djrage Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 "The Katy Freeway is full. The Southwest Freeway is full. The Eastex Freeway is full. All the freeways are full. What should we do next?"Maybe need to revive some of the old freeway plans. Referring to this.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 You can forget about the harrisburg freeway. The rest... will likely become toll roads. Toll roads are the local government's preferred method of robbing us. Liars, cheaters, and theives they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 How do toll roads rob us? It's not like the money is going into other uses. Without tolls, the roads would not be built. And, you have a choice. You are not required to use a toll road. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxConcrete Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Maybe need to revive some of the old freeway plans. That map you point to was made about 12 years ago, so it is out of date. The "Bay City Freeway" is now mostly built as the Fort Bend Parkway and the missing section could be built by HCTRA. However, traffic on the Fort Bend Parkway is very low (see https://www.hctra.org/file_download/171/TollRoad_FY2011.pdf) so I don't see it as a pressing need.The Harrisburg Freeway is permanently dead, and attemping to resurrect it would not make sense since there are much larger problems elsewhere and the Harrisburg corridor cannot justify the resources. I believe Fairmont Parkway was studied by HCTRA and rejected as non-feasible via toll funding. I think the Red Bluff tollway could still be built if it becomes financially feasible via tolls. As for SH 35 south of BW 8, I don't know its latest status but it could be built as a toll road if feasible.Here's what is feasible and needs to be done1. Complete the US 290 Northwest Freeway expansion. This is partially under construction and only partially funded right now. Funding needs to be found for the complete project.2. Expand IH 45 North Freeway from downtown to BW 8. This is under study. Will cost a couple billion and will likely be a public-private partnership.3. Proceed with sections F and G of the Grand Parkway as planned, although it will not fix any problems in Houston.4. Proceed with the Hardy Toll Road downtown extension, a project which has been in the planning phase for a very long time.5. Proceed with the planned SH 288 South Freeway toll lanes6. Major widenings of other freeways in Houston are probably not feasible due to lack of right-of-way, and insufficient and declining funding. So the next best step is bottleneck eliminationa. Add lanes to downtown freeways to eliminate bottlenecks, especially US 59 south of downtown and the Pierce elevated. Redesign connections where feasible, for example US 59 northbound to IH 45 southbound.b. Rebuild the interchange at U59 Southwest Freeway and Loop 610. Currently under study by TxDOT.c. Add lanes to freeways where feasible and needed. Possible locations: South Loop, West Loop through Bellaire, North Loop between US 290 and IH 45Due to lack of funding for conventional (non-tolled) freeway improvements, the objective will be maximum bang for the buck, which makes bottleneck elimination the likely wave of the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 As for SH 35 south of BW 8, I don't know its latest status but it could be built as a toll road if feasible.How about SH 35 north of BW 8? That project seems like it could do a lot of good alleviating congestion for both the Gulf Freeway and 288. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 How do toll roads rob us? It's not like the money is going into other uses. Without tolls, the roads would not be built. And, you have a choice. You are not required to use a toll road.Because we have to pay a toll. I havent checked but I think we are all already paying for the roads through various other taxes, fees, and whatnot.And the money - I'm sure - is likely going into other slush funds... sorta like the lotto.And lastly yes one does have a choice. We don't have to use the toll roads... but then we'll be stuck in the feeder lane with 1000 other maniacs who love running red lights. The toll roads are designed to make traveling down their feeder a pain evidenced by the fact that whenver it even sprinkles or rains lightly, the semaphores on the toll road's feeder start blinking causing backups that are measured in miles.End the construction of toll roads. Now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLWM8609 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 How about SH 35 north of BW 8? That project seems like it could do a lot of good alleviating congestion for both the Gulf Freeway and 288.Here's some info about improvements to SH 35 along the stretch you mentioned: ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/hou/sh35/feasible.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 How about build better mass transit to alleviate driving being the only option? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Here's some info about improvements to SH 35 along the stretch you mentioned: ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/hou/sh35/feasible.pdfYeah, I've seen that before. But it was dated from back in 2006. I'd really like to see progress on funding this project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Yeah, I've seen that before. But it was dated from back in 2006. I'd really like to see progress on funding this project.Moar freeways! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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