Milby High pedestrian bridge breaks ground, named for student killed by train

Construction crews broke ground Tuesday on a pedestrian bridge near Milby High School that will carry the name of Sergio Rodriguez, the 15-year-old sophomore who was killed by a train while walking to school in December 2024.

Rodriguez's parents attended the ceremony as work officially began on the span, which will let students and neighbors cross the nearby railroad tracks without stepping onto them.

Rodriguez was struck and killed near the school in the East End as he made his way to class. His death drew attention to the rail crossing that generations of Milby students and area residents had used on foot to get to and from campus, and it pushed parents, school officials and neighbors to demand a permanent fix rather than temporary safety measures.

In the months after Rodriguez died, Union Pacific adjusted its train scheduling around the school's arrival and dismissal times and extended sidewalks near the crossing. Those changes reduced some risk but did not eliminate the need for students to cross active tracks at street level. Community members continued pressing city and state officials for a structure that would separate foot traffic from the trains entirely.

That pressure led to a joint project involving the City of Houston, the Texas Department of Transportation, Union Pacific and the state. State Sen. Carol Alvarado secured $10 million in state funding to design and build the bridge. TxDOT is overseeing construction, coordinating with the city and the railroad on engineering and right-of-way issues along the corridor.

Once the bridge is finished, ownership and maintenance will transfer to the City of Houston. The structure will span the tracks that run alongside Milby High School. Students, teachers and residents in the surrounding blocks will have a route over the rail line instead of across it.

The project moved from a community push for safety changes to a funded construction contract in under two years. Neighbors near the school have said for years that the rail crossing posed a hazard, given the volume of foot traffic during school hours and the frequency of freight trains passing through the area.

Milby High School sits in Houston's East End, a neighborhood crossed by multiple active rail lines that serve industrial and port traffic. Pedestrian crossings near schools and residential blocks in that part of the city have drawn safety complaints from residents for years, predating Rodriguez's death.

No timeline for completion was given at Tuesday's ceremony. TxDOT and the city have not released a projected finish date or a full construction schedule for the bridge. TxDOT and city officials said the project will proceed with regular coordination between the state, the city and Union Pacific as construction moves forward near the active tracks.

The bridge will carry Rodriguez's name at the site where he died. The next milestone will be a construction schedule and completion date, which city and state officials have not yet announced.