JLWM8609

More detours starting this weekend. https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Houston-288-610-highway-closure-ramp-16629438.php

The site of the ground collapse just south of 610 reopened on Sunday morning. 

9 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

Just curious... are there updated schematics?

All I've seen are the schematics posted in this thread a few months ago. Construction seems to be corresponding to them pretty closely. 

Read this on chron.com. Guess they didn't get the memo that the cloverleaf plan was scrapped in favor of a conventional setup. https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/fannin-exit-closed-south-loop-610-16586011.php

46 minutes ago, kennyc05 said:

Are they gonna replant?

I hope they do. They reduce the amount of places where graffiti can be placed.

1 vote for TxTag. Whereas the EzTag costs $15 and requires you to load $40 to start using it and automatically reloads a minimum of $40 when your balance dips below $10, the TxTag is free. You have to load $40 to start using it, but there's no minimum reload amount as long as you enroll in the automatic reload program. 

On 9/13/2021 at 1:56 PM, WestUdweller said:

Y'all are both wrong because no one is maintaining them currently haaaa

The City of Houston has actually been pretty responsive in fixing damaged signal equipment in a timely manner. When I report most traffic signal related issues to 311, they're fixed within 24 hours, unless it's a bigger issue that requires more work. 

9 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

It shouldn't be too much to ask that obtaining a driver's license should require demonstrating some level of proficiency in operating a vehicle instead of just barely adequate competence. This is the case in many other countries. But that ship sailed when the majority of people began regarding driving as a right as opposed to a privilege. 

Take into consideration that in a car centered city like Houston, driving is sometimes the only option in areas where transit is non existent or sparse. In that case, it's not a privilege when you're forced into it. 

12 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

Battery backup systems for traffic signals do exist, but I'm almost certain that COH signals do not have them.

 

They have them, but they operate in a flashing red mode to save power and operate for a few hours or days before going dark if power is not restored.

On 8/26/2021 at 2:24 PM, wilcal said:

FWIW, TXDOT maintains Westheimer west of 610. Pretty sure that includes the lights as well.  

The City of Houston maintains just about all traffic signals within the city limits, including those installed by TxDOT and those on TxDOT maintained roads like Westheimer, Almeda, and feeder roads. Exceptions would be ramp meter signals and HOV signals.

38 minutes ago, dbigtex56 said:

Good. 
Having an auto dealership at a light rail stop seems like a wasted resource (who takes the train to shop for a Cadillac?).
Presumably the inventory will also be relocated, freeing up the private parking lots in Midtown for better uses. 
If apartments aren't on the immediate horizon, perhaps the showroom could be repurposed for a restaurant, nightclub, or retail.

People take the train to work there so it's not a wasted resource. The dealership pre-dates the light rail stop by decades. It was formerly Sam White Oldsmobile in the 1950s. It didn't become a Cadillac dealership (Don Massey) until the late 90s when Bland Cadillac shut down and was replaced by Lofts. There was some old school charm about having a dealer so close in town in a vintage building, a domestic dealer at that, imagining the old fintailed 88s and 98s on the showroom floor. San Francisco doesn't have a single domestic car dealership in its city limits. The last one closed in 2011. If you're rich enough to afford to live in SF, a domestic car is beneath you. We still have Knapp Chevy though, still rocking its Art Deco digs in the shadow of downtown, so that's a sign that central Houston isn't that unaffordable. . . yet.

http://swamplot.com/your-next-best-bets-for-houstons-most-historic-car-dealership-building-once-1621-milam-gets-demolished/2018-10-25/

2 hours ago, thedistrict84 said:

Yes, please. This city has way too many churches.

You misspelled strip centers

8 hours ago, Triton said:

Drove down 288 for the first time in a while to meet my newborn's pediatrician in TMC and I am so disappointed with this project. 

Yea, the toll road looks great but usually these sort of projects try to improve the feeders, bridges, sidewalks, etc. The Old Spanish Trail section shows very little sign of improvement except for the ramps to the toll road. The bridges and pedestrian walkways look like could have, at the very least, gotten a new coat of paint. The feeder roads are full of cracks and bumps. This is the first highway project I've seen in a while where they truly didn't care about the residents immediately on this highway in the loop. 

The only original bridges over 288 to get a new coat of paint during this project were utility bridges. Go figure.

6 hours ago, Specwriter said:

I had a similar thought. My mother lived in the Aldine area in the 1960s and worked at what was then called the Hermann Professional Building on Fannin (directly across from Hermann Hospital). Interstate 45 (U.S. 75) stopped at Pierce so she would take Pierce to Fannin then head toward the medical center. It may be that the part of U.S. 59 that we know today - elevated over San Jacinto, etc. - may not have existed as such in 1962. Can any "older-than-me-timers" weigh in on the freeway configurations at that time.

I'm not an old timer, but the elevated 59 we know today didn't exist in 1962. In 1962, US 59 followed what's now Spur 527 and ran on Travis and Milam and picked up some east-west streets to connect to the Eastex portion of US 59. I think the routing was Jefferson and Pease to La Branch and Crawford to Franklin and Preston to the Eastex. The elevated part and the connection to the Eastex through downtown didn't open until 1974. 

Here's a 1962 street map of Houston. You can see how 59 followed street routes downtown to connect the Southwest Freeway with the Eastex.

https://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston/historic/road_maps/images/1962_houston_american_highres.jpg

On 7/19/2021 at 8:40 AM, Specwriter said:

Who owns the Nissan dealership? Tom Peacock (or whoever the current owner is) has both a Nissan and Cadillac dealership on the North Freeway.

Central Automotive Group owns it. They also own Central Houston Cadillac's current location on Main.

The 288 mainlanes at Holmes Rd. are set to reopen tomorrow. That means no more detour/free ride on the toll lanes between Southmore and Beltway 8. https://abc13.com/sh-288-reopens-pavement-failure-safety-purposes-structural-damage/10874778/

4 hours ago, Tumbleweed_Tx said:

the southern end of 130 is 45 miles from San Antonio.

SH 130 is actually signed along I-410 from I-35 SW of Downtown San Antonio to I-10 east of Downtown San Antonio where it's signed on I-10 to the point where the tollroad picks up outside Seguin. The idea was that truck traffic on I-35 would see the SH 130 sign and bypass San Antonio on SH 130/I-410 and SH 130/I-10 to pick up the tollroad and bypass Austin.

7 hours ago, dbigtex56 said:

In that case, give me a heaping double-portion of hot garbage, please. 
Architecture goes through predictable cycles. This year's glamorous cutting-edge design will be mimicked, poorly, and soon the good examples are thrown out with the bad as laughably out of date. In the 1950's, removing gingerbread and enclosing porches was the popular way of dealing with Victorian architecture. A few years later, MCM houses underwent renovations to make them look more 'traditional'. The favored remedy for Post-Modern seems to be demolition.
Post-Modern architecture is currently about as welcome as bedbugs, but I assure you that in a few years there will be a resurgence of interest, and people will deplore those who allowed the finer examples to be neglected, poorly altered, or destroyed. 
I liked the YWCA building when it was built, and still do. Too bad it outlived its purpose.
 

Luckily, Houston's skyline is full of post-modernity, and I don't think they'll be demolishing any of those buildings anytime soon. Hopefully they don't get any ideas from this: https://gothamist.com/news/270-park-avenue-quintessential-modernist-skyscraper-being-slowly-destroyed-chase-bank

3 hours ago, por favor gracias said:

Don't get me started on how they manage their projects. You think my last few posts have been long...

The City of Houston did a similar thing when they decided to reconstruct most of downtown's streets and underground utilities at the same time during 1998-2005. Lee Brown faced criticism for that and barely won re-election in 2001 even though he actually stretched out the timeline after he decided too much construction was going on. 15-20 years later, it was worth it. Our reconstructed streets downtown are in excellent condition compared to other cities.

23 hours ago, rechlin said:

Am I remembering wrong, or wasn't the IH-610 southbound to IH-69 northbound ramp formerly 2 lanes?  

It was and the new ramp is, too. I drove on it on Tuesday and can confirm it's 2 lanes.

21 hours ago, iah77 said:

This area clearly needs mental health assistance and not affordable housing as no one has been priced out of parking lots.

Why not both? 

5 hours ago, Big E said:

Why do these guys even care? The Ion isn't even located in the Third Ward, but Midtown. I know that areas was historically considered the Third Ward, but that area hasn't been part of the "Third Ward" in over half a century at this point.

I take it you don't live in the area. That area isn't wholly Midtown or Third Ward. It's a transition area that encompasses both communities. 

On 5/19/2021 at 8:53 AM, samagon said:

dang, that is old, I only remember the dead sea being sick.

Do you remember Methuselah? 

I wonder if removing the spires had anything to do with nearby helicopter pads?

11 hours ago, X.R. said:

Southmore is generally done. They've planted a ton of trees and grass on the feeder by the bridge, its going to look green in a year or so. I think that portion looks nice. It makes the other bridges in the area look much more terrible however, so I hope they are getting redone or at least a paint job or some trees or something.

I hate the white piping they used for the pedestrian bridge though. Makes me think of that sort of crappy bridge into the neighborhood over there by gulfgate.

The all-white is pretty bland. They were originally painting the bridge in the TxDOT Wave Design Scheme like the rest of the new bridges, but they stopped and painted it all white instead. The renderings showed the bridges in the wave scheme and also showed the pedestrian bridges using a more throwback style rail similar to what they did on the new Homestead overpass. https://goo.gl/maps/cBajZyxT9jaK7FTj7