idea is to skip all the rodeo car traffic by hopping on a bike and riding straight into all the fun at NRG--all while staying safe.
• The City of Houston’s Planning Department and Harris County Precinct 1 teamed up to create this new bikeway connecting Brays Bayou to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo at NRG Park, but also to increase safety. Don’t forget: we’re still in the same general vicinity of the Medical Center, which is a pretty high-density part of Houston.

How it will work:​

• The new bike lane will be worked in the existing sidewalk for a more efficient process.
• • “So really, they’re just taking that existing sidewalk right of way and widening it by about five feet, “ according to Cutrufo.
  • “If you’re coming off of Brays Bayou and you want to get to somewhere south of there, like NRG Park, you have very few options, because so many of the intersections around there are at north and south Braeswood, are really busy, really dangerous. It’s very unclear which direction you should take on a bike, very few safe bike routes in that part of town,” according to Cutrufo.

When will it be completed?

• Again, folks can expect to see this new bike lane in action by the end of this year-- just in time for the start of rodeo season!

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