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ADCS

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Posts posted by ADCS

  1. Shinkansen means "new trunk line". The concept is specifically that they're separate from legacy lines.

    Amtrak just updated their 280 mile line from Chicago to St. Louis to handle 110 mph operation, and it still takes 4:30, about the same as driving. A 125 mph line on I-45 would likely still take ~3:45 to go the 245 mi, making it uncompetitive with air for business travel (especially last-minute business travel).

    • Like 3
  2. On 1/30/2023 at 9:34 PM, Houston19514 said:

    .. He has restaurants in Pearland, Galveston and Bush Airport, and apparently planning one in Santa Fe. I doubt if the drive to Shady Acres was the reason for closing.

    Given all the IAH concessions are operated by Delaware North (last time I checked), there's probably not a whole lot of effort that goes into running that store. The rest are all in the SE side of town.

  3. Highway construction, at this point, is just a jobs program for the massive construction industry. Local firms and contractors don't have the expertise to build transit, so they will always push for highway construction, lest Texas dollars leave the state. Auto dealers back them up, because their bottom line depends on car dependency.

    Developers don't care (they'll build whatever's profitable for the form factor around them), insurers would likely prefer fewer cars on the roads, and energy companies would love to have amenities like fix mass transit to attract high-end talent. It doesn't matter, though, because the local guys who actually have to build the infrastructure don't know how to do high-quality transit, and don't want to spend the time and money to figure out how to do high-quality transit.

    • Thanks 1
  4. On 10/20/2022 at 12:05 PM, Amlaham said:

    I just don't understand how this is "racially motivated"....

    Ive been to the Lofts at the Ballpark, and it felt like it was mostly white with a few latino/ asians/ black. Well that was demolished for highway project.... but since this complex is mostly black, its racially motivated? The term "racially motivated" has lost its actual meaning over the last decade. If this was racially motived, then so was i10 when it expanded into mostly white neighborhoods, Texas Central Rail was too since it was cutting through mostly white farm land? I feel like this "racial" battle is so stupid to me. 

    Instead, people need to shift their energy into 

    • Texas Redistricting...now THAT is racially motivate
    • Texas' 1836 project that plans to practically erase history and accountability of slavery in our school system 
    • Pacific Union being able to poison the land in AA neighborhoods for decades with nothing being done....
    • Gulfton, a predominantly latino neighborhood, is severely neglected even though its sandwich between 2 upscale neighborhoods (Uptown & Bellaire)

    Theres way more serious racial battles......this..... this is not it. It's really simply, theres a highway thats going to be expanded, theres buildings next to it, the buildings are being removed, whether hispanic, white, black, asian, it's going to be removed. 

     

    It's all about the local reporters trying to break into the big time

    • Like 1
  5. 17 hours ago, Ross said:

    I don't think they killed the project, but they did fight it tooth and nail, which was totally predictable. They were never asked what their opinion was, or asked for input on mitigation for the objections. When TCR popped up and used the ED words, it really raised the hackles of rural landowners who didn't see why they should have to suffer just so city folks can get to Houston or Dallas faster.

    I doubt the airlines lobbied against TCR, since they are apparently getting close to saturation with flights between Houston and Dallas

    And that's the problem - sometimes, you've got to suck it up for the greater good, and rural landholders around here think they're entirely exempt from that. It's a completely toxic notion of freedom.

  6. 9 hours ago, samagon said:

    since our state and national legislatures have no term limits, neither group really wants to commit potential political suicide by being labeled as the group that raised gas taxes.

    the gasoline tax (and most use taxes) in and of itself though is a bit of a regressive tax (especially since the way our governments built out the infrastructure, alternate forms of transportation that do exist aren't really a replacement for single occupant vehicles). it can be said though, that as regressive taxes go, a gas tax isn't horrible, if I can't afford gas, I just get a car with higher fuel efficiency, and luckily, most of the economy cars are the cheaper ones. so I can get a car that nets 30+ mpg for cheap, vs an escalate that maybe cracks 15 with a tailwind. so as regressive taxes go, gas tax isn't horrible.

    considering the push for EVs though, the gas tax will have to be replaced soon, or augmented. I'd love to see something that measures miles driven and factors in the weight of the vehicle to come up with how much tax liability someone owes. when you go in for your yearly inspection, you could be given a tax report based on miles driven since your last inspection. the tax could be paid as part of the registration process. seems pretty simple to me.

    as it relates to toll roads, the use cost is totally optional if you choose to live in an area that is serviced by a toll road, you know exactly into what you are entering as far as a use tax. otherwise, toll roads are sometimes a convenience to create a shorter trip, but are not necessary.

    Honestly think it would be easier/more efficient/more progressive to convert the gas volume tax to an energy quantity tax (per gigajoule or kilowatt-hour sold).

  7. On 5/13/2022 at 9:54 AM, Texasota said:

    Just because you disagree with someone doesnt mean theyre being disingenuous. Ad that's, at most, a difference of degree not kind.

    After years of argumentation, the only coherent argument made is a purely NIMBY one - that the East End (and only the East End) should be forever preserved against any sort of potential public development whose benefits to the city and region at large may exceed those to the neighborhood itself. The grounds are purely moral - a justice-based argument stemming from the historical wrongs perpetuated against the community by admittedly racist and sectarian local governments, separated in place and time from the proposed development.

    The arguments become disingenuous when they stray from these grounds. It's clear when the arguer does not actually care about the points being made, and that they're only being made to buttress the core argument, whose merits the arguer is not confident enough to support on their own.

    • Like 2
  8. 2 hours ago, Texasota said:

    Stop trying to accuse people of feigning sympathy or pretending to care about others just to hide whatever you think their real motivations are. Just stop it. You can disagree with them. You can think they are misguided or wrong. That's all fine. 

    But let's not call each other liars. 

    There's a difference between calling someone an outright liar, and saying that their argument is disingenuous.

    • Like 1
  9. 2 hours ago, editor said:

    After looking at the presentation, I'm relived by what I see.  This could have gone very bad, but as it is — it's fine.  It's not spectacular, but it's far better than a lot of freeway trenches and caps that were poorly executed in other cities (*cough*Cincinnati*cough*).

    I'm not excited about the Third Ward Signature Bridges.  They look very much like the ones over the existing trenched portion of the Southwest Freeway.  And I expect them to be maintained just as carefully.  Meaning, not at all.

    That set of bridges used to be a spectacular asset to the city.  Now they're an embarrassment.

    We just need a Super Bowl here every 5 years

    • Like 1
    • Haha 6
  10. Water features lead to higher demand for nearby property, leading to higher property tax revenues. It would be foolish for the city to not place amenities here.

    Brays is different because the area around it is already high-income and politically influential, and they most certainly do not want any inducement for higher density development.

    • Like 1
  11. I think what a lot of people are missing is that in the long run, it's either a depressed urban freeway, or it's no freeway. There simply isn't any political will for keeping the Pierce, beyond a handful of roadgeeks and people ideologically opposed to giving urbanists a W. TxDOT doesn't want to maintain it anymore, and doesn't like what its continued presence does to its safety numbers. Developers have rightly seen that it's what keeps that area of downtown and Midtown permanently depressed.

    The Pierce was a decent concept for a time long past - how to connect the Gulf Freeway to the proposed North Freeway. It's far outlived its usefulness.

     

    @aachoryour argument is "I don't want to be personally disrupted by this". You don't think that would evoke emotional responses?

    • Like 5
  12. 3 hours ago, aachor said:

    Either you double the size of the elevated portion, or you double it and then place it in a moat. I don't get your point.

    Also, I'm reminded of 288 between McGregor and 610 during T.S. Beta. It went totally underwater while most of the other freeways were just fine. I still got to work okay, but it caused a headache for many people. It didn't flood because the bayou overflowed. The bayou was fine- I drove over it. 288 flooded because it's a ditch.

    I don't see anything wrong with elevated freeways except that they don't have park caps which no one is going to pay for.

    All that water wasn't in your neighborhood. Freeways that flood during major events are a good thing - that's retention capacity that would instead be impervious cover with an at-grade or elevated structure.

    • Like 6
  13. On 1/19/2022 at 10:43 AM, Eastdwntwn said:

    All the tenants in all three buildings at the Lofts at the Ballpark will be out during the first quarter of this year. They are no longer taking new leases and stopped renewing early last year. The belief is that all three buildings will be demolished not just the one in the path of the expansion. Both sides of St. Emanuel.  

    Good. Stick construction means the demolition will likely be inexpensive for the buildings. That's going to be a prime location for highrise development, especially 2189 where you don't have to pay for a parking structure. Possibly a pair of slim residential/mixed uses?

    • Like 2
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