Tag Archives: traffic

A free word of advice for Fort Bend County

Posted on August 20, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

Start building out a real mass transit network, like, now. In just one year, Fort Bend County gained 27,000 residents – cementing its position as one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, according to the most recent U.S. … Continue reading →

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On “bold things” for mobility

Posted on May 23, 2024 by Charles Kuffner

I have three things to say about this. Mayor John Whitmire started a noontime discussion about transportation in the region by saying he was “fired up” about the opportunity to improve the city’s mobility and infrastructure. […] 2. “I am … Continue reading →

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On the source of Houston’s greenhouse gas emissions

Posted on March 16, 2023 by Charles Kuffner

This story is a lot more complex and nuanced than the headline would lead you to believe. It may come as no surprise to anyone who has spent time on Houston’s roads at rush hour that just over half of all the … Continue reading →

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Now you really need to avoid the 59/610 interchange

Posted on April 29, 2022 by Charles Kuffner

Welcome to hell. Starting this weekend, Texas’ worst bottleneck is going to be an even bigger pain for drivers as the rebuild of the Interstate 69 and Loop 610 interchange turns a corner and takes out a key connector ramp. … Continue reading →

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Yeah, traffic is worse than before

Posted on November 29, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

You’re not surprised, are you? By most measures, traffic is back to pre-COVID congestion levels — or even more clogged in some cases. What seems to have changed, based on a handful of studies that looked at different facets of … Continue reading →

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Another look at I-35 expansion

Posted on October 25, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

From Slate: Built on top of tree-lined East Avenue, the road opened in 1962, cutting off Black and Mexican-American East Austin from Downtown. Like urban renewal projects in other American cities, the road’s destructive legacy has recently been reconsidered in racial terms. … Continue reading →

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The fight over widening I-35

Posted on September 26, 2021 by Charles Kuffner

Hold tough, Austin. We feel your pain here. In May 2019, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) unveiled a $7.5 billion plan to expand the abhorred stretch of I-35 that snakes through the center of Austin. Dubbed the Capital Express … Continue reading →

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A bad streak

Posted on November 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Twenty years. Geez. For 20 years, Texans have been dying to get somewhere, and there is little sign they will stop anytime soon. Saturday marks 20 years of at least one death a day on Texas roads, a grim milestone … Continue reading →

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Nothing but gray skies ahead

Posted on May 26, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

You want a small sign that things are returning to “normal”, here you go. Houston’s air pollution is returning to normal levels, following a period of cleaner skies during the stay-at-home orders put in place to slow the spread the … Continue reading →

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And now a few words from our city transportation planner

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Didn’t know we had one, did you? Well, we do, his name is David Fields, and he had a few things to say to Chron reporter Dug Begley in a recent Q&A: As you look at upcoming plans and projects … Continue reading →

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Driving may be down, but traffic fatalities are not down as much

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s a bit of a conundrum. COVID-19 can keep millions of Texans at home and cut vehicle travel roughly in half in many cities, but cannot keep hundreds from dying on state roads — continuing a stubborn trend of carnage … Continue reading →

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Goodbye, Greenlink

Posted on April 13, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

Another version of Metro’s downtown trolley system is shut down due to coronavirus, and likely won’t come back, at least not in that format. Downtown Houston’s free shuttle may have hauled its last passenger, a victim of the central district’s … Continue reading →

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Coronavirus and driving

Posted on April 11, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

There are a lot fewer cars on the road now, though the decrease may not be quite as much as you’d think. Traffic around the country has plummeted since governments began enacting stay-at-home orders amid the coronavirus outbreak, but data … Continue reading →

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Les traffic, easier construction

Posted on March 22, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

We’ll be talking about the knock-on effects of the coronavirus pandemic for years to come. A lighter load on Houston-area freeways and COVID-19 concerns have not slowed the heavy machinery making way for more lanes or new ramps along many … Continue reading →

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Resilient Houston

Posted on February 20, 2020 by Charles Kuffner

It’s good to have a plan. No traffic deaths on Houston streets, 4.6 million new trees, and no more homes in the floodway. All by 2030. Those are some of the lofty goals set in the master resiliency plan, “Resilient … Continue reading →

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What can we really do about I-45?

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Urban planner Jeff Speck is once again warning us about the negative effects of widening I-45. TxDOT cites three principal motivations for advancing the I-45 project: reducing traffic congestion, improving driver safety, and improving air quality. These laudable goals are … Continue reading →

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What if we didn’t expand I-45?

Posted on June 24, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

It’s an awful lot of money that comes with a ton of negative effects and which, if the I-10 expansion is any guide, will have short-lived positive effects. So maybe we should just, like, not do it? A massive remake … Continue reading →

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Still filled with dread about I-45

Posted on June 18, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Anyone got a paper bag I can breathe into? Strip away the enormity of rebuilding Interstate 45 and the promise of speedier trips along downtown Houston freeways, and two questions about the once-in-a-generation project remain: How many negative effects are … Continue reading →

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What’s wrong with the I-45 expansion plan?

Posted on March 10, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Urban planner Jeff Speck, in a recent lecture in Houston, lays out the following problems with the planned I-45 expansion: The brief list of negatives include: I-45 will wreck your bayou parks. I-45 will destroy wildlife habitat. I-45 will make … Continue reading →

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Have you started avoiding the 59/610 interchange yet?

Posted on January 6, 2019 by Charles Kuffner

Better get started. I-69 at the 610 West Loop is a traffic hot spot in Houston. The two freeway segments that meet at the interchange top the list of the most congested in Texas, according to the Department of Transportation … Continue reading →

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Speed kills

Posted on September 11, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Good long read from the Chron about our dangerous roads and highways. There’s too much to cover here, so I just want to focus on the why we all speed so much. Houston drivers likely speed, at least in part, … Continue reading →

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The autonomous cars/mass transit debate

Posted on August 18, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

Seems to me this should be a “both-and” rather than an “either-or”, but you know how I get. Autonomous vehicles that will outperform buses, cost less than Uber and travel faster than cars stuck in traffic today are two years … Continue reading →

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We could be getting to the end of 290 construction

Posted on January 5, 2018 by Charles Kuffner

By the end of the year. We think. Most major construction along the main lanes of U.S. 290 will end in 2018. Every new wide lane open. Every bridge built. Eleven lanes, including a reversible HOV lane, from Loop 610 … Continue reading →

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Can we share these lanes?

Posted on August 3, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Metro is rethinking how the light rail lines run in parts of downtown. Traffic woes and collisions along the newest light-rail lines in downtown have Metro leaders toying with the idea of backpedaling on their promise not to close parts … Continue reading →

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Smarter streets

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

They’re coming soon to Houston. Houston City Council on Wednesday will consider a $33.6 million contract – partially funded by a $10 million federal grant – to add hundreds of traffic-tracking devices across the city so officials can receive better … Continue reading →

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Get ready for lots of road construction

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Because a lot of money is fixing to be spent on it. A sweeping revision of state highway plans adds nearly $9 billion in new funds for improving Texas roadways, including a $1.32 billion infusion in the Houston area for … Continue reading →

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Bike plan vote delayed

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

What’s another two weeks? Houston’s long-term plan for improving bicycle routes around town will wait a couple more weeks after a handful of elected officials voiced various concerns. City Council members Greg Travis, Michael Kubosh, Steve Le, Mike Knox and … Continue reading →

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The long-term future of public transit

Posted on March 6, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

By “long-term” I mean by 2050 or so. For an agency that’s spent decades guiding freeway expansion, it was a stark admission for members of the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s transportation policy council. “Future growth and the resulting travel is expected … Continue reading →

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TxDOT accelerates I-45 construction timeline

Posted on February 27, 2017 by Charles Kuffner

Gird your loins. For many long-suffering Houston drivers, a solution to the infuriating bottleneck on Interstate 45 through downtown is likely something they thought they wouldn’t live to see. More than a decade ago, a plan pitched to solve the … Continue reading →

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The Complete Transportation Guide To Super Bowl LI

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

For which the tl;dr version is don’t drive in or near downtown if you can at all help it. More than 1 million people are expected to converge on downtown Houston during the week leading up to Super Bowl LI … Continue reading →

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As go gas prices, so goes interest in transit

Posted on December 4, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

It is what it is. Cheap gasoline has Texans driving more, indicating that efforts to promote mass transit or bicycle commuting are falling short, a new statewide poll suggests. As folks hit the road, though, they are increasingly supportive of … Continue reading →

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The latest attempt to kill the Uptown BRT line

Posted on June 22, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Whatever. “See this right turn lane filled up?” asked consultant Wayne Dolcefino to about a dozen angry Uptown residents, standing along Post Oak Boulevard near the intersection with San Felipe Street on Monday morning. “That’s going away. The right lane … Continue reading →

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Woodland Heights neighborhood traffic management plan

Posted on June 13, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Of primary interest to the folks in my neighborhood only, though I will note that as Mayor Turner has made it easier for neighborhoods to request traffic-calming measures like speed cushions, this could be in your future as well. Tonight … Continue reading →

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My vision for Metro: Marketing itself

Posted on June 1, 2016 by Charles Kuffner

Part 1: Buses Metro Board member Christoph Spieler has said that Metro turns over 20 percent of its ridership each year, just due to the natural comings and goings of life. As such, Metro doesn’t have to expend effort to … Continue reading →

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