Tag Archives: construction

Uptown BRT will be ready in 2019

Posted on July 2, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

A little later than originally expected. Construction might be set to start soon on dedicated bus lanes down Post Oak through the Uptown area, but the latest projections don’t have riders on the lanes for nearly three years. Despite earlier … Continue reading →

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Still waiting for a design for I-45

Posted on June 30, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Pull up a chair and relax, this could take awhile. After 15 years of discussion, study and ideas for improvements ranging from enormous tunnels to a massive circulating freeway loop, planners are still at least six months from unveiling their … Continue reading →

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Astrodome parking plan coming

Posted on June 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Better get ready. Harris County officials on Friday unveiled a $105 million plan to raise the floor of the Astrodome and build two new levels of parking beneath it, the strongest signal yet that the county plans to maintain and … Continue reading →

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Uptown BRT construction officially begins

Posted on June 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here we go. Crews are relocating trees in preparation for two years of construction, starting in July. The Uptown Dedicated Bus Lanes Project will unfold in three phases, moving from north to south and starting with the West Loop to … Continue reading →

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On big money high school stadiums

Posted on June 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Texas Monthly is against ’em. As a part of a $220 million bond package, McKinney ISD is adding an opulent events center and 12,000-seat high school football stadium that will cost a total of $62.8 million. According to the Dallas … Continue reading →

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Memorial residents file lawsuit over flooding

Posted on May 29, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

This ought to be interesting. A group of residents sued the city of Houston and one of its local redevelopment authorities Wednesday, alleging that they approved commercial development in the Memorial City area without requiring adequate storm water mitigation, resulting … Continue reading →

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Turner reiterates the need to rethink transportation

Posted on May 19, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

New audience, same theme. Houston’s transportation future – and perhaps its economic vitality – relies on more options than new freeway lanes to make room for more cars, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Tuesday. “The solution is to increasingly take advantage … Continue reading →

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I-45 update: North St Bridge and more

Posted on May 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

The latest update from the I-45 Coalition: Dear I-45 Coalition member, October 2015 was the last update … it’s now May 2016 … several things have changed in the past 8 months. As a quick summary, TxDOT will be rebuilding … Continue reading →

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Will the Ashby highrise ever get built?

Posted on May 7, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Who knows? Penelope Loughhead’s house in the leafy neighborhood near Rice University abuts the land where, nearly a decade ago, a proposed high-rise sparked a land-use battle that resonated citywide and throughout the local development community. This week marks two … Continue reading →

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Help a brick out

Posted on May 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

From Swamplot: AN INDIEGOGO PAGE has just been launched to crowdfund the removal and reuse of an unexpectedly large group of well-preserved 1930s bricks from thenow-under-deconstruction Yale St. bridge over White Oak Bayou. The group calling itself Friends of Houston’s Yale Bridge Bricks says the funds will be used … Continue reading →

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Want to buy a big piece of land near the Medical Center?

Posted on April 24, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Here’s your chance. A single tract of land large enough to hold multiple office towers, high-rise residential buildings and a hotel doesn’t often come available inside Loop 610. One near the Texas Medical Center is even more uncommon. After 45 … Continue reading →

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Business as usual with the Texas Enterprise Fund

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Raise your hand if this surprises you. In July of 2013, Gov. Rick Perry announced that he had closed another deal. Chevron would build a 50-story tower in downtown Houston next to one of its existing office buildings. The $662 … Continue reading →

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Yale Street Bridge to be closed for construction

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Three words: Find alternate routes. There’s about to be a lot of yelling about Yale Street, as the historic span makes way for a modern replacement. Crews will close the bridge carrying the road over White Oak bayou on April … Continue reading →

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Pasadena seeks hockey team

Posted on March 27, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I wish them luck. Pasadena city officials and a group of developers recently discussed working together on a $357 million sports and entertainment resort development to be built in the convention center area. The focal point of the proposed 200-acre … Continue reading →

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The Purple City plan for I-45

Posted on March 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Check it out. Should a major freeway plan consider the needs of cyclists? Of transit riders? And if we’re going to tear down and reconstruct the entire downtown freeway network of the fourth-largest city in America, shouldn’t the final result … Continue reading →

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Gene Locke is reportedly seeking the Commissioners Court nomination

Posted on February 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Please see update at the end of this post. There is new information at the bottom. Remember this? Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on Friday named Gene Locke, a former city attorney and mayoral candidate, to complete El Franco Lee’s … Continue reading →

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What’s coming to the Yale Street post office location

Posted on February 20, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Some more news from my neighborhood. A Houston developer plans to replace a shuttered U.S. Postal Service building in the Heights with a two-story mixed-use development with space for offices, shops and restaurants. MFT Interests last month scooped up the … Continue reading →

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Turner wants to rethink transportation

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I like the way he’s thinking. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, in less than a month on the job, has hit the streets at full speed. First he tackled potholes. Last week he tackled a state transportation department that’s spent the … Continue reading →

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Harrisburg line overpass delayed again

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Ugh. Just, ugh. A rail overpass vital to completion of the East End light rail line that has divided neighbors and eroded public confidence will be delayed another four months, Metro officials confirmed Monday. “It has been the project from … Continue reading →

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Can you ever truly “fix” the 59/610 interchange?

Posted on February 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

I kind of think the answer is “No”, but they’re going to try anyway. With Houston choking on traffic congestion from Clear Lake to Jersey Village, an infusion of $447 million in state funds promises relief sooner than expected at … Continue reading →

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Know any good, solvent highway construction firms?

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

TxDOT is looking for a few. Drivers on Interstate 45 will wait longer for better connections to Loop 610 and U.S. 59 because a Woodlands-based contractor will have to be replaced. The jobs, totaling about $102 million, were won by … Continue reading →

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“Bad, but not awful”

Posted on January 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Your Houston economy, folks. As Houston enters the second year of the worst oil downturn in decades, its once-booming economy has sputtered, and the strain finally is starting to show. Houston could flirt with recession in 2016 as the oil … Continue reading →

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RIP, Yale Street post office

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It’s gone. Clues could have been the overgrown landscaping, multiple notices taped to the doors and, for the keenest observer, the bare pole without a U.S. flag or clanging metal cables. Headed back to his SUV on Thursday, one man … Continue reading →

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The Katy Freeway cautionary tale on addressing congestion

Posted on January 3, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Turns out that throwing more lanes at the Katy Freeway hasn’t helped all that much. Several years ago, the Katy Freeway in Houston was a major traffic bottleneck. It was so bad that in 2004 the American Highway Users Alliance … Continue reading →

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Would the elevated 610 lanes really reduce congestion?

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Color me skeptical. The elevated lane design, officials said, would allow traffic headed around the loop, and not into the Uptown area, to flow more freely. The lanes would have no access to exits for San Felipe, Westheimer, Richmond or … Continue reading →

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More on the proposed 610 elevated lanes

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

From Swamplot: Love that rush of vertigo from driving up the entrance ramp at Hidalgo St. onto the southbound West Loop? Freeway thrill-seekers may have some new options in a few years. The above rendering of new elevated express lanes … Continue reading →

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Elevating the West Loop

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

I suppose this was inevitable. Planners on Dec. 10 are scheduled to detail plans for elevated managed lanes along Loop 610, from north of Interstate 10 to U.S. 59. Long constrained by the development and parkland along the freeway, the … Continue reading →

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Hey look, a Regent Square update

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Sometimes I forget this is still a thing. In 2007, longtime urbanites said goodbye to the Allen House Apartments, a decades-old complex along Dunlavy just south of Allen Parkway. The multiblock property was a Houston institution, housing hundreds of college … Continue reading →

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More on the high speed rail station in Houston

Posted on November 28, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The Chron frets about it not being downtown. After hearing so much about how the proposed Central Texas Railway will help people commute between the central business districts of Houston and Dallas, it turns out that the Houston station will … Continue reading →

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Red lights on the Green line

Posted on November 15, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Alas. Light rail is up and running along Harrisburg on the city’s east side, but Metro’s construction continues to be a sore spot with area residents because it seems at every turn the work is taking longer than promised. The … Continue reading →

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Uptown living

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a thing that is happening. Home to the city’s glittering epicenter of retail, with a dramatic skyline dominated by the towering Williams Tower and other office buildings, Uptown Houston is best known for the places where people work and … Continue reading →

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Bondings

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

Congratulations, Montgomery County! After rejecting two bond measures for new and improved roadways in four years, including one last spring, traffic-weary voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly backed a $280 million plan to unplug bottlenecks in rapidly growing Montgomery County. With all … Continue reading →

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Chron overview of the Montgomery County bond referendum

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The voters there are engaged in this issue, that much is for sure. Life is on hold in the parking lot that is Rayford Road, 4 miles of too many cars squeezing into too few lanes. Even when it isn’t … Continue reading →

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The parks part of the county bond package

Posted on October 22, 2015 by Charles Kuffner

The plans are more specific for the part of the bond package that’s easier to sell. Commissioner Jack Morman thinks of the East Aldine residents waiting outside Crowley Park before dawn for workers to unlock the gates. Commissioner Steve Radack … Continue reading →

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