Houston often makes lists of some of the nation’s most sprawling, car-centric metros. But, the city has evolved over the years to include more light rail and other multimodal transportation options as it looks to become more climate-friendly. As of 2021, Houston has more than 400 miles of trails and bike lanes with the goal of constructing a total of 500 miles by 2025. And the city is on track to meet that goal.  As of 2021, Houston has reached 87% of its Resilient Houston goal to build at least 500 miles of high-comfort bikeways or lanes that are safe for all ages, according to Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research. The Resilience and Recovery Tracker shows the city needs to build at least 16 miles more per year to reach the milestone. In recent years, the City of Houston, Harris County, nonprofit organizations, the cycling community and other entities have come together to improve Houston’s bike infrastructure and build safer roads for all travelers as the city continues to expand.  Houston BCycle, the city’s bike share program, is celebrating its 10-year anniversary this month. The program, which is operated by nonprofit organization Houston Bike Share, started in 2012 with only three stations downtown and 18 bikes. Today, there are more than 150 stations across Houston and more than 1,100 bikes. The bike share program has seen tremendous growth every year since its founding, growing more than 700% in the last five years, according to the nonprofit. “The success of the Houston BCycle program is cause for celebration and a great source of pride for the City, and would not be possible without Houston Bike Share,” said Mayor Sylvester Turner in a recent press release. “The City of Houston is committed to making Houston more walkable and connected to biking and transit, and the availability of these bike stations across the city, including in Complete Communities, [which] furthers that commitment and supports our goal to provide equity and accessible multimodal transportation options.” In 2017, the city adopted the Houston Bike Plan with a goal to create roughly 1,800 miles of high-comfort bikeways with a vision to be a gold-level bicycle-friendly city by 2027. Seven projects have been completed under the plan, in addition to eight that are in the design or construction phase. Earlier this year, the city announced a $25 million plan to transform Telephone Road between Lawndale Avenue and South Loop 610, an underserved area, with improved sidewalks, protected bike lanes, safer crosswalks and converted traffic lanes. According to Chron.com, the city won a $20.1 million federal grant under the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program. The goal is to combine the project with two other projects already underway along other stretches of Telephone Road, which “will help create a five-mile multimodal stretch of the thoroughfare between the Hobby area and Houston’s East End when all is done.”  Efforts to create a more bike-friendly city are not going unnoticed. Houston recently ranked 29 out of 50 among the top bike-friendly cities, according to an analysis by Anytime Estimate. Compared to other Texas cities, Houston came second only to Austin.  Despite the significant progress Houston has made, concerning challenges remain. The annual total of cycling deaths has risen each year since 2017 in Harris County except for a slight dip in 2018, according to an analysis of TxDOT roadway crash data by the Houston Chronicle. So far in 2022, 11 people riding bicycles have died compared to last year’s total of 24.  But there are signs that efforts to improve bike infrastructure and safety are working. A Chron.com analysis shows the number of overall cycling crashes has been steadily declining since 2017 except for a slight uptick in 2021.  Investing in multimodal transportation is critical to building a healthier population and economy, and it’s evident the city and county are making the investment. The Nov. 8 midterm election includes a $1.2 billion bond election for Harris County voters that includes $900 million for roads, drainage and multimodal transportation.  Learn more about living in Houston. Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that Houston had more than 800 miles of trails and bike lanes with the goal of constructing an additional 500 miles by 2025. The correct amount is more than 400 miles with a goal of reaching 500 miles total by 2025.

Traffic in the nation’s biggest cities has largely returned to pre-pandemic levels, but a recent report suggests traffic remains more than 25% below pre-pandemic levels in the downtowns of those cities.   Vehicle miles traveled (VHT) in April 2022 across the nation’s 10 largest cities was up 4% from where it stood in April 2019, but miles traveled in the downtowns of the same cities remained down 27% compared to two years ago, according to the report from StreetLight Data.   The report also used patterns in Houston and New York City as a case study. To do so, the authors measured volume on 10 select road segments in Downtown Houston and Lower Manhattan—both CBDs dominated by office space—and compared the two. Morning traffic heading into both areas has decreased since pre-COVID, but in Manhattan trips originating more than 50 miles away are down 40% while trips from closer-in New York neighborhoods (10 miles or less) are down roughly 30%. By comparison, Houston trips from more than 50 miles away are down by approximately 26%.  According to the report’s authors, “There seems to be a clear tradeoff happening: For those with more manageable distances to travel, the pull of downtown is strongest. But for those coming from much farther away, downtown office culture holds the least sway.”   Housing density plays a big role as well. The report points out that while more than 60,000 people live in lower Manhattan, just 15,000 live in the Houston CBD. But for both downtowns, “the data consistently show a drop in peak a.m. traffic volume, which suggests not only that fewer people are commuting to offices downtown, but also signals that…downtown attractions are seeing fewer visitors, causing economic centers to suffer.”   In examining vehicle hour delays, or how long motorists are spending in their cars, Houston is seeing a more rapid return to afternoon traffic delays—just 13% below where these delays stood in 2019—than other major metros, which are seeing morning delays grow faster. “People who are coming back into the office seem to be doing so later in the day — and based on other StreetLight analyses, staying fewer hours than the historic nine-to-five,” the report concludes.   Based on key card access data analyzed across the 10 markets, more office workers have returned to in-person work in Houston than the other cities. But nationwide, many office workers, especially those with the longest distance to travel, still aren’t returning to downtowns. “For those who are coming into town, they are traveling later in the day and appear to be limiting their hours spent in the city core,” the report said. “If cities want to spark economic activity, they will need to think beyond nine-to-five culture.”   Learn more about living in Houston.