S.A.F.E. Sidewalk Audit - Second Ward

Well-designed and well-implemented infrastructure connects people to jobs, schools, and services. Safe and accessible sidewalks promote public health and environmentalism. Unfortunately, in Houston, it is often people who walk, use a wheelchair, or bike who are the most vulnerable because of non-existent, poor quality, or even dangerous infrastructure. Thousands of miles of streets lack adequate sidewalks, creating dangerous, inaccessible, and inequitable pathways for pedestrians. While several entities (e.g., the City of Houston, Harris County, METRO, management districts) play a role in developing and maintaining sidewalk infrastructure, their jurisdiction is limited, and current city ordinances put the onus on individual property owners to build and maintain sidewalks adjacent to their properties.

• Sidewalks in Houston too often do not exist or are in poor condition.
• Houston has no master sidewalk plan or audit.
• People walk in a variety of unsafe conditions - with potentially dire consequences.
• Funds to improve the pedestrian safety and access are inadequate.
• Local ordinances and policies are confusing and complicated.

LINK Houston recently piloted S.A.F.E. Sidewalks (Safety and Accessibility for Equitable Sidewalks) in Houston's Second Ward to help raise awareness of the importance of safe and accessible infrastructure. The Second Ward community is in a high-demand area for equitable improvements to affordable transportation for people walking, rolling, biking, and riding transit (based on our 2018/2020/2021 Equity in Transit reports). Additionally, the area offers some naturally occurring affordable housing, both to own and to rent, with proximity to public transit. METRO provides transit services in the community, including its Green Line light rail and local bus service. While the majority of trips, particularly transit trips, begin and end with a walk or a roll, the community currently consists of relatively narrow streets and patchy sidewalks, providing unsafe and inaccessible pedestrian conditions. While the East End District, TIRZ 6 Eastside, the City of Houston, Harris County, and METRO provide sidewalk improvements in the area, gaps exist, and residents need improvements.

LINK Houston organized community volunteers to audit sidewalks in a portion of Second Ward. The focus area general boundaries included Harrisburg on the south, Drennan on the west, Crites / Ira on the north, and Lockwood on the east. We provided a brief training, answered questions, and then divided into pairs and small groups to take notes while collectively walking all sides of nearly 70 city blocks. Volunteers were provided a map and survey forms for each assigned city block in both English and Spanish. LINK Houston collected all materials afterward and prepared a summary dataset. The purpose of the audit was to ascertain where sidewalks do and do not exist, plus assess the sidewalk's general condition. We combined one or several data points for each block to arrive at one summary view for each individual side of each block - 266 line segments.

You can explore our findings with the interactive map below. Click on particular blocks to see what we learned. Address information only identifies the block and not in any case individual properties.

Here’s how you can take action now by contacting the Mayor's Office, your Houston City Councilmember, the Houston Department of Public Works, and the Houston Department of Planning and Development:

Demand Dedicated Funding. Tell elected officials you want to see dedicated funding for safety programs for people walking, rolling, and biking. Urge leaders to prioritize the limited funding dedicated in the City budget and to seek additional resources for transportation priorities identified in the Vision Zero Action Plan, Climate Action Plan, Houston Bike Plan, and Resilient Houston. Scaling such projects to improve safety and access for people who walk, roll, or bike, particularly in communities of color, will improve climate justice and equitable outcomes for all.

Ask for Mobility Projects. Tell elected officials we need infrastructure projects that center improving safety and dignity for people who walk, roll, or bike routinely to access opportunity – and then layer on other improvements (like drainage, potholes, etc.). Encourage elected officials and bureaucrats to seek out public-private partnerships and philanthropy, as the City has done for other budget shortfalls.

Expect Systemic Change. Tell City of Houston officials we need systemic change, such as by establishing a Department of Transportation. A new department could leverage existing funding and staff and create a single point-of-contact for the public and for outside partners (including funding partners). Call on elected officials and transportation decision-makers to seek funding opportunities through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and partnerships with philanthropic entities to catalyze pilot projects with a particular focus on equity and climate justice.

City officials emphasize the value of walkability and promote initiatives such as the Vision Zero Action Plan, Climate Action Plan, and the Resilient Houston Strategy, however, Houstonians continue to face poor and dangerous sidewalks due to limited funding sources and political will to prioritize investments and improvements for people who walk and roll. Changes in how the city funds sidewalks may be coming with a new ordinance currently under development by the City of Houston Planning and Development Department. To view a presentation about the proposed ordinance which would create a “fee in lieu” structure, watch this Super Neighborhood Alliance meeting  recording  (the presentation starts approximately 20 minutes in). The city's Planning and Development Department is still ironing out all the details of the ordinance before starting a public comment process.

If you would like to audit sidewalks in your neighborhood so that you can have data to advocate with decisionmakers, contact us at info@linkhouston.org. We are happy to work with you and your community. We learned some lessons in this first such audit in Second Ward and look forward to helping others.