W. Alabama residents long for good old days

Via Off the Kuff, it seems some residents along West Alabama are wondering when they're going to get their old street back — you know, the pre-Spur 527 reconstruction version, sans contraflow lane and with the old bike lanes back in place.

Alabama between Spur 527 and Shepherd, you may remember, was reconfigured to better handle increased traffic expected while the spur and parts of the Southwest Freeway were under construction. Originally, the street had one lane in each direction with a turn lane in the center and bike lanes next to either curb. The reconfiguration added overhead signals making the turn lane a reversible contraflow lane; the bike lanes were moved to Fairview Street, a few blocks north. Those changes ruined the character of West Alabama, resident Neil McKenna told the Examiner: “It was quieter, there were more pedestrians,” he said.

The question these days is whether anyone ever promised area residents that the street would return to its original configuration once construction on the spur was finished (it re-opened in late March, about 10 months ago): Residents and City Councilwoman Ada Edwards say they remember hearing that it would, but Public Works Department spokesman Wes Johnson said no one ever made any promises. And now there's another issue: When Metro gets around to building its University light rail line, which may or may not run along Richmond Avenue — just a few blocks from West Alabama — the contraflow configuration may be useful. Johnson pointed out that it would be foolish to remove the contraflow system, which cost $1 million to install, and then find out it had to be put right back. Edwards has scheduled a meeting with city Public Works officials this week to talk about the issue and said she plans to take it up with Mayor Bill White as well.

Houstonist isn't a huge fan of the reconfigured West Alabama — it's really handy if you happen to be driving in the direction the contraflow lane is going, but then you have to worry about the drivers who use the center lane as a turn lane during contraflow hours, apparently oblivious to the big red X's overhead and the cars hurtling straight toward them. And then there are all the no left/right turn restrictions that came with the new configuration, which can make getting somewhere off West Alabama something of a challenge. But at the same time, we agree that it would be somewhat pointless to scrap all that, only to find that it has to be replaced when light rail construction begins — we like Kuff's idea of Metro meeting with all the stakeholders and explaining how its plans might involve West Alabama. But knowing the way things work around here, we're not holding our breath.