Old Spanish Trail project blocks METRO access for southeast Houston residents

A road project on Old Spanish Trail near Cullen Boulevard left Kevin Ward and other southeast Houston riders without a practical path to METRO stops for weeks, turning a construction zone into a daily transportation barrier.

Ward said the work had cut him off from the transit line and made even short trips difficult because his wife uses a walker. “I don’t have access to the metro transit line anymore,” Ward said. He said the couple had been relying on expensive ride-share trips because they could not safely get around the barriers surrounding the project.

The problem reaches beyond one household. Residents in the area said the blocked sidewalks and crossings also made it harder to reach nearby shops and forced some people into longer, less safe walks around the work zone. For seniors, disabled riders and lower-income households, the loss of a walkable route can mean missed appointments, extra costs and fewer options for basic errands.

Mobility advocate Lex Frieden said planners may need to pause or stage paving differently so residents can still cross the street or reach a transit stop while work continues. City officials were asked about the project’s size and scope, and whether World Cup-related preparations were affecting the timeline, but a response did not come immediately.

The access problem is unfolding in a city where Houston Public Works is responsible for 16,000 lane miles of streets, 2,500 traffic signals and 1,371 bridges across 671 square miles. The department says its transportation and drainage division also coordinates Capital Improvement Projects and external-agency work that affects city facilities, a reminder that even a local work zone can affect how entire neighborhoods move.

METRO says riders can check current service alerts and detours on its alerts page or in the RideMETRO app. Its system map includes Route 029 Cullen / Hirsch and Route 028 OST - Wayside, while the current alerts page shows construction detours affecting southeast-side routes including Route 005 Southmore and Route 080 MLK / Lockwood.

The issue also echoes earlier work on Cullen Boulevard, where Harris County Precinct One reconstructed a 1.5-mile corridor in two phases with the City of Houston and the University of Houston. Segment A, from North MacGregor to Wheeler Avenue, was completed, and Segment B included storm sewer work and two new METRO and University of Houston bus pads. Officials described that project as Complete Streets-style work, the kind that ties together sidewalks, bikeways, bus stops, landscaping and drainage when a corridor is meant to stay usable for people who walk, roll or ride transit.