Houston's Vision Zero project reveals Houston's most dangerous streets
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- It may seem like an impossible goal - eliminate traffic deaths in Houston by 2030, but that is the exact mission of the city's Vision Zero initiative.
Over the last year, transportation planners have studied the most dangerous streets in the city to determine where to focus efforts, and what they found could help save your life.
"When we talk about why this is important, it is life and death," David Fields of the City of Houston said.
More than 220 people die on Houston roads every year, and more than 1,000 people are seriously injured.
Fields explains that, in order to make the biggest impact, they will focus on the city's most dangerous areas.
"Almost 60% of our crashes happen on only 6% of our streets," Fields explained.
But with Houston's 670 square miles, that's still a lot of territory to cover. The city is prioritizing areas where investment has been historically less than in others. They'll also prioritize lower income and minority neighborhoods.
The city's research also identified the 12 most dangerous intersections for walking and biking, and it has already made a major improvement to one of those locations.
"The longer we wait, the more people die. The faster we get to this, the more people we save," Fields said.
The brand new Brazos Street Bridge that crosses Smith and Holman, connecting Midtown to US-59 through Spur 527, now has a wider median for cyclists and a shortened distance to the crosswalk on Smith Street.
"The point is for everyone to get home safe by the end of the day," Fields said.
The city's safety plan will consider reducing speed limits, making safer connections to public transit and re-engineering intersections to help reduce blind spots.
FROM 2019: Houston's 3 most dangerous intersections
We asked, and the city would not yet provide more specifics on the 6% of streets mentioned in the study.
We were able to obtain the list of most dangerous intersections for cyclists and pedestrians, according to data from LINK Houston:
- West at Airline
- Fannin at Pierce
- Washington at Patterson
- 11th at Nicholson
- Bellaire from Ranchester
- Bellaire at Gessner
- Long Point at Gessner
- Taylor at Spring and MKT Trail
- Shepherd at Allen Parkway and Shepherd at Memorial Parkway
- Hawthorne at Spur 527 and Holman
- Fondren at West Bellfort
- Bissonnet at Wilcrest
