Houston City Council is set to consider accepting a roughly $28 million grant to move forward with the Bissonnet Corridor Safe Streets Project, a plan that includes addressing unsafe road crossings and improvements along the corridor.

The background: Houston was first selected to receive the $28.7 million grant for the project in 2023 from the U.S. Department of Transportation as part of a $73 million initiative to increase roadway safety and prevent fatal accidents. Now, as the project sits in the design phase, City Council must approve and authorize the grant agreement to begin doling out funds for future construction.

About the project: The project is a 7-mile rehabilitation of Bissonnet Street from South Dairy Ashford Road to Hillcroft Avenue and includes improving safety for all street users through enhancements to crosswalks, lighting, bike lanes and dedicated turn lanes.

Stay tuned: The agenda item to approve the grant for the project appeared on the Nov. 18 agenda, but was ultimately tagged. It will now be discussed at the Dec. 3 meeting.

Harris Health officials are one step closer to completion as part of its multi-year, multi-phase initiative to open a new $60 million operations center in the Texas Medical Center. 

Marking a milestone: A final steel beam was placed Nov. 11 at the facility, marking the topping off at the Holly Hall Operations Center, located at 2525 Holly Hall St., Houston.

The four-story, approximately 145,275-square-foot facility is projected to open in late 2026 and support the county healthcare system’s pharmacy and emergency medical services, according to officials. 

What's being done: Pharmacy operations will be consolidated into the new center, according to Harris Health Media Relations Specialist John Martinez. 

“It will feature new automation systems and technology to support current and future pharmacy needs for Harris Health, a centralized sterile compounding and inventory central distribution services to maximize economies of scale, enhance cost-effectiveness and improve operational efficiency,” Martinez said in an email. 

The cost: Funding for the facility is coming from Harris Health's operational budget, Martinez said.

• 2525 Holly Hall St., Houston

The rental-home market in the Houston region is showing signs of balance, with  more homes available to lease while overall pricing remains steady, according to the Houston Association of Realtors’ October 2025 Rental Market Update.

What this means: According to the market update, single-family homes for rent in the Greater Houston area surged in availability. In October, 11,749 single-family homes were available for rent—the highest on record.

Leasing activity remained strong in the same month, 3,725 single-family homes were leased— up 9% from the same month a year earlier, the report states. 

Real estate agents added 7,122 new listings to the Multiple Listing Service in October versus 5,935 last year—a 20% year-over-year increase, per the report.

Thanksgiving week is expected to be one of the busiest U.S. travel periods in history, according to projections from AAA. A record 5.8 million Texans are projected to travel at least 50 miles from home Nov. 25-Dec. 1.

Zooming in: About 5.3 million Texans are expected to drive to their Thanksgiving destinations, according to a Nov. 17 news release, while about 328,000 people will fly and 140,000 will use other forms of transportation.

The impact: Texans should give themselves extra time to reach their destinations during Thanksgiving week, with the most congestion expected Nov. 25-26. Traffic is also expected to be heavy as Texans return home Nov. 30, according to INRIX, a transportation data company.

Minimal traffic is expected on Thanksgiving Day.

More details: Texas drivers will pay about the same for gas as they did last Thanksgiving, according to AAA Texas. One gallon of regular unleaded gas cost about $2.65 in Texas as of Nov. 13, down from $2.69 last year.