Another Trip to Houston - 21 Notes & Commentary

[IronTiger]

So, earlier you may have seen some posts regarding visiting the Texas Room at the downtown library, and I wanted to tell you guys the rest of the story. That wasn't the main reason I went, I specifically went to some place in the East End for an interview. So, in the tradition of previous commentaries here's more notes I took, in order.
 
1. Does a wreck that involved three cars (two stacked rear-ends) really involve half a dozen tow trucks? (US-290 at Huffmeister)
 
2. The 290/I-10 ramp is easy to see, and it is glorious. I wasn't expecting it to be two lanes, in fact, though I can see that it makes US-290 two lanes instead of three for a bit (at least from what I could tell). (US-290 near West 34th Street)
 
3. I indeed see the "We Love Houston" sign. But it's overlooking a sunken highway, and I have to wonder: what is it really aiming at? It's not pointed toward the highway drivers, or anything. (I-10 near Patterson)
 
4. If there's a "right lane must turn right" situation, could they make that clear BEFORE the railroad crossing? Had to make a quick cut-off there. (Lockwood & Clinton)
 
5. I wondered what the constant "clanging" was at the Port of Houston area was, but I think it's flagpoles banging in the wind. This is what I really like about port areas, by the way. The weather was about to rain, but to me, it was perfect. Reminds me of great trips to Galveston or Panama City Beach. (Lockwood & Clinton)
 
6. See, this is the cool thing about neighborhoods that are the worse for wear. You pass a few houses that look like demolition candidates, and then you pass another that doesn't have flaked paint, an iron fence, and a generally better maintained property. (Lockwood & Sherman)
 
7. Dear Houston: please don't post signs that say everyone must merge left for construction then actually force people to merge right. That's annoying. (Lockwood & Sherman, near the bike path)
 
8. Here's another annoying thing: two traffic lanes turning left. This is all fine and good, but not when someone's parked right in that lane that's turning. I had to cut across to the other lane while turning to avoid rear-ending them like what I've seen everywhere else. I avoided a wreck, but I feel so dirty. (Lockwood & Polk)  

9. The grade at the Dumble Street crossing is pretty sharp. I can't tell you how many railroads I crossed that day, to be honest.

10. Wow, there is actually a live Metro at Harrisburg and Dumble! And here I thought that little train light flashing at Harrisburg was just a test.

11. By this time, it was raining, but I was passing the old Maxwell House coffee roasting plant. Now, I like coffee, and with the rain, the smell should've hung in the area. So I rolled down the window a bit to catch a whiff of it, but instead it smelled like coffee that had been left on the pot for four hours.

12. Eventually, I found myself on Commerce Street, and with this thing. I was simultaneously relieved and disappointed that there wasn't a freight train making its way down here.


13. I got stuck in the intersection at San Jacinto or Fannin because the cars backed up. This was a valuable lesson, because I sure as hell didn't want to get hit on Main with Mr. Light Rail, who will not stop.

14. I saw the Sunset Coffee building and many others, but the roads in downtown are super-complex what with diamond lanes, lots of pedestrians (even in the rain), and all sorts of other fun stuff. This was compounded by the fact I didn't know exactly what roads to turn on.

15. As I've mentioned before, I missed the garage entrance, and part of that was because the bike lane (with cool zebra-patterned curbs to prevent cars getting in the lane) caught my eye. There was even a biker in the rain.

16. I could never find out the alleged supermarket at Jones at 290, but the Heights Pantry was a Gerland's Food Fair (if my notes were correct) and I did get some store numbers for AppleTree (remember folks, we had Safeway store #1000). I did get some other articles, which I'll be showing you at some point in time.

17. I ate in the Allen Center's underground food court, and Chick-fil-a was the only place I recognized, so that's where I ate. Surprisingly, the prices were about in line with what I'd pay anywhere else and not completely jacked up like at an airport.

18. After leaving the library and avoiding any collisions with train, car, or pedestrian downtown, I finally made it out of downtown, playing "Space Oddity" on the iPhone as I went across the Elysian Viaduct. It's visibly old, it will be demolished for the Hardy Toll Road extension, and clearly wasn't designed at all for pedestrians.

19. So I eventually managed to get back near a freeway, including a brief skirmish with the light rail intersection, except I missed the on-ramps, so I ended up paralleling the railroad for a while, and finally managed to turn around at East 37th and North Main. I got some odd looks for pulling into a vacant lot, but mostly I was concerned about those sharp drop-offs on either side. Even rural roads don't have it this bad. So, I got back on 610 and made my way toward 290.

20. I went exploring in the Cypress area, except instead of slums, I found sprawl, and none of the cool surprises I set out to find originally when I took the Elysian Viaduct out. Wait, there was an intersection that was a four-way stop with a driveway. The driveway had its own stoplight, stop line, and everything. That was actually pretty cool.


21. Will they ever complete the Grand Parkway intersection so that the lanes aren't all screwed up underneath? One can only hope. You deprived me of my five-stack, so the best you could do is at least make it so I don't have to jerk the steering wheel around.

 

All in all, it wasn't one of my favorite trips, but there was something new, like always.

[samagon]

Hope the interview went well!

That railroad crossing on dumble is serious business. I almost have to engine brake on the way down so I don't cook my brakes.

[IronTiger]

Hope the interview went well!

That railroad crossing on dumble is serious business. I almost have to engine brake on the way down so I don't cook my brakes.

Google Street View just doesn't do it justice.

[Nate99]

 

I saw the Sunset Coffee building and many others, but the roads in downtown are super-complex what with diamond lanes, lots of pedestrians (even in the rain), and all sorts of other fun stuff. This was compounded by the fact I didn't know exactly what roads to turn on.

 

 

The bike lane is new, but the diamond lanes are mostly universally ignored. The largest obstacle to getting around DT is the buses that will freight train the right lane during certain times of the day. They go nose to tail and then stop at the corners to let people on/off. If you want to turn right, you pretty much have to do something illegal.

[samagon]

and they don't mind blocking the box so they end up blocking cross traffic in an intersection when their light turns red.

 

I avoid west downtown anytime prior to 6:30pm on weekdays.

[august948]

From what I've heard, tow trucks swarm to an accident and then are selected by HPD on some random basis to do the work.  That induces as many trucks as possible to converge on the scene for a chance to get the business.  Lord help you if you are in the way while the trucks are trying to get to the scene.

 

The clanging at the port is a common occurrence at marinas and wherever there are a lot of boats tied up.

 

Metro is testing the new rail lines like crazy.  Last week it looked like they were running a regular schedule on the purple line near UH.

[IronTiger]

Addendum: it was a Davis Food City, where the Pantry is now. Also, "did indeed see" the We Love Houston sign.

All in all, it was definitely an experience. Would go again.

[Montrose1100]

From what I've heard, tow trucks swarm to an accident and then are selected by HPD on some random basis to do the work. That induces as many trucks as possible to converge on the scene for a chance to get the business. Lord help you if you are in the way while the trucks are trying to get to the scene.

The clanging at the port is a common occurrence at marinas and wherever there are a lot of boats tied up.

Metro is testing the new rail lines like crazy. Last week it looked like they were running a regular schedule on the purple line near UH.

The clanging he was hearing is probably the huge pile drivers at all the docks. A majority of them are expanding/doing construction. It would be hard for me to think of a dock/terminal not doing construction right now.

Edit: but since he was in the East End, it's more than likely the recontruction of the southern city docks.