Houston Life category interest

A pedestrian plaza to the south. The Metropolitan Transit Authority's Red Line runs up the center of the street. Diners eat outdoors in temporary seating set up in the little-used roadway. For about a half mile between between Commerce and Rusk streets, the city is allowing restaurants and bars to construct dining spaces and gathering areas in the street in lieu of car traffic.

Houston restaurants' takeover of downtown street is extended another year, signaling what could come in other parts of the Bayou City

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The measure, called More Space: Main Street, was a pilot program authorized by Houston city council in 2020 in response to a struggling restaurant scene in the city's central business district. The initiative was to expire at the end of March, but Houston city council on Wednesday, at the urging of District I council member Robert Gallegos, approved extending it to March 2023. 

Judging by the response from city hall, however, it could eventually become a permanent feature in downtown and expand to communities all around town. 

"Quite frankly, it has been working and is quite popular," Mayor Sylvester Turner said after council unanimously authorized the extension. "This is maybe something that will be long-term."

There are several businesses utilizing space on Main Street, including Little Dipper Bar, Shay McElroy’s Pub, Flying Saucer and Finn Hall. The city hopes more will take advantage now that the program was extended. Since early 2021, it helped usher a rise in nightlife along the stretch of Main Street, Gallegos said.

With the success of the program downtown, there's also hope for similar street takeovers in other communities around the city — places where space reserved for cars might be better used by the community or businesses. David Robinson, an at-large city council member, said he "encouraged" proposals from the Planning and Development Department for other places in Houston that could benefit from a similar set-up. 

"Obviously, it’s a success and was voted unanimously today," Robinson said. "Anything coming forward from the planning department would be very welcomed."

For Fields, the transportation planner, the first thing to do is find the right candidate. If the program were to be expanded to other areas of town, it also begs whether or not it's a temporary or permanent change. Long-term changes, Fields said, would require more oversight — and more time — since it would likely result in some sort of construction. 

The Main Street discussion is against a backdrop of a shifting focus in Houston over the city's transportation priorities, and particularly how we utilize the public space currently taken up by cars. 

"Our streets are our public space," Fields said. "There's nothing inherently that says you have to move cars on them. Our streets move cars, serve to park cars, serve to move bicycles, pedestrians. Different parts of our sidewalks and our right-of-ways have benches, have shade. Buses have bus shelters. Different times of the year, there may be a pop-up event in the street. We have parades in our street. It doesn't have to be the same thing on every street 365 days a year. What we're trying to do more and more is say, 'what is the best use?' We're not set in stone the way we used to be."