Near Northside: Safe Streets, Safe Communities

Report by Dian Nostikasari, Gelila Haile, Kyle Shelton
February 2020

Kinder Institute for Urban Research   (Houston)

This report documents the presence and conditions of biking and pedestrian infrastructure in the Near Northside. Community volunteers, students from the University of Houston and Kinder Institute for Urban Research staff conducted several walk audits to assess the availability and conditions of the community’s sidewalks, bikeways and other street elements such as road lighting and building conditions.

The audits revealed safety for users on Houston’s streets is a crisis. Nationally, the number of pedestrian deaths increased by 35% from 2008 to 2017. According to TxDOT, in 2018 alone, there were 693 pedestrian and bicyclist fatalities in Texas.

This report — the second in a series — aims to help improve the street safety in the Houston region one neighborhood at a time. The first, "Safe Streets, Safe Communities: Walking and Biking Infrastructure in Gulfton," was conducted in the summer and fall of 2018.