Bissonnet Street is a major

arterial road An arterial road or arterial thoroughfare is a high-capacity urban road that sits below highway A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It includes not just major roads, but also other public roads and rights o ...

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Bissonnet begins at Main Street in the Museum District of Houston and travels west-southwest through West University Place, Bellaire, Gulfton, Sharpstown, and Alief before terminating in unincorporated Fort Bend County near Mission Bend. Within the Interstate 610 loop, Bissonnet serves or passes a number of historic Houston neighborhoods, including Boulevard Oaks,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

and Shadyside. The ''

Houston Press The ''Houston Press'' is an online newspaper published in Houston, Texas, United States. It is headquartered in the Midtown Houston, Midtown area. It was also a weekly print newspaper until November 2017. The publication is supported entirely ...

'' named Bissonnet the "Best Route into the City" in its 2007 awards, noting the road's route through "economically and ethnically diverse neighborhoods." Like many other Houston streets established during the early 20th century, Bissonnet is named for a local

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

serviceman who was killed while in the military, George Herman Bissonnet. Prior to 1915, portions of Bissonnet were known as County Poor Farm Road due to their connectivity to the Harris County Poor Farm, a public housing facility which operated between 1894 and 1935. A site at the intersection of Bissonnet Street and Ashby Street in Southampton has been the focus of considerable controversy since the mid-2000s, when a 21-story apartment tower was first proposed for the lot. The "Ashby highrise" development generated strong backlash from area homeowners, who consider the building incompatible with their predominantly single-family neighborhood. The site has been the subject of multiple lawsuits and has spurred a wider discussion about Houston's lack of

zoning In urban planning, zoning is a method in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into land-use "zones", each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for ...

laws. In 2013, the Houston Police Department staged an operation, the "Bissonnet Initiative", which resulted in the arrest of more than 100 people involved in a

prostitution Prostitution is a type of sex work that involves engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, no ...

ring at the intersection of Bissonnet and Beechnut near

Beltway 8 Beltway 8 (BW8), the Sam Houston Parkway, along with the Sam Houston Tollway, is an beltway around the city of Houston, Texas, United States, lying entirely within Harris County, Texas, Harris County. Beltway 8, a state highway mai ...

. The prostitution is rampant at the “Bissonnet “blade,” also known as the Bissonnet “track” and has included the sexual exploitation of minors.

References

Roads in Houston Red-light districts in Texas

See also

References