As part of my commute into downtown, I cross 610 southbound and take the Shepherd–Durham Bikeway headed south. Construction on this stretch of road was approved in 2020 and completed in 2025. I do not really have the expertise to speak to the funding of this project or whether it was a good use of taxpayer dollars, but I do want to share my thoughts on how we make choices around cycling infrastructure. In short, I think this is a terrible piece of infrastructure for the cycling community, and I wish it had not been built. It is simply too stressful to ride on and is not sufficiently additive to our trail network. There is a belief within the cycling community that all bike infrastructure is good infrastructure, but I think we need to advocate for logical and extensible infrastructure, which the Shepherd–Durham Bikeway is not.
For a bikeway to be additive, it should either extend a connected trail network or forge new ground for cycling infrastructure. The Shepherd–Durham route does neither. This section does not connect to the protected bike lane on 11th Street. Heading southbound, it simply stops abruptly at 15th Street. Beyond that, there was already a north to south trail in place, the Nicholson Street trail. Unlike Shepherd–Durham, Nicholson connects to two different bikeways, and in my experience it still sees the majority of cyclists because it feels significantly safer.
I have not pulled statistics on cyclist safety for the Shepherd–Durham Bikeway, and to my knowledge there have not been any fatalities, but I do not find it safe at all. Back in 2020, when this project was first announced, the initial comments on Reddit accurately predicted how it would pan out. The most upvoted comment was, “Uhhhh... I live in this area... That is going to be the scariest bike lanes lol.” Much of the concern in that thread centered on drivers not respecting the speed limit. While that is true, speed is not my primary concern on this stretch.
The real problem is the combination of two major safety issues that compound to make riding this bikeway a nightmare: the surrounding businesses and the numerous unsignalized cross streets. Along the Shepherd side of the route, there are simply too many busy businesses for this to be a safe cycling environment. Over a one mile stretch, there are roughly 20 to 25 businesses and 15 street intersections, creating around 40 different points where cyclists must watch for traffic crossing the bikeway. It is inherently hazardous. I have tried riding this route on both sides of the street and in both directions, and unfortunately I have found that the safest way to ride it is against traffic so I can see cars turning into driveways.
The other major safety issue comes from east to west traffic crossing Shepherd and Durham. In typical Houston fashion, drivers are often trying to get through these intersections as quickly as possible. Cyclists are frequently out of these drivers’ line of sight, which creates dangerous situations regardless of how attentive the cyclist may be.
As a cycling community, we need to be willing to say when something did not work and push for better outcomes next time. The Shepherd–Durham Bikeway may have been well intentioned, but intention is not enough. Infrastructure should make cycling safer, calmer, and more accessible, and on that front, this project falls short.