Kemah residents were caught off guard last week when the city council voted to completely close a major thoroughfare that is home to multiple local businesses, with little warning — and without seeking state-required permission from the street’s property owners.
At a March 6 meeting, the council voted unanimously to adopt a traffic plan that creates a one-way loop around the tourist town and pushes traffic from State Highway (SH) 146 towards a tourist destination known as the Boardwalk, bypassing businesses on 6th Street in the heart of Kemah’s Lighthouse District.
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