Trae

Parents did this to me many times (as did friends' parents). A bunch of junior high kids dropped off at Six Flags for half the day with much money from the parents to spend.

Pretty cool. I submitted a route that would go from Highway 6@Bellaire east to Fondren, then north to Westheimer, then east to the Galleria station for the Uptown Line.

Website back up. Looking a little more detailed: http://www.earthquestadventures.com/

This is when mass transportation and expanding our regional rail system comes in (light rail and commuter rail). Growth in the Inner Loop area may accelerate, but people are going to continue moving to the suburbs in much greater numbers.

Of course, this is without the challenge numbers, where tens of thousands were supposedly missed in the eastern portions of the loop.

Nice that is finally opened. DFW has a good regional rail system. It's just getting people to ride it that is the problem.

http://www.earthquestinstitute.org/ They could just be working on it.

They need to work on I-20. There is always random crap in the freeway lanes, but it's so dark driving through South Dallas to Forest Hill. You can't see anything. I have noticed more lighting around the freeways here in DFW, though it's mainly at freeway-to-freeway interchanges.

I think this newer development also adds density to Uptown. May not add height, but definitely at street level.

LMAO, that's what you think. It goes both ways, easily. Having recently moved to DFW from Houston, they talk as bad about Houston, as Houstonians talked bad about them.

http://swamplot.com/welcome-to-the-land-of-exxonmobil-a-tour-of-the-companys-new-north-houston-campus/2011-06-07/#more-29569 With how nice the campus is, I'm wondering why the corporate HQ is supposedly out of the question. The articles I've read said Exxon is still studying on whether to relocate other US offices. I'd say that includes everything, but who knows.

They were even saying during reconstruction of I-10 that it was not going to relieve congestion during rush hour. It would still be bumper to bumper, but there won't be backups at all times of the day.

Hell, that's the reason why the rail line is built the way it is. Metro got no help from the likes of Tom Delay and John Culberson.

That still does not mean that the lines are similar. The system in Houston (light rail at least) is more urban rail. DART is more commuter rail because Dallas has some pretty big suburbs that want a piece of the pie, too. The only area of Dallas that our rail lines resemble each other is in Downtown Dallas. Besides that, they don't. The rail in Dallas runs on old abandoned freight corridors and/or parallel to freeways. That puts them away from a lot of people and hard to connect it with jobs (unless you work Downtown, or soon Las Colinas) since the job centers in DFW are much, much more spread out than in Houston. In Houston, the rail is run in the middle of the streets for the most part. Makes it much easier to access, plus with the city's layout, makes it easier to connect the largest employment centers. You have to connect the Inner Loop areas first before bringing in the suburbanites into the city, IMO. The rail in Dallas isn't conducive to make short trips to the store, etc. The stations are built too far away and surrounded by parking lots, something you would rather see for commuter rail stations. Speaking of commuter rail, that's what should be replacing the Park and Ride buses, even though they may be more cost effective. At least with commuter rail, it can run on the weekends and can be used for more than just weekday commuters in the morning/evening. Houston has the perfect setup for light rail in the Inner City and commuter rail coming in from the 'burbs, since the metro area is pretty centralized. It's probably why they predict the University Line alone to double the ridership in Houston. Once the Southeast/University/North Lines are all built, light rail ridership in Houston should surpass Dallas. Before Dallas' recent expansion, Houston had 67% of the riders on just seven miles of track compared to 45. Not sure what the ridership in Dallas is like now with the Green Line expansion though. Point is, just because both get screwed in transit funds does not mean they are building similar systems. Only thing similar about them is that they both use light rail. Edit: So, with the new Green Line in Dallas, the rail in Houston has a little over 50% of its riders, on just 10% of the track. We definitely aren't following in their footsteps.

That still doesn't mean that the rail system in Houston is designed like the one in Dallas.

That area seems like a prime spot for bus service. Glad it's working out well over there. Wonder why they never became Metro member cities.

How full is that parking garage on the weekends? I remember when it first opened, it could get pretty full, but at that time the retail was thriving and Vans was also there.

I figured it out. Much appreciated. It's too bad this movie theater couldn't work out closer to Katy at the Shops at Bella Terra, but I think it'll still attract residents from South Katy.

The areas along the GP between the Westpark Tollway and Highway 90 is starting to fill in. Cla, what is this siteplan you're talking about? Would be nice if you could actually post a link to it, for myself and others can look at it also.

Well, it is "across" from HEB. It's on the other side of the Grand Parkway. HEB on the SW corner and Whole Foods on the SE corner. Now Sugar Land won't be the only Houston suburb with a Whole Foods. The Woodlands and League City should get one in no time. Agreed, that Fry Road traffic is just horrible. Not sure there is much they can do to fix it either. They already redid the turning lanes. And the Grand Parkway may need to be expanded (one lane each direction) soon, too. Katy traffic on the side roads have gotten real bad this past decade.

Instead of TJ's, it's time to recruit Aldi's. Those grocery stores are so cheap and efficient. Very nice. I hope they expand into Houston soon, like they have in DFW.

I'll say this, Dallas traffic IS a big deal. Maybe not as much ten years ago, but with all the growth here, traffic really sucks. It is VERY multinodal, unlike Houston. You pretty much know which freeways will be backed up at which time and what direction in Houston. In DFW, they have random bottlenecks all over the place, because the jobs are so spread out. Once the Orange Line opens, it'll help, because Las Colinas and the DFW Airport area will finally be connected. There are so many cities with a competing interest, that it makes a regional system hard to do. It's easier for light rail to connect the inner loop areas of Houston, and just have commuter rail bring the suburbs into the city. Dallas used light rail to do both.

^^There was an interesting article posted in the DMN a couple of days ago: Study shows most Dallas-area jobs not inaccessible by transit More here: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/transportation/20110511-study-shows-most-dallas-area-jobs-inaccessible-by-transit.ece

That's what happens when you cut so many damn corners. If the Pavilions looked like the first rendering they showed, I don't have much doubt that it would be a success. They should have kept the condo/hotel tower (just build that parking!), maybe add a 12-screen movie theater (AMC or Cinemark), add jumbotrons (with ads for the Rockets, movie ads, etc.), and probably the most important, make stores accessible from the sidewalk. There should be two entrances, one in the inside corridor, and one on the sidewalk.