Critics Question METRO’s Rush to Repave Houston’s Washington Avenue Before Study Ends

Transit advocates and locals are unhappy with Houston METRO's $24.4 million contract to resurface Washington Avenue. They say the project is being rushed before the results of a big mobility study are known.

The $700,000 Washington Avenue Corridor Study by the Houston-Galveston Area Council (HGAC) will end in May or June and will look at ways to make walking, biking, and taking public transportation safer and easier. But this month, METRO sped up plans to resurface the roads, which raised fears that the project would keep the roads' car-centered layouts instead of fixing safety problems.

At the March 6 METRO board meeting, Dominic Mazoch, a resident of Houston, questioned the need for speed and said that repaving should wait until the study is finished. A board member named Bob Fry also said he didn't like how quickly the project was moving forward, and Robert Trevino said the board didn't know which streets would be included.

The transit advocacy group LINK Houston agreed with these worries and said that repaving the street without rethinking it would "freeze an already dangerous street in amber." Traffic accidents that cause a lot of injuries happen a lot on Washington Avenue in Houston. Most of the people who live there want safer walkways, public areas, and more shade.

Even though the project has been criticized, city officials are standing by it, saying that repaving will make the road last longer while still allowing for future changes. The office of Houston Mayor John Whitmire stressed that putting the study's suggestions into action could take years. Because of this, repaving is needed in the short term while long-term changes are planned.

After the work on Washington Avenue starts on March 24, Kirby Drive, Montrose Boulevard, Westheimer Road, and other important streets may need to be repaved.

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