Harwin Drive Improvement Plan: TIRZ #20 Holding Public Meeting on 8/15

A fairly simple street project on Harwin Drive turned into a local government tussle between Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) #20 and Houston Public Works over road diet. Now, that tussle appears to have ended, and the $5.5 million project is ready to move forward, keeping Harwin at four lanes, not three. TIRZ #20 is holding a public meeting on Thursday, August 15, to discuss details of the project with the community.

The project is planned to reconstruct Harwin's pavement and storm sewer from Drew St to Fondren Rd, in addition to constructing a floodwater detention pond, more street lighting, and ADA-accessible sidewalks and wheelchair ramps.

Long-term planning for this project began in 2017, and TIRZ #20 finished a preliminary design in early 2023. But Houston Public Works staff insisted that the project should reconfigure Harwin from four lanes to three (one lane each way with a left turn lane in the middle).

Why? Under former mayor Sylvester Turner's Vision Zero, "road diet" was a dominant philosophy in city projects. Road diet is the idea that by narrowing or reducing lanes, city planners can discourage drivers from speeding, making serious accidents less likely.

Of course, potential side effects include traffic clogging the narrower roads and frustrated drivers cutting through nearby side streets. Unsurprisingly, road diet is unpopular with many drivers—and many business owners who want cars to have easy, swift access to their storefronts. In May, local business owners presented TIRZ #20 with a petition (which TIRZ #20 claims had nearly 200 signatures) opposing the three-lane design. In August, the TIRZ board voted to proceed with the four-lane design.

But Houston Public Works came back to the bargaining table with a compromise: HPW would temporarily restripe Harwin from four lanes to three as a pilot project and collect traffic data. Depending on results, HPW would consider returning Harwin to four lanes or keeping it reduced to three.

HPW scheduled a public meeting to discuss the restriping plan on January 11, 2024, but it was canceled. According to TIRZ #20 Executive Director David Hawes, when new mayor John Whitmire got wind of HPW's plan, he told the city department to back off. Erin Jones from HPW confirmed that the meeting was "canceled at the request of the mayor." (Since then, Whitmire has repeatedly demonstrated skepticism of projects that involve removing lanes.)

Now, with the project back in the hands of TIRZ #20, the four-lane design is moving forward, although the project shrank in scope due to cost concerns. (It was originally planned to cover the entire stretch of Harwin from Fondren to Gessner.) Below are the planned changes according to a screenshot from TIRZ #20's flyer for the public meeting:

Have questions, concerns, or ideas—or just want to know more? Stop by the public meeting on Thursday, 8/15. It will be held at the HPD Midwest Police Station from 6:00 - 7:30 PM.