Jump to content

Buffalo Bayou Master Plan


houstonfella

Recommended Posts

This is a classic "debottlenecking" project / issue.

 

We've beautified the Bayou west of downtown.... now we've exposed the downtown section (next bottleneck) for what it is.... piss poor. [pun intended]

 

What's left to do? Beautify the downtown section. Easy.

 

In actuality though, this will be incredibly difficult. The street level bridges over the bayou are god awful. It would take a major city effort ($$$$) to right this wrong.

 

Certain streets that span the bayou need to be eliminated altogether and others altered significantly. The main culprit is the monstrosity around the Smith / Congress Ave / Franklin / Louisiana cluster f*&$*.

 

Congress Ave. needs to stop at Smith... actually it would be better to stop at Louisiana.

 

Franklin street on the north of the bayou needs to be realigned / pull back from the bayou. I say make it a one way (headed east) rd that then ties into commerce. Eliminate the section of Washington that is only there for the parking lot.

 

Have Smith and Louisiana span over Franklin / Commerce and then tie into the 45 or 10 connectors. I can[t remember what connects what.

.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Access to the patios at Magnolia and Kryptonite/Ministry/Eagle would help, as mentioned earlier. That new-meets-old staircase pic I took is from the latter place. It's still blocked off and probably needs to be rebuilt on their side to be used as anything other than a fire escape. And just like the rest of the project, keeping the lights working and the trails mud-free after flooding will be absolutely critical. They are trying to keep the very low trails that lead to the new section from the west clear, but the sediment is so deep it ends up looking like brown snow plowing. And the link to Allen's Landing needs to be restored ASAP.

 

Personally I love the urban grunge/ruin porn look of this new segment. You can walk right up to the Donnellan crypt now. And for the time being it's refreshingly pee-smell free. Just a hint of bat guano in the air. 

Edited by arisegundo
  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Access to the patios at Magnolia and Kryptonite/Ministry/Eagle would help, as mentioned earlier. That new-meets-old staircase pic I took is from the latter place. It's still blocked off and probably needs to be rebuilt on their side to be used as anything other than a fire escape. And just like the rest of the project, keeping the lights working and the trails mud-free after flooding will be absolutely critical. They are trying to keep the very low trails that lead to the new section from the west clear, but the sediment is so deep it ends up looking like brown snow plowing. And the link to Allen's Landing needs to be restored ASAP.

 

Personally I love the urban grunge/ruin porn look of this new segment. You can walk right up to the Donnellan crypt now. And for the time being it's refreshingly pee-smell free. Just a hint of bat guano in the air. 

 

I agree, I love this aspect of the bayou. It feels like they've uncovered the ruins of an earlier era of Houston. I was hoping they would add some signage that talks about the crypt and the old Magnolia brewery. Anyone not familiar with the area would walk by these without noticing and just focus on the graffiti and rubbish. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

they need to install 1,000,000,000 candlepower lights under all those bridges to discourage them being used as homeless encampments. the lights would also serve to make it feel less scary at night, from both ghosts and people who would hide in the shadows for nefarious purposes.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Certain streets that span the bayou need to be eliminated altogether and others altered significantly. The main culprit is the monstrosity around the Smith / Congress Ave / Franklin / Louisiana cluster f*&$*.

 

Congress Ave. needs to stop at Smith... actually it would be better to stop at Louisiana.

 

Franklin street on the north of the bayou needs to be realigned / pull back from the bayou. I say make it a one way (headed east) rd that then ties into commerce. Eliminate the section of Washington that is only there for the parking lot.

 

Have Smith and Louisiana span over Franklin / Commerce and then tie into the 45 or 10 connectors. I can[t remember what connects what.

.

 

The 2002 Master Plan calls for something vaguely similar to your thoughts, with a "Water Street" (squint and you'll see it!) snaking along the south side of the bayou. I'd be disappointed if the cool ruins were wiped out for a generic grassy bank.

 

Sj6myyn.png

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is a classic "debottlenecking" project / issue.

 

We've beautified the Bayou west of downtown.... now we've exposed the downtown section (next bottleneck) for what it is.... piss poor. [pun intended]

 

What's left to do? Beautify the downtown section. Easy.

 

In actuality though, this will be incredibly difficult. The street level bridges over the bayou are god awful. It would take a major city effort ($$$$) to right this wrong.

 

Certain streets that span the bayou need to be eliminated altogether and others altered significantly. The main culprit is the monstrosity around the Smith / Congress Ave / Franklin / Louisiana cluster f*&$*.

 

Congress Ave. needs to stop at Smith... actually it would be better to stop at Louisiana.

 

Franklin street on the north of the bayou needs to be realigned / pull back from the bayou. I say make it a one way (headed east) rd that then ties into commerce. Eliminate the section of Washington that is only there for the parking lot.

 

Have Smith and Louisiana span over Franklin / Commerce and then tie into the 45 or 10 connectors. I can[t remember what connects what.

.

 

Seemed like the ideal time to get rid of that Franklin-Smith/Congress Connector bridge would have been before they started working on this segment of the trail. It certainly would have made it easier, and exposed this section of the bayou to the open air. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seeing as the new ballet building sits right on top of "Water Street" and the post office owners (Lovett I think?) haven't announced any plans to move Franklin, those streets aren't going anywhere anytime soon. It's a nice thought and one that's been on the books for a decade and a half... it just didn't happen.

 

You could get rid of the Smith bridge by forcing inbound traffic right onto Franklin then left onto the Congress bridge. The effect on the bayou trail lighting wouldn't be very dramatic since you still have all the other streets cantilevered overhead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could get rid of the Smith bridge by forcing inbound traffic right onto Franklin then left onto the Congress bridge. The effect on the bayou trail lighting wouldn't be very dramatic since you still have all the other streets cantilevered overhead.

 

Right on Franklin, left on Congress, then right on Smith... yeesh, coming in on Smith already backs up plenty during morning rush.  That, and Congress is one way, the wrong way for this setup.  

 

It would probably be more realistic to zap the Congress bridge.  It serves mostly to get traffic onto westbound Washington; there's less of that now that the post office is gone save for busses coming down Louisiana bound for the flyover of the Katy / 45 interchange.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Right on Franklin, left on Congress, then right on Smith... yeesh, coming in on Smith already backs up plenty during morning rush.  That, and Congress is one way, the wrong way for this setup.  

 

It would probably be more realistic to zap the Congress bridge.  It serves mostly to get traffic onto westbound Washington; there's less of that now that the post office is gone save for busses coming down Louisiana bound for the flyover of the Katy / 45 interchange.

 

hueOVGK.png

 

The bridge is two way, unless there was a recent re-striping. It would become more vital if the Smith bridge goes, the Aquarium expands over Preston as they are threatening to, and/or if Central Post really takes off. 

Edited by arisegundo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of those graduate student projects included a ped bridge connecting the circular trail to the north bank. Without removing Franklin, that would be a bridge to another pit of darkness and pee-smells. Or it could be a Rosemont Bridge-type thing that connects to both the bank and the Franklin deck above. 

 

Edited by arisegundo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...
  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 weeks later...
  • 4 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...