rechlin

Those look like renderings of 3D models rather than photos. There is something eerily unreal about them. Very cool.

No photos, but last week it was still unchanged from before, just with a "For Lease" (or similar) sign in front. Still boarded up, still with the original façade partially exposed.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Spanish-rail-giant-tapped-as-operator-of-planned-16314681.php

Concrete is far stronger now than it used to be, and these bridges are quite old. If you look at concrete bridges in general, there has been a trend in a reduction of columns over time, especially comparing bridges built in the 1930s (my guess on the age of this bridge) to those built today.

We had something like that at Fannin and Capitol for about 10 years until the parking garage for the Star (former Texaco) was built. Not quite as deep, though.

Had a good view of this during the broadcast of the fireworks finale:

According to that article, design won't even start until next month (with construction completion still 3 years away), so I wouldn't expect renderings for some time.

I'm not a suburbanite (I've lived inside the loop for the last >20 years), but I want this project to happen. Why? IH-45 is one of the most dangerous highways in the country, and there are so many problems with its current implementation that this project addresses. Most of TxDOT's plans for this project are to increase safety. People keep naively going on and on about induced demand, but that isn't even relevant here, because in many sections, this project doesn't even add more regular lanes. It does add bus (+HOV/HOT) lanes, but improved mass transit is something we should be celebrating, not opposing. The number of people being forced to move is exaggerated by most opponents of this project as well. Regardless of whether this happens, many of the units at Clayton Homes have already been torn down (so the residents already had to move) thanks to damage from Harvey, and it seems the rest will get relocated to a less flood-prone development regardless of whether this goes forward. And at Kelly Village, the housing authority has voluntarily wanted to tear down more than is necessary to make more greenspace for its residents -- again, it seems the housing authority would rather have more residents elsewhere (as has been determined from the failure of low-income tower blocks, it does not make sense to have a large number of low-income residents in one small area, but it's better to spread them around to give them more opportunities). And at the Lofts at the Ballpark, this move has been expected anyway, and my impression is that the owners are welcoming this buyout. Many of the businesses cited by articles in opposition to this as being in the way of the project have either already closed or will soon close anyway (such as Fry's Electronics and Kim Son), so the buyouts are likely to be appreciated as well. And the renters of business properties in the way have known about this project for many years, probably even before they signed their leases for the property, so many have always been prepared for this day. If this project goes forward, it will mean safer travel, thanks to fewer (and less tight) curves, broader shoulders, and less dangerous merging. Road capacity will increase as a side effect, allowing more people to get to their destination with the same traffic speeds as today. It will also mean fewer problems from trucks striking low bridges. The West Dallas and Houston Street bridges are infamous for being struck regularly, and this project addresses those. It will also mean fewer problems with flooding, because this project calls for massive retention/detention ponds and pumping systems, to ensure that both property around the project and the roadway itself can avoid flooding as often. And by having the segment east of downtown below-grade, in Biblical floods (think Allison, Harvey), they could be setup to fill with water to help protect the property around them, because nobody should be traveling on the roads during events like those. Yes, it sucks for the people who will be forced to move, especially for those few who own homes that they've lived in for decades. Few people want that. But the plans call for very generous relocation assistance (even going as far as rent and mortgage subsidies, not just moving expenses), and we can't let a few people stand in the way of progress. There are some negatives to this project, and of course the massive cost, but it seems the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.

I don't understand why the floor-to-floor heights won't work for residential. Usually commercial has the greatest heights, then residential in the middle, and then hotels at the bottom. Unless it's a very old commercial building with low ceilings that only work well for hotels (like the Carter Building that became the JW Marriott), a residential conversion of a moderately-old commercial building usually has perfect ceiling heights. I believe 800 Bell has approximately 13 foot FF spacing, which would be low by today's commercial standards (the towers built in recent years are all over 14 feet and some of the newest with in-floor HVAC are closer to 15 feet), but is plenty for residential. Remember the office buildings that were used for recent hotel conversions have spacings under 9 feet. The spacing of 800 Bell is actually enough for premium residential with "high" (by residential standards) ceilings, with 10 foot floor-to-ceiling heights if you want to match the ceiling height with the window height for floor-to-ceiling glass, and you could probably get a bit higher if you want more of a "loft" aesthetic.

Am I remembering wrong, or wasn't the IH-610 southbound to IH-69 northbound ramp formerly 2 lanes? Cutting it from 2 lanes to 1 lane seems like very backwards thinking. Though I guess that goes with the views of many here who think that roads should be made smaller to encourage public transit. And yes, I too have now found that exiting to Westheimer and getting back on to get from 610 south to 69 north is quicker. I'm pretty sure that's not something that TxDOT wanted to have happen with this project. i doubt there is a conspiracy here, though; I think it is just incompetence. Thinking that TxDOT is intentionally doing it so that cronies can profit from accidents is totally ridiculous nonsense.

The BRT line is not planned to go through Afton Oaks. It would drop down from Richmond in the Greenway Plaza area to follow Westpark. Even the last designs for the LRT line weren't even planned to go go through Afton Oaks. After the neighborhood made a big stink about it, Metro moved the planned route from Richmond to Westpark. The biggest difference I am seeing between the proposed BRT route and the formerly proposed LRT route, in the Wheeler to Uptown section, is that it now appears to cross IH-69 at Edloe instead of just west of Edloe (Timmons maybe?). Also, if they are only planning to do Segment 2 initially, I hope they at least do two more stops into Segment 1 to connect it with the Westpark / Lower Uptown Transit Center instead of dead-ending at the railroad tracks.

That looks amazing. Houston could never get anything this cool. It would get value-engineered into a box covered in fake stucco. I could see something like this being built in a more innovative place like China, though.

Those don't look very dead to me. Look closely -- there is lots of green hiding behind the dead branches. If they clear out the dead vines on top, they will grow back.

And another building with cohesive architectural style made incohesive in the name of modernization. Looks as silly as 811 Louisiana and 2 Houston Center. Pity.

Yes, the new façade has gone up to match the renderings:

That was the first thing I thought of when I heard Abercrombie was being torn down. So glad the art is being saved.

Looking good at night from Wheeler Station, all lit up:

This bridge is also being replaced. They are doing a single bridge, not a double bridge, and I believe they are taking out the trees because the new bridge will go down the middle. The same is being done at South Rice. New Chimney Rock bridge: New South Rice bridge:

That two-tone glass really has a 1980s feel to it. I get that feeling even more seeing it in person than in these photos, too. Not saying it's bad, just surprising.

They finally started demolishing the Buffalo Speedway bridge this past week:

Here's the big pile of dirt to the south: It looks like they got the dirt by digging a giant hole, maybe for a lake? Also, a new gravel path just south of this opens on Tuesday. It replaces the sections of the Red Trail and Yellow Trail that were lost to the Big Dig.

With a crane that close to the high voltage power lines, is it possible to set some kind of "lock out" for certain orientations in the crane operator's controls so he doesn't accidentally hit the lines? Or is there no protection so one must always be extra careful there?

Lots of new information on TxDOT's site: https://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/houston/022521.html Possible construction start in 2027. Three concept routes:

A skybridge between the Marriott Marquis and the new Block 98 apartment tower (seen on early renderings but removed from later renderings) would achieve the same thing too. If neither gets built, I would have to wonder if they are intentionally trying to isolate GRB from the rest of the skywalk/tunnel system.

There is no way a 2000 square foot project costs $350m. There is clearly something missing here, assuming no typos.