If you want to get to the Buffalo Bayou hike and bike trails west of downtown, it could mean a sprint across Allen Parkway.
Houston’s Downtown Redevelopment Authority is hoping a major redesign will make things a lot safer. Lanes are being shifted to allow for close to 150 new parking spaces. The Redevelopment Authority’s Ryan Leach says they’re also improving access at Dunlavy Street, where Allen Parkway makes a wide curve.
A signal light will be added at Gillette Street and they’re also reducing the speed limit to 35 MPH.
“Through our traffic studies during high-volume hours, we imagine that this will only increase drive time by about less than a minute both inbound and outbound in the morning and during the evening rush hours,” says Leach.
And the street will stay open during construction.
“We’re not going to be doing any deep infrastructure improvements or tearing up the lanes. In fact, the lanes already exist,” Leach explains. “It’s just repurposing the lanes so that you will have more access to the park, and of course a safer Allen Parkway.”
The cost of the project is $11 million, and Leach says it’s being paid for with property tax revenues. The work should be done by next summer.