Tales from the Tundra: North Street Bridge

Take North Street east from Houston Avenue and you will come upon the North Street bridge crossing I-45N. Like the Cottage Street bridge, I’ve always wondered why TxDOT elected to construct bridges connecting relatively minor neighborhood streets. Not surprisingly, it turns out that they have a history tied to the early days of Woodland Heights.

Photo used courtesy Texas Freeways - https://www.texasfreeway.com/houston/houston-historic-photos/ 

Before the interstate was constructed, smaller wooden bridges (in those approximate locations) crossed Little White Oak Bayou so farmers could move their goods from farm to market.  During the 1960’s, these routes were maintained with updates to I-45.

Approaching North Street Bridge Heading NE

Our personal use of the North Street bridge is an occasional auto crossing but mostly to check out the highway when it floods or when we walk to catch a show at White Oak Music Hall. I imagine with local neighborhood decline and gentrification over time that the bridge traffic has been used for purposes both good and bad.

July 8, 2024 - Flooded I-45 looking NW from North Street Bridge 

TxDOT proposes to remove the bridge when I-45 improvements begin in our area. They plan to replace it with a pedestrian bridge that either goes over or under the new highway section. There are pros and cons to both options and a slightly more detailed explanation of the options can be found on the COH Planning Department website and on TXDOT's website.

Photo courtesy TxDot - Proposed design change: pedestrian bridge

Personally, I tend to favor its removal so long as some connection to the north side neighborhoods is maintained.  A quick note on where and how to learn more about our neighborhood’s history.  There are several very knowledgeable contacts in our neighborhood who hold a wealth of information including Louise Moss, Pat Rutledge, and Debbie Hall (please forgive me if I have missed others).  Also, there is an amazingly researched book about our neighborhood written by Omar Holguin, Jr. entitled Recollections: A History of the Woodland Heights and Surrounding Communities.  I purchased my copy on Amazon.

Extra! Extra! WHCA Newsletters: Half in the Bag

Greg Roche’s survey of the neighborhood is not yet complete, but very close. To date he was able to provide us a new total count of homes in Woodland Heights. He reports counting 1967 homes, that’s down from 2167. That old number likely goes back to a decade or more. Over the years, the trend is that older and smaller homes get knocked down to make way for much larger homes. There are blocks were we thought we’d deliver 8 newsletters in the past, but in 2026 we actually only need 4 or 5! We use this count to determine how many newsletters each newsletter volunteer is signing up to deliver and how many streets we need to cover.

On a related note, some of you might have noticed that the last two times we’ve distributed printed WHCA newsletters they arrived in a thin plastic bag. I say some, since this was an initiative that Stella Espinosa came up with. Given the rain in late November 2025, she decided to bag those newsletters that the two of us had signed up to distribute.

It turns out that the thin plastic bags that realtors sometimes use are quite cheap and readily available. While it takes a little extra effort to stuff the newsletters into bags, they provide a considerable number of advantages. They certainly keep the item from getting wet. Being clear plastic, it’s still obvious that the neighborhood newsletter is what’s inside.

The little hole at the top makes it fast and easy to hang the newsletter on a doorknob or fence. This is important since it’s actually illegal for volunteers to put them into your mailbox. That privilege is reserved for official USPS letter carriers alone.

The bags reduce the chance that a newsletter will fall to the ground, becoming litter. We think that’s worth the extra effort.

And while we're on the topic of newsletters, homes, and volunteers - please consider signing up to be a newsletter or door hanger volunteer when the next call goes out. We always appreciate the extra hands and feet from all our volunteer newsies!

Slow Rolling Woodland Heights

If you see an older green Toyota Tundra pickup slow rolling around the neighborhood, do not be alarmed! This is readily explained! Longstanding neighbor Greg Roche has undertaken a special project for WHCA.

WHCA newsletters, fliers, etc., are distributed by a collection of volunteers. When we need volunteers, we use Signup Genius to recruit them. The Signup Genius platform requires a count of the number of homes on each block. That way, neighbors can see how many homes per block they are signing up to deliver to.

The existing count is about 15 years old and no longer reflects reality on the ground. As a consequence, it’s hard to know exactly how many of the printed goods you need to do what you’ve committed to do. It may seem like we could survey the neighborhood using Google Maps, but that approach isn’t reliable. Google updates images only every few years, while our neighborhood is always changing as new homes are built. This ongoing development affects the accuracy of our home counts.

Greg has volunteered to drive the entire neighborhood, counting the number of homes on each block face. The purpose of this project is to ensure that our Signup Genius data accurately reflects the number of homes, thereby improving the process of distributing our publications.

WHCA is always looking for volunteers. Volunteers often help with committee tasks. The Home Tour is the current group activity. Sometimes, solo tasks need attention. We’re grateful when someone like Greg takes on a project like this.