You might want to put this on your calendar. The area defined as the Heights-Northside study area bounded on the east by US 59, on the south by IH 10, and on the north and west by IH 610. The purpose of this study is to identify near and long range projects that promote better [...]
Posts Tagged ‘I-45’
Time for another report on how much traffic sucks
We love this sort of thing, don’t we? Houston commuters continue to endure some of the worst traffic delays in the country, according to the 2012 Urban Mobility Report released Tuesday by the Texas A&M Transportation Commission. Area drivers wasted more than two days a year, on average, in traffic congestion, costing them each $1,090 [...]
Germantown gets historic designation
Congratulations to what may be the last historic district created in the city of Houston. The first historic district created under a stricter rewrite of Houston’s preservation ordinance passed City Council on Wednesday, though conservationists predicted future districts will be scarce even as they cheered the milestone. With council’s 11-5 vote, Germantown Historic District – [...]
Tomorrow is the last day to submit comments to TxDOT on I-45
From the inbox: Dear Neighbors – TxDOT has plans for I-45, which will impact you! If you ever drive on I-45; if you live or work near the I-45 Corridor; if you live or work in the Heights, Old Sixth Ward, First Ward, Near North Side, Montrose, Midtown or Downtown – you will be impacted! [...]
I-45 public forum tomorrow
From the inbox: I-45 Public Forum ~ October 24th! Many people who attended the TxDOT public meeting last week (October 9th or 11th ) left with more questions than answers! Why? It appears that TxDOT is listening & trying to come up with several alternatives to help the traffic on I-45 … in fact, they came up with 33 [...]
Conroe is growing up
Good for them. Conroe native Jay Ross Martin says he never imagined his rural hometown in the piney woods developing bustling retail centers, a thriving housing market and a population that’s more than doubled in the past 20 years. The change has catapulted Conroe, the county seat of Montgomery County, into a “new world,” says [...]
TxDOT finally publishes comments from last year’s public forum on I-45
From the Inbox: Hello I-45 Coalition folks – There are finally some updates regarding I-45! As you may recall, back in mid-November 2011, TxDOT held 2 public meetings to get the public’s input on their thoughts on what should be done regarding the expansion of I-45. Comments were encouraged via email, website, comment forms, etc. [...]
Roundabouts in the sky
I have three things to say about this. Imagine driving into downtown Houston on interstates 10 or 45, or U.S. 59, and having to merge with all other incoming traffic onto an elevated, one-way traffic circle around the cluster of skyscrapers. If downtown isn’t your final destination, you would stay on the circle until you [...]
First Metro HOV toll lane opens tomorrow
Enjoy your new option, Gulf Freeway commuters. Metro is set to debut its first high-occupancy toll lanes on the Gulf Freeway between Dixie Farm Road and Dowling Street on Monday. This arrangement allows solo drivers to use high-occupancy vehicle, or HOV, lanes for a price at certain times of the day. Tolls vary between $1 [...]
Wayside Wal-Mart update
From Nancy Sarnoff: The East End of Houston has been called a “food desert” for its lack of grocery stores. But come next year, the area will be a little less dry. Wal-Mart Stores said it will open a store at the corner of Interstate 45 and Wayside around the middle of next year. The [...]
You can drive 75
Pedal to the metal, y’all. The Texas Transportation Commission approved 75 mph speed limits for nearly 1,500 miles of interstate in 60 counties. The action follows a state law approved last year providing for the Texas Department of Transportation to see whether 70 mph speed limits safely can be raised to 75 mph, and to [...]
Here come the HOT lanes
Those of you who commute from the ‘burbs into the central core will have new options for how to get there, if you don’t mind spending a few bucks. Solo drivers willing to pay extra to breeze through heavy traffic could get their chance soon, with Metro expected to start opening its high-occupancy toll lanes [...]
Reminder: Get your written comments about I-45 to TxDOT
Here’s the latest email from the I-45 Coalition: I hope you had an opportunity to attend at least one of TxDOT’s public meeting (11/15 at Jeff Davis High School & 11/17 at Aldine High School). I understand that the Davis meeting had about 250 people attending and Aldine had less than 50 people. If you [...]
I-45 again
I went to the open house for I-45 on Tuesday night to see what was going on, since we didn’t have much information about what the current state of TxDOT’s thinking is about this. Apparently, there isn’t a set plan yet. They’re soliciting input and have a five-year timeline before coming to a Record of [...]
I-45 is back on the agenda
From the inbox: After several years of the I-45 project being on hold, public meetings are now being scheduled by TxDOT. TxDOT is about to significantly change the I-45 project TxDOT has provided NO advance information on exactly what the project now covers The ONLY way to get information is to attend the public Scoping [...]
Where the congestion is
From the On The Move blog: Dallas motorists suffer the most highly congested road conditions in Texas, says a recent report from the Texas Department of Transportation. The state’s top three bottlenecks are all located in Dallas County, according to the 100 Most Congested Roadway Segments in Texas. But while Dallas has the hottest spots, [...]
Hardy Toll Road extension gets final OK
After many years of planning, a project to extend the Hardy Toll Road all the way into downtown is finally headed to the drawing board. The Harris County Toll Road Authority is seeking the court’s permission to begin final negotiations with two railroads to relocate a track north of downtown, clearing the way for the [...]
The EaDo decade
Things are looking good for a wave of development in East Downtown, a/k/a EaDo. Discussions are under way for a six-block-long linear park in EaDo, and there is talk, still in the early stages, of a 1,000-room convention hotel. The area has already seen plenty of apartment complexes built in the past few years, and [...]
The Wayside Wal-Mart
For what it’s worth, I don’t have an opinion about the new Wal-Mart at I-45 and Wayside, whether it’s a Super Center or not. Other than a few comments at Swamplot and on the Stop Heights Wal-Mart Facebook page, I haven’t seen any evidence of an uproar from the nearby Idylwood neighborhood. If there is [...]
Those road congestion blues
I’m more interested in the methodology used to determine the list of Texas’ most congested roads than I am in the roads themselves, since most of us could have named the roads on that list without doing any work. Like the Dallas freeway, many of the roads on the list aren’t a surprise. But TxDOT [...]
We have traffic, yes we do
Yeah, no surprise. Surprise, surprise. The No. 1 road for traffic congestion in the entire state is — drumroll, please — the stretch of Interstate 45 between the North Loop and Beltway 8. In fact, Harris County was home to six of the top 10 most congested roads in Texas. A list of the top [...]
Whose TIRZ?
My reaction to this story about whether some development projects that didn’t benefit from getting a TIRZ designation might have been better suited for it than some that did get that benefit is that as long as there are those who get and those who don’t we’ll always have those questions. Maybe that’s an argument [...]
Candidate interview: Gonzalo Camacho
Continuing on with the District H candidate interview series, we come now to Gonzalo Camacho, who is a transportation/traffic engineer and planner, probably best known for his concept of the I-45 Parkway, a combination tunnel/limited access thoroughfare as a replacement for the existing North Freeway. Camacho is a resident of the Woodland Heights, and previously [...]
A step forward for Houston-Galveston rail
We know that Metro is hoping for some stimulus money to help build light rail lines. Galveston is also hoping for some rail-related stimulus funds. A commuter rail line between Galveston and Houston has been on the drawing board for so many years that many people have come to think of it as the community’s [...]
Red light camera watch: League City
Ready or not, here they come. League City council members gave the green light Tuesday to red light cameras at five intersections throughout the city. The cameras will capture drivers who run red lights at intersections at: FM 518 and Marina Bay Drive; Egret Bay at FM 518; Egret Bay at League City Parkway East; [...]
We’ll always have bottlenecks
Andrew Burleson points out an ugly fact. Has anyone else noticed that traffic on I-10 is still not great? I have a ‘reverse’ commute on I-10 every day. Before the expansion traffic was fine inside the loop outbound in the morning, slow outside the loop. Inbound in the evening it was slow outside the loop, [...]
District H CIP meeting report
Here’s the Chron story on that CIP meeting for District H that took place last week. The highlights: Jane Cahill West, president of the combined Washington Avenue/Memorial Super Neighborhood Council, said she was glad to see the MKT (Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad) Trail on the current CIP project list. “But I urge you to extend the MKT [...]