Trae Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Because not every Houston freeway needs them and the GP will have them at the important interchanges already. The commercial development can be pushed to the side streets like in South Katy. I like how it is designed. i just wish there was more green space along it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolaboy Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 I haven't been to Houston since August, but how far does Section E go? Obviously, it connects Katy to Cypress and adds main lanes to 290 (up from Kingsland Blvd., where afterward you would be forced to get on the frontage road or take the ramp to Interstate 10 East). If you were drive north on Grand Parkway, would you be forced to exit onto 290, or would you be able to go to Cumberland as shown in this map? Here is a picture of the north end of Segment E, possibly taken about a month ago. Source: http://coveringkaty.com/2013/12/21/grand-parkway-extension-open-real-estate-boom-expected/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 It looks like the frontage roads are not complete. According to the map, since they have elevated 290 in that stretch, the 99 frontage roads intersect 290 roads at grade, and it looks like there should be some new railroad crossings there as well. Of course, if you look at the map just to the south (oriented as west-east in the PDFs), you'll see that the frontage roads merge back into the highway just south of 290, so it's not like you'll be able to bypass the tolls by taking the frontage roads to Katy. If you plan to do that route, then it's back to the FMs for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 It's a travesty that this monstrous thing is still being built. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fringe Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 More of a travesty that it's taken so long to complete. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted December 28, 2013 Share Posted December 28, 2013 It's a travesty that this monstrous thing is still being built.I agree it's encouraging sprawl 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brijonmang Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I agree it's encouraging sprawl If you can find a way to create a mountain range or huge body of water to surround Houston then we will be able to combat sprawl. Until then, it's going to keep happening. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 While I completely agree it's promoting more sprawl, it's providing an excellent route around the city to relieve traffic in the city. Atlanta faced the same predicament when contemplating a new loop/partial loop on the north side.. Their solution was to only put entrance/exit ramps at the major highways, not ramps on and off at every suburban cross street, once a mile. This would of kept the road from being cluttered with local traffic, reducing sprawl promotion, and would only serve through traffic routed around the city. Pretty decent idea but the grand parkway is already being built so it's kind of late to redesign it. Hopefully they do that with the fulshear/prairie parkway so it doesn't promote even more sprawl to the west. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ig2ba Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 I drove the whole thing in the morning of the second day it was open, and was surprised by how many cars there were, considering it's such a new road and quiet time of the week. It looked like the traffic is about what you'd expect to see on I-10 east of Lake Charles. It certainly has many times more vehicles than Segment I of the Grand Parkway, and I think more traffic than I normally see on the Fort Bend Parkway (which I only drive on off-peak hours). I seriously doubt all the people I saw on Segment E were road geeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbcu Posted December 29, 2013 Share Posted December 29, 2013 its free so that's why the big rush...it may change on Jan. 31 when tolls come into play but considering how slow the tollways run in Houston at Rush Hour...it may never be fast until the night hour Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gmac Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Personally, I'd like to see downtown be mostly residential with the employment centers on the outskirts. Then inside the loop would be a place to live and play and the commuting could be distributed out I could certainly live with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 (edited) Just found this... The first new stretch of the planned 180-mile outer loop to open in five years, Segment E will be a boon to the Katy area, according to Katy Economic Development Council CEO Lance LaCour.“Developers and builders are positioning themselves to take enhanced growth and quality development to all along the Grand Parkway, up to U.S. 290 and beyond,” LaCour said. “The Exxon facility in The Woodlands and the energy industry in general are driving the growth in this area.”Speaking at a recent real estate forum in Houston, Jay Sears, managing partner of NewQuest Properties, said the Grand Parkway is a ''game-changer'' and the Katy area is now the fastest growing community in the United States.“New development in that community is driving retail with grocers leading the way. We are seeing new grocers coming to the market and some that are moving to the suburbs for the first time,” he said. Billy Burge, chairman of the Grand Parkway Association, said the roadway is needed to handle the area's healthy economic growth and mushrooming population.''What you're seeing is, the employers are moving out to where the people want to live, and they want to live where they have school districts and where they have a backyard,'' he said.Texas Transportation Commissioner Jeff Moseley explained that the Grand Parkway services the needs of the unincorporated population of Harris County, which is equal to the fifth-largest city in the United States. http://katytimes.com/news/article_79249148-6804-11e3-8456-0019bb2963f4.html "Grocers leading the way", "employers are moving out to where the people want to live"...where they have better school districts and backyards...go figure. Edited December 30, 2013 by august948 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Note that a long string of off-topic posts have been relocated to Way Off Topic, under the "Limits to Growth" title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Just found this...http://katytimes.com/news/article_79249148-6804-11e3-8456-0019bb2963f4.html"Grocers leading the way", "employers are moving out to where the people want to live"...where they have better school districts and backyards...go figure.The reason this portion was built was because bob Lanier owned a lot of land here and made a killing off this project being built. Period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 The reason this portion was built was because bob Lanier owned a lot of land here and made a killing off this project being built. Period. Bob Lanier may or may not own a lot of land along the route and he may or may not have made a killing off the project but it wasn't built by or for his personal amusement and gain. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 Bob Lanier may or may not own a lot of land along the route and he may or may not have made a killing off the project but it wasn't built by or for his personal amusement and gain. He had a SIGNIFICANT impact on the entire project happening at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted December 30, 2013 Share Posted December 30, 2013 He had a SIGNIFICANT impact on the entire project happening at all. Well, then, if that's true we should thank him and name it in his honor. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hbcu Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Lanier, Bob McNair, a bunch of other River Oaks types were all in it together....Lanier was over the highway commission and it was him or someone close to him who developed Cinco Ranch with the road coming through in due time to profit off of it you look back at that time..there wasn't much in Katy to develop or even waste time developing then as even Highway 6 was way out in the boonies...why not funnel more development into Houston then if you had interests there? That's why monorail was killed...Lanier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 The monorail was killed more likely out of pragmatism, not some eeeeeevil conspiracy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 The monorail was killed more likely out of pragmatism, not some eeeeeevil conspiracy.No Lanier just didn't want it so he killed it and gave money to a corrupt, inept police department instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Lanier, Bob McNair, a bunch of other River Oaks types were all in it together....Lanier was over the highway commission and it was him or someone close to him who developed Cinco Ranch with the road coming through in due time to profit off of it you look back at that time..there wasn't much in Katy to develop or even waste time developing then as even Highway 6 was way out in the boonies...why not funnel more development into Houston then if you had interests there? That's why monorail was killed...Lanier Or because the had enough vision to see how things would develop in Katy and got ahead of the curve? No Lanier just didn't want it so he killed it and gave money to a corrupt, inept police department instead. Would that be the same corrupt, inept police force that reduced crime during Lanier's term? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted December 31, 2013 Share Posted December 31, 2013 Or because the had enough vision to see how things would develop in Katy and got ahead of the curve?Would that be the same corrupt, inept police force that reduced crime during Lanier's term?His vision was his bank account, nothing else. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 His vision was his bank account, nothing else. Do you think that cities get built by people holding hands and singing songs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 It looks like the frontage roads are not complete. According to the map, since they have elevated 290 in that stretch, the 99 frontage roads intersect 290 roads at grade, and it looks like there should be some new railroad crossings there as well. Of course, if you look at the map just to the south (oriented as west-east in the PDFs), you'll see that the frontage roads merge back into the highway just south of 290, so it's not like you'll be able to bypass the tolls by taking the frontage roads to Katy. If you plan to do that route, then it's back to the FMs for you.so they plan on elevating 290 past the interchange and turning it into a 5 stack/level interchange? i was under the impression it would just be a 4 stack. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 1, 2014 Share Posted January 1, 2014 Wow. Defending corruption. Uh, no. I think he was making a point to say that Lanier was not the criminal you make him out to be (does anyone who blocks rail-based transit for any reason NOT a person to be vilified in your eyes?) so they plan on elevating 290 past the interchange and turning it into a 5 stack/level interchange? i was under the impression it would just be a 4 stack. Not quite sure. From this PDF it looks like the frontage roads of 99 and 290 would intersect at grade, with said railroad crossings (as described above), then 290 going over these (which as far as it looks has not happened yet), with 99 going over that. Right now, we only have four of those orange ramps. The purple is going to be an HSR line (if I recall correctly), or at least its right of way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Drove on this thing earlier today and yesterday. Yesterday it was about 3PM and I was heading south from the outlet mall to Cinco. Southbound on the new section, there were a few cars there with me. Northbound there were packs of cars one after the other. maybe six or seven cars in each pack. I'm gonna guess those are people living tat 529 or any of the other roads that intersect 99 heading south towards ten. Today there was more traffic both ways. Definitely wasn't deserted like I thought it would be. It should be interesting to see how traffic flows on it once people return to normal work schedules. I think it is going to have some backups already. This is where I agree with cloud713. They should have maybe skipped over some roads like Clay and Morton Ranch to have less local traffic clouding the roadway, for example. I do know that there are some overpasses without exits/entrances and I don't think there will be new ones constructed there. there was another overpass with exits/entrances that has concrete barriers blocking it.(bridgeland) So, they didn't add entrances/exits for every local road at least.Btw, love that 70 speed limit. Pretty much everyone cruises in the low 70s on the right with a couple of people going near 80 or a little over on the left. So almost like any other freeway in Houston. It's about time that Houston had a tollway with a 70 limit, because DFW, Austin, and SA all have one at least. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 Drove on this thing earlier today and yesterday. Yesterday it was about 3PM and I was heading south from the outlet mall to Cinco. Southbound on the new section, there were a few cars there with me. Northbound there were packs of cars one after the other. maybe six or seven cars in each pack. I'm gonna guess those are people living tat 529 or any of the other roads that intersect 99 heading south towards ten. Today there was more traffic both ways. Definitely wasn't deserted like I thought it would be. It should be interesting to see how traffic flows on it once people return to normal work schedules. I think it is going to have some backups already. This is where I agree with cloud713. They should have maybe skipped over some roads like Clay and Morton Ranch to have less local traffic clouding the roadway, for example. I do know that there are some overpasses without exits/entrances and I don't think there will be new ones constructed there. there was another overpass with exits/entrances that has concrete barriers blocking it.(bridgeland) So, they didn't add entrances/exits for every local road at least.Btw, love that 70 speed limit. Pretty much everyone cruises in the low 70s on the right with a couple of people going near 80 or a little over on the left. So almost like any other freeway in Houston. It's about time that Houston had a tollway with a 70 limit, because DFW, Austin, and SA all have one at least. About how long did it take to drive 290 to I10? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 About how long did it take to drive 290 to I10?No more than 15 minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 I do know that there are some overpasses without exits/entrances and I don't think there will be new ones constructed there. there was another overpass with exits/entrances that has concrete barriers blocking it.(bridgeland) So, they didn't add entrances/exits for every local road at least. FWIW, when the Interstates were built they had far less interchanges than they do today (many roads went under or over). Maybe there would be less traffic overall if they didn't build as many... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted January 2, 2014 Share Posted January 2, 2014 (edited) FWIW, when the Interstates were built they had far less interchanges than they do today (many roads went under or over). Maybe there would be less traffic overall if they didn't build as many...Yeah but Texas is pretty unique with the amount it has in its urban areas compared to other places across the country. Edited January 2, 2014 by Trae Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.