Call to Action: Submit Your Comments Regarding the “Fee in Lieu” Sidewalk Ordinance Amendments
The City of Houston Planning and Development Department seeks to amend the 2020 Sidewalk Ordinance through a proposed “fee in lieu” structure to “promote a complete sidewalk network in the city” and improve safety and access for people who walk and roll. The policy change would allow property owners who are developing a new [...]
Impacted Residents Continue to Push for Design Changes in the North Houston Highway Improvement Project
LINK Houston partnered with BakerRipley to provide an in-depth overview of the current state of the North Houston Highway Improvement Project (NHHIP) to residents in Near Northside. We shared information and data in English and Spanish related to the officially recognized impacts of the proposed project, answered community members’ questions, and assisted them in providing their [...]
Advocacy for More Accessibility and Safety
After years of strongly advocating for more accessibility at the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), LINK Houston’s Board Member Janis Scott finally saw the hard work pay off. She recently attended an in-person meeting at H-GAC and saw a ramp at the front entrance of the Greenway Plaza building. Ms. Scott, also known as “The [...]
Step out of your car for Earth Day… and beyond!
For this year’s Earth Day, we teamed up with BikeHouston, Air Alliance Houston, and others to call on our local elected officials to go car free on April 22nd. The Climate Action Plan and the Resilient Strategy status report shows that Houston is nowhere near reducing vehicle miles traveled and is trending away from achieving Vision [...]
Funding for Sidewalks Remains a Challenge to Increase Safety and Accessibility
Well-designed and well-implemented infrastructure connects people to jobs, schools, and services. Safe and accessible sidewalks promote public health and environmentalism. Unfortunately, in Houston people who walk, use a wheelchair, or bike are vulnerable because of non-existent, poor quality, or even dangerous infrastructure. LINK Houston recently piloted S.A.F.E. Sidewalks (Safety and Accessibility for Equitable Sidewalks) [...]
Opportunity for Equitable Representation at METRO
Mayor Sylvester Turner recently appointed Sanjay “Ram” Ramabhadran as the new Chair of the Board of Directors of the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO). LINK Houston looks forward to continuing to work with Mr. Ramabhadran and the METRO leadership to ensure transit improvements advance equity, especially in communities of color where transportation [...]
LINK Houston in the News
Want a vaccine at NRG Park’s super site? Show up with wheels.
The region’s largest COVID vaccine site — created to cater to vulnerable communities — is drive-thru-only, a process that frustrated some observers as health officials work to balance better access to shots, huge demand and the need to inoculate as many people as [...]
Houston Metro has handed out 2 million masks to riders since last summer
The Metropolitan Transit Authority has distributed more than 2 million face masks to riders since the agency mandated the facial coverings last summer, officials said this week. Metro spokesman Jerome Gray said handouts of disposable masks peaked at about 15,000 masks daily in [...]
Janis Scott: A Powerful Voice for Transportation Equity
This Transit Equity Day, we would like to acknowledge and thank Janis Scott for her unceasing commitment to improving and preserving public transit access for all Houston-area residents. Janis truly embodies the values central to transit equity. [Read more.] Understanding Houston | February [...]
TxDOT gives itself go-ahead on $7.5B rebuild of I-45, and critics pounce
Texas highway officials Thursday gave themselves the green light to rebuild Interstate 45 in Houston, a crucial step in the process, despite lingering concerns from critics that the proposed $7.5 billion widening project is out of step with the region's future needs. [Read [...]
Houston region’s transportation board changes nixed, leaving women out of positions of power
The four-person leadership of the Houston area’s regional mobility council will stay virtually the same for 2021, after suburban officials substituted two key positions. Officials prior to the divided vote last Friday said the move was necessary to better reflect both urban and [...]
H-GAC group stalls I-45 resolution after TxDOT objects to agreement
A monthslong process to reach an understanding between regional leaders and the Texas Department of Transportation about objectives of the I-45 project stalled Jan. 22. What began as a memorandum of understanding, a binding agreement between the group of regional leaders from the [...]