One year and $5.6 million ago, Houston Mayor John Whitmire ordered crews to remove concrete barriers separating a dedicated bike lane from vehicular traffic on Austin Street. At the time, over loud opposition, Whitmire claimed he had a plan to make the Midtown area safer for everyone, regardless of their preferred method of transportation.
Back in March 2025, the mayor pointed out that protected bike lanes blocked a training area for Fire Station No. 7 on Elgin and created hazards for emergency vehicles.
And at the time, BikeHouston Executive Director Joe Cutrufo said, “I can’t think of any reason why Mayor Whitmire would want to tear out the Austin Street bikeway other than to spite people who ride bikes.”
Cut to April 2026. Whitmire’s office refers questions about Austin Street to Public Works Director Randy Macchi, who says via email that the Austin Street rehab project was routine maintenance, supported by Midtown residents, and is slated for completion by the end of the month.
Cutrufo said the road is now less safe and what used to function as a trail connecting the Buffalo and Brays bayous now comes to a full stop marked by a sign at Caroline and Elgin that reads, “BIKE LANE ENDS.”
“I think you’ll have a hard time finding any Houstonian who will tell you they disagree with connecting the bayou greenways with each other,” Cutrufo said. “What Austin Street did, and how it operated for about five years, was it did a really nice job connecting Brays Bayou and Buffalo Bayou. It doesn’t do that anymore.”
“If you ask people who depend on this infrastructure to get where they need to go safely, I think you will hear that things aren’t getting better and they might be getting worse,” he continued. “The progress toward a Houston where people have safe and convenient alternatives to driving has stalled.”
Houstonians have come to anticipate construction projects, detour signs and orange traffic cones throughout Midtown the same way they expect rainy days in the spring. It’s a highly trafficked area with a Houston City College campus and biking distance from Rice University, downtown and the trendy Montrose entertainment district, where Cutrufo lives.
It makes sense that Houston leaders and the Midtown Redevelopment Authority would want to invest in and beautify the area, especially with 500,000 visitors anticipated for this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
But what doesn’t make sense, according to Cutrufo, is the controversial Austin Street project. The bike lane configuration that was removed last year was paid for with Harris County funds in 2020. Now the city has spent its own money, arguably funds it didn’t have, to fix a problem that didn’t exist, Cutrufo says.
“It used to be that we did transportation infrastructure a little more thoughtfully and there would be some wayfinding and markings so people knew where to turn and how to get where they’re going,” he said. “That doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.”
The Austin rehabilitation project includes resurfacing, reconfiguring the bike lane, replacing a water line, improving drainage and upgrading sidewalks. The cost breakdown to date is $3.2 million for waterline replacement, $1.4 million for drainage and sidewalk improvements and $1 million for street rehabilitation.
Macchi said the “two-way bike lane on a one-way street” was converted to a one-way lane alongside vehicular traffic. A stripe now separates the cyclists from the cars, rather than concrete curbs, meaning, in cyclist lingo, the lane is unprotected.
Cutrufo says he wouldn’t call the new configuration hazardous, “but it is nowhere near as safe as it was.” When told that the city’s public works director claims Austin Street is supposed to be finished in two weeks, Cutrufo gives an unenthusiastic, “Mmkay.”
“I use Austin Street personally pretty often. It used to be my main north-south route between home and downtown. Now it’s just my north route. To go south, I have to take Caroline Street, which is less than ideal,” Cutrufo said. “I have seen with my own eyes that they have resurfaced Austin Street three times. That’s also what I’m hearing from other people who use Austin Street regularly, that it appears they’re now on their third resurfacing since the bike lanes were removed on March 31, 2025.”
He says he asked an acquaintance in the public works department why the street needed repeated resurfacing and didn’t get an answer. Regardless of whether one cycles or frequents Midtown in any capacity, the Austin Street project raises a question Cutrufo says not enough people are talking about: Why spend the money when it was functioning just fine before?
“People who maybe never used the Austin Street bike lane and maybe don’t care about this issue or don’t like bike lanes, what I’m hearing from these people is, why spend the money to rip it out and then put something else back in, and then repave the street three times?” Cutrufo said. “That costs a lot of money. The way people say it to me is, ‘I don’t care what the bike lane looks like, but aren’t we broke?’ We keep hearing the city is going to run out of money and then we see costly decisions where they didn’t make the street any safer.”
Midtown Under Construction
Will there ever come a day when a car can zip through Midtown without encountering orange cones in the road or getting rerouted in the opposite direction of their destination?
Probably not anytime soon. Officials with the Midtown Redevelopment Authority acknowledge that the work they do, although less intense than tearing up streets and bike lanes, is ongoing.
Madison Walkes, marketing and communications manager for Midtown Redevelopment Authority, said the MRA’s current major effort is a roadway rehabilitation and sidewalk improvement project along portions of seven priority corridors: Isabella, Truxillo, Cleburne, Caroline, Chenevert, Jackson and Hadley. Completion is slated for spring 2027.
“Midtown’s goal is to provide safe, accessible and convenient use of roadways for pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders,” Walkes said. “We strive to develop projects that accommodate multimodal transportation, including automobiles, pedestrians and bicycles to create safe, equitable, accessible streets for all users.”
MRA’s projects are funded by grant dollars and tax revenue from the Midtown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone. In an unrelated matter, Todd Edwards, former real estate manager of the Midtown TIRZ, pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony theft and money laundering, stemming from charges that he misused public funds intended for Third Ward housing. Edwards was fired in 2023.
Whitmire issued a statement, saying, “I was elected to eliminate conflicts of interest and corruption in city government. Midtown TIRZ is a priority and this development is an indication of our progress.”
Walkes and Macchi each said independently that the Midtown Redevelopment Authority and City of Houston communicate through an interagency team, which approves and tracks planned and ongoing capital improvements, so they don’t get in each other’s way.
As for the Austin Street upgrades, Macchi said the work was routine maintenance requested by the residents who live in the area. The new lane configuration from Holman to McGowen allows for two lanes of vehicular travel, one dedicated bike lane and one dedicated parking lane. From McGowen to Gray, the lane configuration allows for three vehicular travel lanes, one dedicated bike lane, and two dedicated parking lanes.
“The sidewalk improvements create a dedicated, more walkable, and secure path for pedestrians,” Macchi said.
Cutrufo takes issue with the suggestion that residents called for changes to Austin Street.
“The design that got implemented on Austin Street years ago, which included the two-way protected bike lane, came about after several months of community engagement,” he said. “Austin Street was chosen for a two-way protected bikeway by qualified planners and engineers. The decision to remove the two-way protected bikeway and replace it with a one-way striped bike lane was made at City Hall, without any community input.”
World Cup Preparations
Houston officials have touted a $500 million investment in sidewalks, street repairs, lighting, improved pedestrian access and shade trees in Midtown and downtown, anticipating half a million guests for the FIFA World Cup from June 14 to July 4.
Among the World Cup upgrades are plans for a $12 million Main Street Promenade, transforming seven blocks of downtown’s Main Street into a pedestrian-only zone; more than 85 blocks of resurfaced streets downtown; a $3 million, 14-mile green corridor with more than 100 new trees planted in Midtown and downtown; soccer-themed art on bridges; and 325 solar lights on the Columbia Tap Trail.
Walkes said her team has been working with the World Cup planning committee to promote the green corridor project.
“This kind of work matters because it supports both daily use and long-term resilience,” Walkes said. “A greener corridor can help soften the urban environment, improve the pedestrian experience and reinforce the connection between mobility, public space and environmental performance. It is one more way Midtown is investing in infrastructure that supports how people actually experience the district.”
Macchi says the city has partnered with Downtown Houston+ and METRO to deliver numerous street projects in Midtown and downtown.
“METRO has completed projects on Franklin and Congress (the area near POST),” Macchi said in his email. “Downtown Houston+ has an ongoing mill and overlay project to improve the asphalt surfaces of over 100 blocks downtown. Houston Public Works has ongoing projects on Jefferson, Preston, Brazos and Austin, and will be starting on Elgin Street soon.”
Walkes said the Midtown Redevelopment Authority is coordinating with the FIFA Sustainability Committee to enhance Midtown Park with expanded tree canopy, native plantings, water/bike repair stations, wayfinding signage, public art, and other elements that allow residents and visitors to experience sustainable infrastructure.
“The primary goal remains long-term safety, accessibility, and state-of-good repair, while also making Midtown more walkable and welcoming,” Walkes said.
Political Will
When the World Cup fans have returned home after a series of matches at NRG Stadium, Houstonians get the benefits of the upgrades they like and have to live with the ones they don’t like.
The changes to Austin Street are always going to be a source of contention for most of the 11,000 members of BikeHouston, but the reconfiguration won’t stop them from using the thoroughfare, Cutrufo said.
“There’s really no other way,” he said. “Austin Street remains the one street with a northbound bike lane on the Midtown grid. The only street that has a southbound bike lane is one block west, which is Caroline Street. Caroline is designed pretty similar to Austin. You have two lanes of traffic between Gray and Elgin with an unprotected bike lane. The problem on Caroline is that the bike lane is full of debris. It appears that it is not regularly swept.”
So what has to happen to ensure that streets are safer for everyone?
“It comes down to political will,” Cutrufo said. “There’s no shortage of imagination. It’s the shortage of political will to actually do the work that would make it safer and easier for people to walk and bike. There are already a lot of people who walk and bike in Houston, but if you were to look at the fatalities of people who walk and bike, you would find that many have no alternative.”
Cyclist fatalities in Houston typically occur late at night on streets “where people wouldn’t choose to bike,” Cutrufo said. “They’re working late and they’re biking home down streets that only accommodate cars and trucks. Since the Houston bike plan was adopted in 2017, there has not been a single cyclist killed on a street that was redesigned to safely accommodate bicyclists. We know what works.”
Portions of Montrose and Midtown are represented by the District C representative on the Houston City Council. Two candidates — Nick Hellyar and Joe Panzarella — are in a May runoff to complete the unexpired term of Council Member Abbie Kamin, who stepped down to run for county attorney.
Hellyar was a BikeHouston board member and Panzarella is a volunteer with the organization’s “Gear Shifters” group. Cutrufo said he followed the race closely and all seven candidates “were supportive of the idea that Houstonians want options in how they get around.”
“Montrose and The Heights and a lot of these neighborhoods are where you see a lot of appetite for safe streets,” he said. “You heard [former candidate] Audrey Nath on the campaign trail talking about walking her kids to school. Council members get $1 million per year in district funds that they can use for things like intersection improvements. Every candidate wanted to do that and stick their neck out for something that matters.”
“I’m not sure one council member makes a huge difference but when you have several council members who agree that Houston needs more safe transportation options and when you have council members who are willing to fight for those safe transportation options, that’s when you start to see a tipping point,” he said. “When community engagement fails and an alternative gets forced through, I think that’s when you’re going to see local residents get fired up for change.”
