The 1.8-mile, $5.6 million bicycle lanes along Blodgett Street next to Texas Southern University are the subject of an ongoing review by the Houston City Council member for the area, Carolyn Evans-Shabazz.
Evans-Shabazz told Houston Public Media a final decision on whether or not to remove the infrastructure had not been made, though she added “there’s not really a reason to keep that impediment and that safety barrier in that position.”
The Houston Chronicle first reported on the considerations between the Third Ward council member and Mayor John Whitmire’s administration. A spokesperson for Whitmire deferred comment to Evans-Shabazz.
Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis funded the project, which was completed in 2023. It added protected bike lanes to the section of Blodgett between Ennis Street and Scott Street while reducing vehicular lanes from four to two.
Evans-Shabazz argued the project lacked sufficient community engagement, while Ellis pointed to nine community meetings in which the broader “Third Ward Mobility Assessment” was presented in 2018 and 2019.
“Dismantling a recently completed project that has helped reduce crashes along Blodgett is shortsighted and a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Ellis argued in a statement.
According to reports from the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) shared by Ellis’ office, the project coincided with a significant reduction in the number of crashes along the stretch of Blodgett in question. There were seven crashes in 2022, including one classified as “suspected serious injury” — compared to two crashes in 2023, two in 2024 and one so far in 2025, none of which caused injuries.
Under the city of Houston’s expansive bike plan approved during Mayor Sylvester Turner’s administration, the Blodgett Street bike lane would have actually been extended. It currently runs from Ennis Street to Scott Street, bordering the TSU campus and connecting to the Columbia Tap Trail. The plan called for it to eventually stretch nearly 3 miles from Cullen Boulevard to Fannin Street, where it would connect to the METRO transit authority’s Wheeler Transit Center — which services the red line light rail and multiple bus routes.
The potential backpedaling on an element of the bike plan would follow a familiar path under Whitmire’s administration. During his first two years in office, officials scrapped plans for bike infrastructure on Antoine Drive in Northwest Houston and on Montrose Boulevard and Alabama Street in Montrose. Houston Public Works also tore up a protected bike lane along a section of Austin Street in Midtown — ostensibly for an unrelated drainage project, though Whitmire’s prior criticism of that stretch was later revealed in text messages obtained by advocacy group A Tale of Two Bridges.
Whitmire’s administration has repeatedly emphasized his “guiding mobility principals,” which prioritize keeping the same number and width of vehicular lanes, ease-of-use for emergency vehicles and safety for pedestrians.
Joe Cutrufo, executive director of nonprofit advocacy group BikeHouston, drew parallels between Austin Street and Blodgett Street.
“The county already paid for this project, and now that the project is already paid for, it would be absolutely ridiculous for the city to go and then tear it out,” Cutrufo said. “This is an enormous waste of taxpayer dollars at a time when the city has an enormous budget deficit. Even if you are not pro-bike lane, you are probably not somebody who wants to see the city flushing money down the toilet this way.”
Evans-Shabazz said a group of community members who want the bike lanes removed will present their views during the city council’s public comment session in the coming weeks, after which city officials will make a “community-driven” decision about the future of the Blodgett Street bike lanes. She said Harris County should pay for potential construction.
“The money that was wasted was the money that the county used, and that was to put those bike lanes there in the first place,” Evans-Shabazz said. “The community pushed back the whole time — certainly that is when there should have been a concern about the use of taxpayer money. And so I will adhere to what my community and my constituents want or do not want. It is just unfortunate. I believe the county should incur the cost, or certainly some of the cost.”
Ellis and Evans-Shabazz, who are former in-laws, had a public spat about the bike lanes while they were being constructed in early 2023. Evans-Shabazz led the city council in voting to postpone a payment of nearly $400,000 for the city’s portion of the project cost, prompting Ellis to say he would pause the project and redesign it if the city was willing to split the overall cost evenly — upping the city’s portion of the cost to around $8-$9 million, according to Ellis.
Turner said in a statement at the time that the city didn’t have that kind of money to spend on the initiative, adding, “The project, already under construction, should move forward.”
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