I-10 construction

[Marksmu]

I don't see how construction on 610 impedes east to west flow. The section between I-45 and US 59 has been free of construction for years and is the only stretch of 610 you would need to take to avoid the construction if you wanted to take 610. You don't have to cut through downtown's traffic lights either if I-10 EB is closed. Just take I-45 SB around to 59 NB and catch I-10 east from there. Pretty easy. Of course going all the way around to the beltway would probably make more sense to you, since going out of the way to blame folks in Washington for local stuff seems to be you and gto's forte. Since when was logical planning ever part of TxDOT? These are the guys who will close down a lane for miles without any work going on (personally witnessed 2 weeks ago on Highway 73 between Port Arthur and Winnie).

Coming out of the heights, if you go up to 610 from Shepard to take 610 over to I-10 the construction on the weekends has the entire section between Shepard and 45 moving at or below a walk. It took me some 35 minutes last Saturday (heading toward I-10).

If I got on I-10 it was a parking lot. Once you hit 45 it was worse because the people who were not aware I-10 would be closed didn't know what to to do. People started busting out blackberries and tom toms to try to get them back on I-10...all while driving...the 45-59 route will certainly work, it just adds closer to 45-55 minutes to a 2.5-3 minute trip.

The only route during the closure partially tolerable was cutting over to Memorial, riding in on Memorial cutting out the 2/3 of the traffic merging onto 45 from the one lane entrance off I-10 and then getting over 3 lanes to the 59N exit which appears about a mile down.

If you're coming from the west, just take I-45 SB to US 59 NB to I-10 EB like I said before. Simple instructions + bullheaded people = FAIL.

simple yes, and a total waste of your life unless you enjoy an hour of traffic. Simple people + Giving Poor Simple instructions = FAIL

Yes, because Obama personally hates people who drive I-10, but not I-45.

Never said he hated anything...merely pointing out that planning could have been done better had Obama not been trying to make himself look so much better. Shifting the time a project will be complete does not create any new jobs....it merely moves the employment forward....one way or another nobody gained any employment from his decision. That job just wont be there later...once he does not care anymore b/c the recession is over.

[barracuda]

Coming out of the heights, if you go up to 610 from Shepard to take 610 over to I-10 the construction on the weekends has the entire section between Shepard and 45 moving at or below a walk. It took me some 35 minutes last Saturday (heading toward I-10).

If I got on I-10 it was a parking lot. Once you hit 45 it was worse because the people who were not aware I-10 would be closed didn't know what to to do. People started busting out blackberries and tom toms to try to get them back on I-10...all while driving...the 45-59 route will certainly work, it just adds closer to 45-55 minutes to a 2.5-3 minute trip.

The only route during the closure partially tolerable was cutting over to Memorial, riding in on Memorial cutting out the 2/3 of the traffic merging onto 45 from the one lane entrance off I-10 and then getting over 3 lanes to the 59N exit which appears about a mile down.

Freeway traffic pretty much anywhere inside the loop has gotten noticeably worse since the 610 and I10 construction started. As for I10 eastbound, it's not worth going farther than Sheperd unless you want to get stuck in traffic.

Never said he hated anything...merely pointing out that planning could have been done better had Obama not been trying to make himself look so much better. Shifting the time a project will be complete does not create any new jobs....it merely moves the employment forward....one way or another nobody gained any employment from his decision. That job just wont be there later...once he does not care anymore b/c the recession is over.

I don't think this has anything with Obama trying to make himself look good. If the President did nothing, you'd be complaining about that too. And the idea that jobs weren't created, but were shifted "forward" sounds ridiculous. If the jobs did not exist previously, but they do now, they had to have been created.

[ig2ba]

Freeway traffic pretty much anywhere inside the loop has gotten noticeably worse since the 610 and I10 construction started. As for I10 eastbound, it's not worth going farther than Sheperd unless you want to get stuck in traffic.

I don't think this has anything with Obama trying to make himself look good. If the President did nothing, you'd be complaining about that too. And the idea that jobs weren't created, but were shifted "forward" sounds ridiculous. If the jobs did not exist previously, but they do now, they had to have been created.

Actually, I would like it if the government would try doing nothing for awhile, aside from fighting foreign enemies. And in the meantime get out of the way. Don't do more harm than good.

And if you create temporary jobs at the expense of letting the economy reallocating people to longer-lasting jobs, would you still call that "creating" jobs? I would call that a net loss of employment and therefore not "creating" jobs.

[AtticaFlinch]

Actually, I would like it if the government would try doing nothing for awhile, aside from fighting foreign enemies. And in the meantime get out of the way. Don't do more harm than good.

They tried this in the 90s. Newt Gingrich, remember?

Life went on pretty much the same for most of us, with the exception of hearing unbleeped songs on the radio for a week. Pull the government out now and the roads won't magically clear up. But, you'll be able to listen to your favorite explicit lyrics while waiting in traffic. Win/win.

[RedScare]

Actually, I would like it if the government would try doing nothing for awhile, aside from fighting foreign enemies. And in the meantime get out of the way. Don't do more harm than good.

And if you create temporary jobs at the expense of letting the economy reallocating people to longer-lasting jobs, would you still call that "creating" jobs? I would call that a net loss of employment and therefore not "creating" jobs.

Yeah, Somalia is a great place to live, I hear. No government. Free market. A libertarian's dream.

As for your solutions for handling the economy, I'd rather we follow Keynes than the tea partiers. I'm funny like that.

[barracuda]

Actually, I would like it if the government would try doing nothing for awhile, aside from fighting foreign enemies. And in the meantime get out of the way. Don't do more harm than good.

Yeah, the government should never have created the interstate highway system in the first place.

[TheNiche]

Blame it on Obama or defend him until the cows come home if you like, but it's undeniable that "Stimulus Fever", which many politicians including Obama had, is responsible for this waste.

The short-term availability of stimulus funds created some perverse incentives. There's no disputing it. But it isn't as though these improvements weren't already needed, and the fact that TXDoT was able to start on them so quickly is an indication that they likely would have undertaken these projects anyways with our own money had they not been funded by stimulus. Now, TXDoT can re-allocate the funds that would have gone to these projects to other needed infrastructure so that we have more roads sooner. It's a no-brainer. I'd expect that conservatives would be able to appreciate that the Obama administration left these kinds of decisions to the states. And I'd think that both parties could get behind building infrastructure that increases the marginal product of labor; it shouldn't even have to fall under the purview of a stimulus program to gain support.

There's plenty of fodder in the stimulus bill that the right should be picking at; this isn't it. Not even close.

Why must the opposition party always look for a gray cloud in every silver lining? I used to think that I was a right-leaning moderate because I defended the Bush administration against so much crap being flung at him by people who either don't understand how the world works or that can't maintain an internally consistent political philosophy. Now, more often than not, I'm defending the Obama in much the same way. What label exists to describe my political leanings?

[crunchtastic]

Why must the opposition party always look for a gray cloud in every silver lining? I used to think that I was a right-leaning moderate because I defended the Bush administration against so much crap being flung at him by people who either don't understand how the world works or that can't maintain an internally consistent political philosophy. Now, more often than not, I'm defending the Obama in much the same way. What label exists to describe my political leanings?

Inconsistent.

Which is fine, and the most reasonable response. The very idea of political philosophy is, at the policy level, antiquated, because the power elite operates outside philosophy. The goal is that the rich stay rich. The level of collateral largess, or lack of, working its way into the general population is just a matter of mechanics.

Philosophically, I am opposed to economic neo-liberalism. But I don't delude myself that the power brokers who favor the Keynesian alternative are any less focused on preserving their own vast wealth at all costs.

[Subdude]

And yet another topic hijacked by the politics crowd.

Can we keep it on topic please?

[gto250us]

And yet another topic hijacked by the politics crowd.

Can we keep it on topic please?

Gort, Klaatu barada nikto

[Hartmann]

If there's any question as to whether or not the traffic has been bad, the answer is a resounding YES.

I drive from the Heights to the far east side every morning and ever since the start of construction on the 610 north improvements there has been more traffic on I-10. Not enough to really make things hairy until the I-10 improvements started.

As the days have gone on it's been a little better as people realize that they can use the HOV lane to go to downtown but it's still a headache.

[Shandril19]

I usually enter I-10 Eastbound from I-45 Northbound to start my commute.

I'm now doing the U-turn up at N Main and exiting I-10E from I-45 Southbound. A little irritating, but okay, especially as I'm not dealing with any of the buildup actually on I-10.

[plumber2]

I usually enter I-10 Eastbound from I-45 Northbound to start my commute.

I'm now doing the U-turn up at N Main and exiting I-10E from I-45 Southbound. A little irritating, but okay, especially as I'm not dealing with any of the buildup actually on I-10.

You just gave away your shortcut!

[ig2ba]

I usually enter I-10 Eastbound from I-45 Northbound to start my commute.

I'm now doing the U-turn up at N Main and exiting I-10E from I-45 Southbound. A little irritating, but okay, especially as I'm not dealing with any of the buildup actually on I-10.

Sorry, I don't understand your shortcut. Is this it?

[RedScare]

Sorry, I don't understand your shortcut. Is this it?

You've got it backwards. She is going NB on 45 to EB on I-10, not the other way around. The ramp from 45N to 10E is closed.

[smurf]

Yeah, Somalia is a great place to live, I hear. No government. Free market. A libertarian's dream.

As for your solutions for handling the economy, I'd rather we follow Keynes than the tea partiers. I'm funny like that.

Sorry to detour back to politik. This is funny! I think Mex-Tex border towns are libertarian's dream too with no govt and free market. Good riddance ~

I really love the blame game tactics of the tea-partiers and libertarians (both former GOP members).

[TheNiche]

Sorry to detour back to politik. This is funny! I think Mex-Tex border towns are libertarian's dream too with no govt and free market. Good riddance ~

I really love the blame game tactics of the tea-partiers and libertarians (both former GOP members).

**Sorry to continue this tangential discussion, but I have personal experience on this matter. Moderator, please feel free to move the offending posts to a new thread.**

--------------------------

I lived in a border town for 10 years. The prevailing attitudes are best described as populist; socially conservative, economically liberal. Nepotism is rampant within government and business, leading to tremendous inefficiencies and significant corruption. Yet these aspects are entirely contained within the same legal framework governing municipal organization as any other region of the state.

The Mexico side of the border is an even worse example. Mexican law is actually quite a bit more stringent about most things than in the United States and only appears lax because rampant bribery and systemic corruption enable so many more incidences of lawbreaking. Decriminalization of most forms of contraband would dramatically reduce the incentives for bribery and corruption, and that's something that Mexico is only recently beginning to experiment with.

Personally, I think that Nevada is probably the best domestic example of libertarian ideals as implemented under law. But even then, it's far from pure libertarianism (thankfully) and hard to get away from the influence of Federal law (unfortunately).

[RedScare]

**Sorry to continue this tangential discussion, but I have personal experience on this matter. Moderator, please feel free to move the offending posts to a new thread.**

--------------------------

I lived in a border town for 10 years. The prevailing attitudes are best described as populist; socially conservative, economically liberal. Nepotism is rampant within government and business, leading to tremendous inefficiencies and significant corruption. Yet these aspects are entirely contained within the same legal framework governing municipal organization as any other region of the state.

The Mexico side of the border is an even worse example. Mexican law is actually quite a bit more stringent about most things than in the United States and only appears lax because rampant bribery and systemic corruption enable so many more incidences of lawbreaking. Decriminalization of most forms of contraband would dramatically reduce the incentives for bribery and corruption, and that's something that Mexico is only recently beginning to experiment with.

Personally, I think that Nevada is probably the best domestic example of libertarian ideals as implemented under law. But even then, it's far from pure libertarianism (thankfully) and hard to get away from the influence of Federal law (unfortunately).

But what about pirates? Do the border towns and Nevada have pirates?

[AtticaFlinch]

But what about pirates? Do the border towns and Nevada have pirates?

In the redlight districts of both, there's a... uh... er... "variety" of pirate, I'm sure.

[TheNiche]

But what about pirates? Do the border towns and Nevada have pirates?

The border towns on the U.S. side have plenty. How else except by pirating are disaffected adult males supposed to download episodes of 1980's He-Man episodes to view with their disaffected male adult friends at somebody's mom's house while eating crackers with a pot-butter spread and playing drinking games with Canadian Mist at 1:00 AM while their wife and child are trying to sleep in the same room because that's the extent of their private living arrangements?

[Hartmann]

Just thought I would let everyone know that there was a sign on I-10 headed east, right by where I-45 North enters I-10, saying that the eastbound lanes would be down to 1 lane starting 04-08-2010.

I guess they are starting work on the portion from Nance to 59.

Time for me to start finding a new way to work from the Heights (Cavalcade to 59 South might be a good choice).

[Hartmann]

Looks like they made even more changes last night...

I-10 EB goes down to two lanes under 59 and there is no merge, the left lane just ends. Be aware as you drive this.