HOUSTON — Plans to restore the iconic lights on the Montrose bridges have been halted — for now.
The lights, originally installed over the Southwest Freeway in 2017, have been plagued by issues such as unreliability and a lack of funding, keeping them off in recent years.
Houston First, the organization responsible for maintaining the lights, had proposed allocating more than $2.5 million to bring them back. However, Mayor John Whitmire requested the funds be redirected to other projects.
As a result, the Houston City Council approved Houston First's new budget Wednesday, which no longer includes funding for the bridge lights.
According to Houston First leaders, the lights may return in the future if funding can be secured from alternative sources.
Whitmire on Wednesday took full responsibility for making the call to pull the funding. He said he wants the money to be considered for use in other efforts, including in downtown areas to address things like homelessness.
There are also concerns over what to do going forward regarding lighting for car and pedestrian traffic on the bridges in Montrose.
"The bottom line is: we're broke. And if we want to continue to have a great city, we've got to be wise with our expenditures," Whitmire said.
Houston City Councilwoman Abbie Kamin felt differently about the bridge lights.
"It's not about the beautification. Although many in the Houston community love the lights, it's about we don't actually have any street lights or lighting on those bridges. There are railings that are coming down. It's not safe and we do need to address that," she said.
Houston First leaders said that even though the project isn't moving forward at this time, the design is complete and if they're able to find funding from other sources, it could move ahead in the future.