{"id":465284,"date":"2026-10-14T01:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T01:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/465284\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T01:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T01:04:10","slug":"coalition-urges-safety-upgrades-for-west-alabama-rebuild-heights-river-oaks-montrose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/465284\/","title":{"rendered":"Coalition urges safety upgrades for West Alabama rebuild | Heights &#8211; River Oaks &#8211; Montrose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A coalition of 76 Montrose organizations and businesses through <a href=\"https:\/\/friendsoftheboulevard.org\/west-alabama-coalition\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">Friends of the Boulevard <\/a>is calling on the city of Houston and the Montrose TIRZ board to make safety improvements part of the reconstruction plan for West Alabama Street.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The details<\/p>\n<p>According to the coalition, nearly 500 crashes occurred on West Alabama Street between 2018 and 2024, and it believes the reconstruction should use proven street-design and traffic-safety measures to reduce the risk of future crashes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWest Alabama is a civic spine for Montrose, connecting homes, businesses, schools, parks, libraries and cultural institutions,\u201d said Alexander Spike, a spokesperson for the coalition. \u201cThis is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build a street that works safely for everyone. These recommendations are practical improvements that can make the project safer without sacrificing mobility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The breakdown<\/p>\n<p>The coalition&#8217;s recommendations to the city and TIRZ include:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Build pedestrian islands into the center lane, while retaining dedicated left-turn locations where needed<\/p>\n<p>Provide a safe crossing every 500\u2013600 feet<\/p>\n<p>Make traffic signals prioritize pedestrians by giving them a head start, banning right turns on red and designing signal timing around a 30 mph travel speed<\/p>\n<p>Build sidewalks at least 6 feet wide, with widths of 7\u20138 feet where mature trees and available space allow<\/p>\n<p>Identify and fund a parallel bike route through the Montrose Greenways study<\/p>\n<p>Measuring the impact<\/p>\n<p>The recommendations build on<a href=\"https:\/\/www.upperkirbywestalabama.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\"> nearly a decade of community planning<\/a> around West Alabama and are intended to complement the city&#8217;s existing investments in drainage, sidewalks and roadway reconstruction, Friends of the Boulevard officials said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe recognize the city&#8217;s commitment to revitalizing West Alabama, and we share the goal of delivering a successful project,\u201d Spike said. \u201cBy making these targeted safety improvements now, Houston can create a corridor that moves people efficiently while also making it safer and more comfortable to walk, bike, cross the street and spend time in Montrose.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One more thing<\/p>\n<p>The 76 signatories to the letter include three Super Neighborhoods representing more than 52,000 residents, nine civic associations, four faith organizations, six nonprofits, 52 local businesses and the Menil Collection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A coalition of 76 Montrose organizations and businesses through Friends of the Boulevard is calling on the city&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":465285,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[158468,158467,56,58,57,1987,28532,155892,14702,145110],"class_list":["post-465284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-alexander-spike","tag-friends-of-the-boulevard","tag-houston","tag-houston-headlines","tag-houston-news","tag-montrose","tag-montrose-tirz","tag-street-reconstruction","tag-traffic-safety","tag-west-alabama-street"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=465284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/465285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=465284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=465284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=465284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}