North Main Street Safety Improvements

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Project Overview

North Main Street runs north from I-10 bordering Downtown Houston to Crosstimbers St. in Independence Heights. It is a 5-mile stretch, including 1.2 miles with center-running light rail operated by METRO. North Main becomes a four-lane undivided street fronted by many local and small-scale businesses at Boundary Street, where the light rail deviates onto Fulton Street. The four-lane section between Boundary Street and Airline Drive is being improved for safety.

There are notable crash problems on North Main between Boundary St. and Airline Dr.

  • More recently, between 2017-2021, there have been 224 total crashes, including eight crashes where someone was seriously injured.
  • A half-mile segment between Holy Cross Cemetery and Melwood St is on the Vision Zero High Injury Network because there were two serious injury crashes and one fatal crash between 2014-2018. This segment includes the IH 45 intersection, which may be contributing to the higher number of severe crashes.

With substantial support from Council Member Cisneros, the City of Houston has been undergoing an analysis and redesign of North Main:

  1. As of April 2023, the project is fully designed between Boundary Street and Cottage Street.
  2. At the same time, METRO has been redesigning one of their frequent bus routes, the 56, which runs along Airline Drive. In addition to improved bus service, the redesign includes high-comfort bike lanes from North Main St to W Cavalcade St. Airline Drive intersects with North Main.
  3. To connect the proposed bike lanes on Airline to the proposed bike lanes on North Main, the City is pursuing an extension of North Main to fill the 0.5-mile gap between Cottage St. and Airline Dr.

To get more information about existing conditions, please review the Overview document.

Project Overview

North Main Street runs north from I-10 bordering Downtown Houston to Crosstimbers St. in Independence Heights. It is a 5-mile stretch, including 1.2 miles with center-running light rail operated by METRO. North Main becomes a four-lane undivided street fronted by many local and small-scale businesses at Boundary Street, where the light rail deviates onto Fulton Street. The four-lane section between Boundary Street and Airline Drive is being improved for safety.

There are notable crash problems on North Main between Boundary St. and Airline Dr.

  • More recently, between 2017-2021, there have been 224 total crashes, including eight crashes where someone was seriously injured.
  • A half-mile segment between Holy Cross Cemetery and Melwood St is on the Vision Zero High Injury Network because there were two serious injury crashes and one fatal crash between 2014-2018. This segment includes the IH 45 intersection, which may be contributing to the higher number of severe crashes.

With substantial support from Council Member Cisneros, the City of Houston has been undergoing an analysis and redesign of North Main:

  1. As of April 2023, the project is fully designed between Boundary Street and Cottage Street.
  2. At the same time, METRO has been redesigning one of their frequent bus routes, the 56, which runs along Airline Drive. In addition to improved bus service, the redesign includes high-comfort bike lanes from North Main St to W Cavalcade St. Airline Drive intersects with North Main.
  3. To connect the proposed bike lanes on Airline to the proposed bike lanes on North Main, the City is pursuing an extension of North Main to fill the 0.5-mile gap between Cottage St. and Airline Dr.

To get more information about existing conditions, please review the Overview document.

Questions & Comments

Please post any questions or comments so that the City of Houston may respond. Questions and comments may be shared on the website so that others can see what people are saying.

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    Can we make Pecore at main a right turn only? Left turns from Pecore on to Main cause a lot of congestion and are dangerous for drivers on Main, particularly if you’re taking a left from Main onto Pecore. And, there’s multiple avenues to get where you need to go from Beauchamp.

    T asked 7 months ago

    The design includes a left turn lane from N Main St to Pecore St. We will not be including right-in, right-out only for Pecore St at this time. After the project is constructed, drivers turning left from Pecore to N Main will have much greater visibility of all lanes of travel. Additionally, the left turn lane on N Main will reduce confusion when looking for the gap in traffic to turn north onto N Main. As with all features of this project, we will continue to review safety concerns and if the left turns onto and from Pecore st pose a safety risk after construction we will determine additional roadway alterations. 

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    Will there still be a dedicated left turn onto Boundary from Main Street so traffic going straight will not back up when there is a train or oncoming traffic blocking the turn?

    btsadler asked 9 months ago

    Thank you so much for this question. We plan to include a south bound left turn lane on N Main at the intersection with Boundary St. We are currently working with our designers to incorporate this into the Phase 1 design.

    -VL

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    This is an exciting project! It will make the corridor safer, especially for kids and the elderly. I am looking forward to being able to bike to Pinkerton's and White Oak Music Hall.

    JRM asked 11 months ago

    Thank you for your interest in this project and for your support of these safety improvements. 


    -VL

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    can large delivery trucks and busses be prohibited from cutting through norhill on 14th street.

    MFB asked 11 months ago

    Thank you for your question and apologies for the delayed response. Thank you for informing us of this issue. As you know, 14th St already has a few speed bumps between Studewood and N Main. As part of this N Main project we will not be pursuing any corridor treatments but I recommend making a complaint via 311 about cut through traffic as well as contacting the Neighborhood Traffic Management Team at ntmp@houstontx.gov to request additional traffic calming measures. 


    -VL

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    Left turns onto Pecore from Main already frequently back up traffic with 2 lanes; going down to one lane, how will left turns be navigated here? Is there no space for a turn lane here, or down this full stretch?

    T asked over 1 year ago

    Thank you for this question. We are actively looking for ways to maintain a left turn lane from N Main to Pecore. Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

    -VL

Page last updated: 04 Aug 2023, 02:51 PM