Triton

Thanks. Going to merge some of this discussion from the I-45 thread just in case people are wondering why two people posted the same link.

Thank you! Looks like I'll have fun merging these topics as best as I can.

Man, is this seriously the only place we are having this railroad discussion about? I can't seem to find a separate thread. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/houston-east-end-underpasses-rail-crossing-18138449.php#photo-23913205

This project continues to grow so it seems to make sense to have its own thread. https://www.letstalkhouston.org/north-main I attended a meeting tonight where they plan to keep expanding this project. Looks like Airline Dr and that area will be next. The most interesting turn of events is there there are four intersections where they plan to put in "islands" or blockers to prevent traffic from accessing N Main. Hopefully I can find a schematic soon to show what was at the presentation tonight.

We just went there yesterday. Was by far the most bland chicken sandwich I've ever had.

Does anyone happen to know what they are doing in the bayou here?

Yea unfortunately no one has worked on the food hall in months.

I really interested in how well it's going to hold up to Houston's climate. Will it have flows of mold going down the sides?

Wow... Asked in 2005 and here we still are.

It's all video.

Wow this entire thing is dead. Like, not only are almost all of the stores gone but there's literally no one walking inside anymore. Talk about eerie. Edit: Found this Facebook post. Not sure if I'll be able to share here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/195131914585900/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1403283777104035

A different perspective

From my office

I can agree with you there.

Let me rephrase what I am saying because now I am unsure if we are saying the samething or not. I draw a distinction between activists who wanted considerable change thus got politicians to block this project and the nearby neighborhoods affected by this project. Let's start off, the neighborhoods were active from the start. There's no question there and my earlier comment even said I was active from the start (should have made clear I was representing a Northside neighborhood). These neighborhoods became especially active once the first real schematics were made available to the general public. Our area, the Woodlands Heights and Near Northside, were notified that TXDOT planned to demolish the North St bridge and not replace it with a newer one. So much for trying to build connectivity! So as soon as we were made aware of this, the neighborhoods tried working with TXDOT in more of a guidance sort of role. We knew these were preliminary designs so we didn't go to the media... It was nothing too pushy but we made it very clear that we were concerned about TXDOT's plan to remove the bridge and we wanted to know how they would mitigate it since Travis Elementary's school zone goes from the Woodland Heights over I-45 to Near Northside. After much discussion, TXDOT and the city said they would expedite a hike and bike trail running along Little White Oak Bayou once the newer bridge for I-45 is in place. Now, this still didn't make many families happy so we pushed more to Super Neighborhood 51 to get them active. We began pushing hard for some sort of elevated bridge that would still allow vehicular traffic, especially for parents who need to get in a car and drop their kids off at school. After much back and forth, the best we got was that they were going to try to improve N Main's connectivity (bike lanes and wider sidewalks) to keep some sort of connectivity. TXDOT said that the newer I-45 design prevented the North St bridge from ever being there. So that's where we ended up landing. Not sure I can call it compromise but it was better than nothing. Now, in all that time... in all that back and forth... this being a couple of years, there was no yelling about how this disproportionately affected minorities. I barely even heard anyone talk about mass transit in the early schematics... no BRT nor light rail, again except for people on this forum. If grand visionaries were attending any of these TXDOT meetings in the beginning, they must have kept quiet because most of the discussions centered around people concerned for their own blocks. I think if anyone wanted substantial change to this project, they should have been vocal loudly from the very start. I don't mean a street connection missing here or a bike lane missing there.... I mean, substantial change. You know, the reason this project was blocked in the first place. I'm talking groups like the Stop 45 Coalition. But that never happened. Those voices came too late to the show and by then it was clear that the city already liked what they saw because most of their own utopia designs built around what TXDOT planned to do (edit: with a few exceptions like reconnecting Runnels St.!) My whole point was, I just hope this is a learning experience for when the next major highway project is incoming. Unfortunately, loudness is now key from the start.

Renovation makes a lot more sense.

Someone on Reddit is claiming these were bought out. Now seeing how they are historic, they can't be torn down. Any idea what's happening here? Also, this is the edge of downtown but I am open to moving this to another subforum.

Beneath a moderator? I attended every single TXDOT meeting on this project. I can't even count how many times I ran into Dug Begley from the Chron and if they hosted the same information but at different locations, I still attended them all because nobody was listening to the arguments the Northside neighborhoods were trying to present. I wasn't an activist. I was just a regular person who had my concerns. There was barely anyone talking about the serious flaws (except for perhaps us on HAIF and I believe MaxConcrete?) until, I remember quite vividly, a heated exchange happened between TXDOT officials and activists at the Irvington Blvd meet up at Harris County Department of Education building. Mattress Mac was there and he spoke out against it too. But at this point, we were nearing the final decision. The last schematics had been out there for months. And boy, was I excited when the city presented their own designs. I went over those schematics for hours because I was impressed by the major changes they wanted to incorporate. They showed all these beautiful concepts of rerouting roads and connecting communities. But by then, yet again, we were only so far away from TXDOT making a final decision. I was and still am a part of the Stop 45 Coalition on Facebook in order to hear their thoughts and engage on common ground (though obviously, none of them wanted this project, hence the name). But in all that time I joined them and attended the meetings, there was barely anyone from that team engaging TXDOT from the first designs they released and it didn't start growing, again, until closer to the time that the final decision was about to be made. See a pattern? A few random politicians would show up at these TXDOT meetings like Karla Cisneros but they would talk for two minutes and then be out of there. Look, you can hate that I'm saying this and say it's not based in reality, whatever, but either way, this has to be a learning experience for all. They need to be going to the media as soon as the very first schematics are released and presenting alternative plans.

The city really needs to improve the neighborhood streets in this area. No doubt, this likely looks like the same back country road that it was when it was first laid down 100 years ago. Now it just has some extra asphalt on top.

Haha, sure thing. I guess what I was saying really wasn't aimed at you. It's more about the hilarity of the situation we find ourselves in... Especially when someone notices a preceived change in the design that may just be different wording now. All these politicians are patting each other on the back now that the midterms are over (something some of us could see a mile away) and yet there's no change except for a now fully delayed project and one that has a much higher price tag. Each article you read about this, you just have to laugh. Edit: the upsetting part is the payback now. You know TXDOT could still begin this project this year but you know they're delaying it for retribution and a sign for other cities that want to block their work. I hope the activists learn from this incident. Instead of coming at the very end of this process, they should have been fully active when major changes were still being considered.. Not near the final decision making. They could have actually made a meaningful impact. And we also need to start talking changing the culture within TXDOT itself. It needs to stop being against integrating mass transit into their projects.

Pretty sure we saw that proposal... like.. before Covid.

"While the agreement could allow TxDOT to reconsider some of the delays, officials have said the pause left them no choice but to plan for 2027."

Work has pushed to 2027?!?! What the hell?

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but it seems pretty obvious they envision a second phase where more units would wrap around the rest of this parking garage, thus making this garage central to the entire complex. But I don't know, maybe that will never happen.

Wow... wow... So we're willing to spend billions on highways by taking people's homes, demolishing massive multi-family complexes like Lofts at the Ballpark, and tearing down businesses but as soon as you mention rail, we can't do it guys! There's just no way! I'm telling you now, 40 years later, we'll be wishing we had made these investments now. The city is only growing denser by the month because people don't want to have to drive out an hour to their homes. And there comes a time where we can't have 30 lane highways coming into the city.... we will have needed to build commuter rail projects where suburban folk can park at a parking garage and hop on the train into the city. This is already done in other American cities and eventually we will have to do it here too.