By Marina Sugg
EAST ALDINE – On Wednesday, June 3, 2026, the Harris County Engineering Department (“County”) held its third “Reimagine Aldine Mail Route Community Meeting.”
If you attended either of the past meetings, you know that some of the suggestions included traffic lights, turn lanes, bike lanes, and medians with or without trees and landscaping.
Attendance at this meeting was smaller than at the prior two meetings, although it appeared there was a more diverse representation of residents from different areas of East Aldine than had been at the other meetings.
This meeting was an “open house” with stations at which you could fill out a survey, and write comments and suggestions and post them on a poster board or on a map of Aldine-Mail Route. The County also had a video of what Aldine-Mail would look like with some of the improvements suggested at the prior meetings.
Many of the residents expressed their disappointment that the event was not going to be a meeting as stated in the flyer. The residents wanted to hear a presentation from the County. They wanted the County to tell them more about the project, and they wanted to be able to ask questions, make comments, and hear the suggestions, questions and comments of other residents.
Hearing the residents’ concerns, Marina Flores Sugg of the Green Forest Civic Club asked the County’s spokesperson if they could change the format of the meeting and instead make a presentation with a question and answer period at the end. The County agreed and gave and excellent presentation, with a very informative question and answer period.
One of the main concerns of the residents was the medians. Some of the residents thought medians with trees and plants along Aldine-Mail would look very nice. Others thought a median in front of the schools would give the students a place to get out of the traffic. However, many more residents thought medians were not a good idea. Some of their concerns were that it would obstruct the view of oncoming traffic, block access of emergency vehicles, and that street vendors would use the medians to peddle their goods.
At the end of the question and answer period, the residents then followed through with the open house format, adding their own suggestions and comments to the posters and map.
Some people were happy to see that suggestions they had made at a prior meeting were going to be used on Aldine-Mail. One of the approved improvements was a traffic signal light on Aldine-Mail at Fantasy. Another was adding a turn lane for westbound traffic to safely turn into the Highmeadows Library parking.
It is unknown at this time when the County will hold another community meeting. Please contact the County at 713-274- 2222 to fill out their survey and for additional information.
Marina Flores Sugg, Board Member, Green Forest Civic Club (of East Aldine), greenforestcc1983@gmail.com; follow us on FaceBook.
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