JLWM8609

On 5/5/2021 at 7:29 AM, Specwriter said:

Since everyone seems to be walking around staring at his or her i-phone do we really need information kiosks? Besides, those distracted pedestrians will probably walk right into the stationary kiosks then want to sue the City for putting them there. 🙂

Or they'll be riding one of those rental scooters when they collide into it. I see more of them downtown now since vehicle and pedestrian traffic is lighter.

2 hours ago, august948 said:

I'll take a contrary position on this.  Most likely they'd not want to locate where there are a lot of hotels because they would want to build an attached hotel/resort and profit on that as well.  They'll be looking for (relatively) cheap land to build a full resort on.

I could see them doing that. Maybe somewhere along the NE Grand Parkway. Lots of undeveloped land out there. Not sure if it's cheap though.

12 hours ago, Houston19514 said:

There are two alternative crossing within a mile to the southwest and two alternative crossings within a mile to the east.

You can also take a u-turn on MacGregor just a block or two west of the bridge to cross to the other side.

26 minutes ago, citykid09 said:

I like trains in urban environments as well, just not country a** Union Pacific trains. I like subway trains. Lol

Country a** Union Pacific trains help move and make this city. I guess we ought to keep freight trucks off of pretty Westheimer too? 

18 hours ago, samagon said:

recently, NB traffic seems to be horribly bad beginning near the bridge for Brays Bayou, and then opens up at the split for 59.

traffic is still bad for 3 lanes going to 2 lanes in prep for the pierce elevated, it typically starts before Scott street, and the traffic for people choosing at the last second to go north on 59 rather than south is usually backed up to the Cullen overpass.

this is in the afternoon, like anytime between 4 and 6, I stay away from the freeways in the mornings, but I imagine it's much worse.

what was the purpose of this project again? 

did the construction project at 610 and gulf freeway finish and all lanes are open? if that's not complete yet, this is only going to get worse.. 

The purpose was to untangle the backup and eliminate weaving caused by traffic entering at Scott and getting off at 59/288 and to eliminate the left lane exit to 59/288. It succeeded in eliminating the left lane exit and weaving, but like you said, there's still a backup caused by 45 NB going from 3 to 2 lanes, and I think Scott St. traffic entering so close to the Downtown exit may be a culprit, too. Perhaps eliminating the Scott St. onramp and directing I-45 NB traffic from Scott to the Cullen onramp or through downtown along St. Joseph Pkwy or Pease would help along with making both lanes of the downtown exit from 45NB exit only so it whittles down to 2 lanes without that taper after the exit. 

I think the project at 610 is complete. Both new flyover ramps are open.

On 4/27/2021 at 4:59 PM, august948 said:

Typically, the city owns property wider than the street itself so it can build whatever it wants along it's right of way.  So the question is how far past the curbs does the city own?

 

IIRC from dealing with HCFCD during the Ardmore St bridge project, the ROW extends 16 1/2 ft from the back edge of the curb.

3 hours ago, SkylineView said:

A few of the notable changes:

• Replace 610 bridge over the ship channel

Maybe we can get a cable stayed bridge that'll be known as a signature landmark!

4 minutes ago, BeerNut said:

My poor waistline! 

11 hours ago, hindesky said:

I saw those pics. What could possibly cause this? To the untrained eye it looks like bad compaction, wrong type of stabilized soil or just shoddy work by the contractor. Who is responsible for fixing this?

I wonder if the freeze had something to do with it? I've heard of potholes getting worse from the cycle of freezing and thawing. Could it have destabilized the soil underneath? There's also buckling in the retaining wall and embankment slope.

A major pavement failure on 288 SB has shut down all lanes just south of 610. I've been watching the fissure slowly get worse over the last few months. It started as a crack which they filled with tar. When it got worse, they started an asphalt overlay. Then you could see the crack getting worse underneath the overlay over the past week or so. I'd started driving in the left lane to avoid it. Traffic is being detoured to the toll lanes with tolls waived between Southmore and Beltway 8. 

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Damaged-pavement-shuts-down-part-of-Texas-288-16110760.php 

7 hours ago, ttuchris said:

It really is amazing.  I moved downtown in September 2017 and this project was underway.  You can see date stamps on the concrete, 2018, 2019, 2021.

I didn't know it's taken that long. The Atchafalaya Basin bridges didn't take this long to be built, seems like this project should've been completed at least a year ago. 

The big construction sign on Almeda and MacGregor says the Almeda Rd. bridge is closing on April 16th.

On 3/13/2021 at 9:29 PM, Highrise Tower said:

Braeswood at Chimney Rock. They're creating one wide bridge to replace the two small bridges? Just like they did down the block on Hillcroft.

They didn't replace any bridges at Hillcroft. It's been one big bridge since the 60s. They raised the current Hillcroft bridge.

One thing about this project is how a lot of this work benefits Midtown more than any other area. While other areas are going to see properties taken for new ROW, Midtown will actually see infrastructure removed for their benefit. In addition to the obvious removal of the Pierce Elevated, they're removing the entrance and exit ramps to 288 from Chenevert and Jackson. Initially, those ramps were going to be converted into ramps for the toll lanes on 288. 40 years ago when the area was mostly black, putting those ramps there was a part of "progress". Now that the demographics have changed drastically, TxDOT is being more sensitive to that area and restoring the street grid and not catering wholly to commuters from Pearland. It's interesting.

6 hours ago, august948 said:

Back during Bill White's terms as mayor he had a project that improved the light timing fairly well.  I recall it made a big difference during rush hour on Westheimer at the time.  There was a document put out that went into detail and supposedly the timing was going to be maintained into the future.  I guess that fell by the wayside after he left office.

I remember that. It was mostly downtown and Midtown and it was kind hard to pull off at the time since some of the traffic light control cabinets were the old electromechanical type from the 50s and 60s and couldn't communicate with the new cabinets. I imagine the addition of the east-west light rail lines has made it a bit harder to synchronize traffic light timing too in later years.

On 3/8/2021 at 2:56 PM, BeerNut said:

Managed, maybe elevated lanes considered for I-10 as TxDOT tries out options for clogged corridor

Saw this on reddit...

That might work if they can produce a self driving hoverbus in the next 10 years!

On 3/8/2021 at 4:07 PM, X.R. said:

Living most of my life near freeways and feeder roads in less desirable parts of Houston, I genuinely thought increased lanes on highways and stuff didn't happen when you got closer to more affluent areas. 

That area didn't start becoming affluent until about 15-20 years ago and the freeway was routed through there over 50 years ago, so it's not as well insulated against big road expansion like areas that have been continuously affluent from the start like River Oaks. 

19 hours ago, hindesky said:

I wonder if this is part of the IH 45 realignment? They are doing some major pier drilling here. Maybe new bridges over IH59/69.

The new bridges will be longer, but I think the new length will come from the other side where more ROW will be taken.

15 hours ago, august948 said:

Isn't that the area they were calling "Kush Corner" a few years back?

Yep, that's it.

On 2/12/2021 at 1:02 PM, Triton said:

Latest detail from the City of Houston. So it looks like San Jacinto will be a tunnel with some sort of ramps that traverse to the west side of the road and go to I-10.

Is that a typo or will they really rename Rothwell/Nance between N. Main and McKee to Lyons Ave.? Why not call it Nance all the way to N. Main for consistency? I don't think Lyons ever historically ran to N. Main in that location if at all in the pre-freeway days. 

5 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

That's got to be a rarity. Can't imagine too many of them survived in decent shape given their target market of people wanting a new car at a used-car price. 

 

Tony Gullo has one in his personal collection in Magnolia. I was afraid to look at it the wrong way lest it fall apart!

26 minutes ago, Ross said:

Isn't Allegiant famous for crappy maintenance and engine failures?

That was back when their fleet was comprised of a lot of older MD-80s. They've all been replaced with newer Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft.

On 2/6/2021 at 11:53 AM, zaphod said:

I don't know if that intersection even really needs that much improvement since it just dumps into West Airport anyways with another light. What might be more interesting is if they finally had West Airport and regular Airport connect, with a bridge over the tracks/freeway then curve around and buy out/eminent domain a couple small properties to join up. They already shamelessly carved up that subdivision east of Buffalo Speedway to create a seemingly redundant east-west linkage to Hiram Clarke. Maybe it could go all the way?

There are plans for an eventual W. Airport overpass. It was seen here in the schematics for the US90A freeway in the early 2000s: http://www.texasfreeway.com/Houston/schematics/90a/images/90a_7_west_airport.jpg

You can see the stubouts for the eventual connection on the EB feeder

https://goo.gl/maps/f4NH56ebsgQg58Fy8

It sounds like they're completing the gaps in the feeders between S. Main and W. Orem going by the description, but those gaps are less than 1/2 mi, and should be WAY less than $350m.

4 hours ago, Big E said:

My guess: nothing is being done on that because that is specifically part of the Hardy Toll Road extension, which would make it Harris County's issue (they maintain the toll road). The viaduct replacement is probably being done by the city of Houston.

That's correct about the toll road extension, but the viaduct replacement is a TxDOT project. 

On 1/24/2021 at 6:32 PM, j_cuevas713 said:

I noticed they are digging deeper on either side of 610. Are they planning to run the rail below the freeway? 

It already runs below the freeway. But, if you mean trenching it below the feeder roads, that would be neat. That whole intersection can become a mess even outside of rush hour.