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Houston now 7th worst for traffic


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I think it's gotten a ton better here in the past 10 years. Big items that have affected me personally are the I-10 redo and west loop work. Now if only they could add a lane to the Pierce elevated and improve the interchanges in and out of it...

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I just wished they had explained on how they got the information.

Me to. Are they basing it on commute times? Traffic flow? Peak traffic? Public transportation? HOV lanes? Every freeway is different and just about every commute is different in Houston.

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Me to. Are they basing it on commute times? Traffic flow? Peak traffic? Public transportation? HOV lanes? Every freeway is different and just about every commute is different in Houston.

and if it is commute times, is it the average, mode, median, or something else? maybe just the total number of cars for a given time that pass a specific sensor? maybe speed? do the number of ladders that fall off of trucks contribute? What about mattresses?

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and if it is commute times, is it the average, mode, median, or something else? maybe just the total number of cars for a given time that pass a specific sensor? maybe speed? do the number of ladders that fall off of trucks contribute? What about mattresses?

For once, I'd like to see someone brave enough to lay on a freeway mattress and take a pic. Of course, the odds are pretty high that might be the last picture he would be in. Ever.

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I wouldn't wish Chicago's "worst bottlenecks" on my worst enemies! That city will forever have terrible traffic north and west of downtown b/c it has no East side (hence, traffic only goes 3 ways out of the city..northwest, west, south). I agree w/20th st about I-10 following it's construction!! Gotta love these wide laned "Texas" highways....

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I'm sure that the I-10 reconstruction helped (and possibly the Westpark tollway, too).

But really, some of these best/worst places of whatever are all rated on pointless figures. One of the most notorious examples I remember was a website or magazine rating Oklahoma City Zoo as the best zoo because it had the most restrooms.

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I'm sure that the I-10 reconstruction helped (and possibly the Westpark tollway, too).

But really, some of these best/worst places of whatever are all rated on pointless figures. One of the most notorious examples I remember was a website or magazine rating Oklahoma City Zoo as the best zoo because it had the most restrooms.

http://betterhouston.org/walkability/moving-toward-sustainable-growth-in-the-city-and-houston-region/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry to hear we're only #7.

Houston pride demands that we have the worst traffic in America.

LOL! Anyway, I was watching the 5 o clock news this evening and they said LA ranked first for time spent in traffic followed by Chicago, D.C. and then Houston. Why do these studies always have different results? Is their criteria different or something?

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LOL! Anyway, I was watching the 5 o clock news this evening and they said LA ranked first for time spent in traffic followed by Chicago, D.C. and then Houston. Why do these studies always have different results? Is their criteria different or something?

Anyone can make a study that shows about anything, they are all fudg-able. That reminds me, it's been a while since citykid (or is it IronTiger, I get them confused) has posted any articles where Houston ranks first in something sucky or last in something good.

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interesting article with an interesting rendering of what I-45 could look like... although many years away

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/print-edition/2011/02/18/no-light-at-end-of-tunnel-for-i-45.html

Here's the rendering. I guess that that's what I-45 looks like to a civil engineer on amphetamines.

i45tunnelentfinal272.jpg

Here's I-45 when he's on heroin.

MoreCover.jpg

And here's what I-45 looks like when he's on LSD.

000b09fb_medium.jpeg

You see, it is perfectly clear that there is no material difference between any of these renderings. They are all equally deserving concepts for I-45.

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Umm....No.

The renderings are horrid.

I'm not even talking about the potential of flooding, but rather the potential hazard of materials that go along that corridor and any accidents that are in it.

While there are other streets/freeways that are tunneled around the world, I would imagine that it would be a bit of a challenge to clean up an accident and it would be a nightmare if there was one that included hazardous cargo.

The only real solution I would imagine is double, or even triple stacking the freeway with a Metro or intercity rail component thrown in.

One level for local traffic, another for "express" with limited off ramps, and a third for mass transit/rail.

Either way, I want the drugs that guy had when he made those renderings....it has to be good stuff.

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LOL! Anyway, I was watching the 5 o clock news this evening and they said LA ranked first for time spent in traffic followed by Chicago, D.C. and then Houston. Why do these studies always have different results? Is their criteria different or something?

most studies publish exactly how they arrived at their results. most times news outlets are not going to tell you that, you have to go do some research to find the real study, and when you do find it, you usually find that the media misrepresented the data.

this for instance, the original study was probably how much time does each person spend in their car, the reporter assumed that this meant traffic, or to have the story make people angry, the reporter (or perhaps an editor) decided to change it.

even if the two studies were doing the same thing, if the parameters of the study were different, it's very easy to come to different conclusions.

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most studies publish exactly how they arrived at their results. most times news outlets are not going to tell you that, you have to go do some research to find the real study, and when you do find it, you usually find that the media misrepresented the data.

this for instance, the original study was probably how much time does each person spend in their car, the reporter assumed that this meant traffic, or to have the story make people angry, the reporter (or perhaps an editor) decided to change it.

even if the two studies were doing the same thing, if the parameters of the study were different, it's very easy to come to different conclusions.

Worse still...some researchers and academic institutions, attempting to make a name for themselves, will intentionally prepare a press release or media kit that cites the most media-friendly findings, knowing that reporters are on tight deadlines and won't bother to cross-reference with the full-length study...which probably includes lots of "icky" mathematics and big words.

The same kind of shenanigans happen with other stories, too. Manipulating journalists isn't rocket science. Make their work easier and the story juicier; you will find favor.

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  • 2 months later...

http://www.bizjourna...ian-danger.html

and dangerous for pedestrians

the article claims that it is outskirt arterial roads that are poorly designed for peds.

^^ just reread the article, it just says arterial roads, not outskirt...

as a good example of this try walking from Richmond to Westpark on Kirby. That isn't an exception either, it's a friggin war zone for peds around major freeways.

it should be painfully obvious that Houston not only doesn't cater towards any other traffic than vehicle, it downright discourages it heavily.

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the article claims that it is outskirt arterial roads that are poorly designed for peds.

^^ just reread the article, it just says arterial roads, not outskirt...

as a good example of this try walking from Richmond to Westpark on Kirby. That isn't an exception either, it's a friggin war zone for peds around major freeways.

it should be painfully obvious that Houston not only doesn't cater towards any other traffic than vehicle, it downright discourages it heavily.

A lot of it is from stupidity. Like trying to cross a freeway. They had to build a fence along the beltway between Bissonnet and Bellaire because idiots kept getting run over crossing over from the apartments on one side to get to the stores on the other side.

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A lot of it is from stupidity. Like trying to cross a freeway. They had to build a fence along the beltway between Bissonnet and Bellaire because idiots kept getting run over crossing over from the apartments on one side to get to the stores on the other side.

I don't doubt it, I remember when I was a kid, my parents took me to Astroworld for the fireworks display on a Saturday in the early 80s, as we were leaving the park, some idiot tried to get across 610, and got creamed. I bet that wasn't an isolated incident.

I'm saying though, that I could probably count on 1 hand the number of ped crossings of freeways in Houston, and then use the other hand to count intersections (such as Kirby/59) that peds were more than an afterthought, if they were thought of at all. Westheimer and 610 come to mind as a (somewhat) ped friendly intersection.

Don't even try to get from say, Best Buy on post oak and Richmond to the dog part on Westpark near the old Post Newspaper building, I imagine you have to walk 5 miles just to get there, just to travel less than 2000feet. and then whether you get there alive is questionable.

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Here's the rendering. I guess that that's what I-45 looks like to a civil engineer on amphetamines.

i45tunnelentfinal272.jpg

Here's I-45 when he's on heroin.

MoreCover.jpg

And here's what I-45 looks like when he's on LSD.

000b09fb_medium.jpeg

You see, it is perfectly clear that there is no material difference between any of these renderings. They are all equally deserving concepts for I-45.

Ok, that is just frickin funny... I would have liked to been on one of those drugs while coming back from Dallas this afternoon.

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Here's the rendering. I guess that that's what I-45 looks like to a civil engineer on amphetamines.

i45tunnelentfinal272.jpg

Here's I-45 when he's on heroin.

MoreCover.jpg

And here's what I-45 looks like when he's on LSD.

000b09fb_medium.jpeg

You see, it is perfectly clear that there is no material difference between any of these renderings. They are all equally deserving concepts for I-45.

Anyone else notice how wonky that train looks? I think I'll pass, don't like it when the renderings show a train about to derail.

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