Getting Around with Ease in Midtown Houston: Updates on the Caroline Street Reconstruction Project

(Caroline Street Reconstruction Project in Progress)

Imagine a roadway designed for the safety and convenience of pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists alike. Then add in some beautiful aesthetics. What you’ll wind up with is the new Caroline Street. The roadway heavily used by people traveling to Houston Community College by foot, bicycle, or car is getting a $14.5 million facelift. 

A Street Built for Everyone

The Caroline Street Reconstruction Project in Midtown Houston will span the blocks between Pierce and Elgin Streets and include new concrete pavement, utility upgrades, parking, wider sidewalks for pedestrians, shade trees, and a dedicated bike lane. There will also be traffic calming measures to slow traffic and reduce noise in the neighborhood.

Other planned improvements:

• Rain gardens to reduce and treat stormwater runoff
• Curb extensions to shorten pedestrian crosswalks and allow for on-street parallel parking while helping to calm the speed of vehicular traffic in the area
• Additional street and pedestrian lighting to promote overall comfort and safety in the public realm
• Traffic signal upgrades to improve signal timing and emphasize safety and comfort of all transportation modes over vehicle throughput.
• Wayfinding signage to assist users connecting to other key nodes within Midtown and neighboring communities.

The updates will create a safe, equitable, accessible corridor that better accommodates the growing multimodal mobility demands in Midtown. 

A Street Built for the 21st Century

Most of Caroline Street’s existing public utility infrastructure systems — including drainage/storm sewer, water, and wastewater/sanitary sewer — were past their useful life, in deteriorated condition, and/or undersized.  Caroline Street has no existing storm sewer pipes; however, all drainage inlet leads and storm sewers pipes on the side streets from Caroline Street to Austin Street have been upgraded to meet or exceed City standards.  The new storm sewer pipes located on the side streets connect to the large drainage pipe on Austin Street.  These improvements to the storm sewer infrastructure – including the new rain gardens — will improve drainage during rain events and help alleviate flooding on the roadway.

Improvement to the area’s century-old water delivery and wastewater/sanitary sewer lines is another very important part of the project. Two existing water lines will be combined and replaced with a brand new system to improve water delivery and help reduce the possibility of water main breaks and service disruptions. The wastewater line improvements include the replacement of the existing lines along the entire project corridor. 

The project is nearing completion; however, weather and unforeseen construction delays could impact the construction progress. 

We know road construction can be inconvenient. In the meantime, we appreciate the community’s patience. The Texas Department of Transportation is managing this project, but Midtown Houston is working with TxDOT to make sure the concerns of Midtown residents and property owners do not get overlooked.

For the latest updates, please join us monthly at the Midtown Redevelopment Authority Meeting, held virtually on the last Thursday of the month. Click here for more information.