Trae

Because not every Houston freeway needs them and the GP will have them at the important interchanges already. The commercial development can be pushed to the side streets like in South Katy. I like how it is designed. i just wish there was more green space along it.

The feeders got extended just north of Franz to Morton, but that is it for feeders for segment e (hopefully). I thought the speed limit was suppose to be 70, but I read from two different sources that it is suppose to be 80. That sounds a little too high, but maybe 75?

Yeah, aside from the entrance, it looks creepy.

lol second.. if this block takes off ... dallaites will never let us hear the end of it...

It's okay...Houston street in Dallas already looks like this.

Yeah the second is the 80 story one in Chicago.

Haha, I see that gif on Clutchfans all the time, I wonder how many ppl here are on other local forums...

LOL, it's all that was posted during the Dwightmare as soon as the barber confirmed he was coming...

Took a drive by shot the other day (waiting in traffic):

This Walmart is pretty awesome. never any crowds and the shoppers are definitely not your "people of Walmart". Attractive people shop here . I guess the name alone brought all that opposition.

Really, I think the growth on the east side of the innerloop is stunted due to the refineries. I looked at some property on the east side of the loop, but the wind blew an interesting smell my way and I said nope. Even so, there is tremendous growth south and southeast in Pearland/Alvin/Clear Lake/etc.... so not everything is north/west for the burbs.

As for places like the Woodlands, I look at them as fake cities. Yes, they have several major employers and a couple impressive buildings... but remove that and you just have a big mall. It's a place where everything is planned and catered around employees that work in those handfull of businesses. It's a great concept, but if you lose/hate your job at one of those businesses... your SOL if you can't find a job next door or you just deal with the commute to energy corridor or Downtown/Galleria.

Sugarland will never become a huge "jobs center" due to the painful commute times to IAH and Hobby.

Katy/Energy Corridor will grow until it starts to turn like Greenspoint did. There are just far too many large apartment complexes that are "newish" along it that will deteriorate quickly.

My money long-term is Downtown/Galleria and the Medical Center. If I had a crystal ball I'd predict that the area around Reliant Stadium will also grow one day.

I think the refineries over there stunt some of the growth too. The eastern half of the loop probably declined because the families there got promotions and moved to Pasadena, Baytown, Clear Lake, etc. That and more singles have moved there as families have left.

The Woodlands is pretty impressive. It definitely feels like a fake city but they planned it well. Most people up there still work somewhere in Houston I bet. Travel time to Hobby from Sugar Land isn't that bad. TW has definitely jumped over it in the jobs department though.

As for Katy/Energy Corridor, there is nothing that resembles Greenspoint. The housing stock is too great and there are too many companies based around there for it to happen. Greenspoint doesn't have the housing stock and Sharpstown didn't have the corporations. The Katy Freeway has long been the only freeway in Houston that doesn't pass through any "seedy" areas. I don't think that is going to change.

I have a sibling that works for United so I do enjoy my free or pay taxes only flights, but they definitely have crappy customer service. You can tell if you get a United crew or old Continental crew.

Bump because lockmat knows what it looks like but won't tell

This one is starting to rise from the ground now. Two cranes raised high and second or third floor beams bring placed (don't remember). If I remember, ill take a pic tomorrow. It's too bad eldridge is planned like shit between westheimer and the reservoir.

It's the Fort Worth of Houston---or looks like it anyway.

Nah, that would be Galveston. The Woodlands is more like Plano or Irving.

W. Alabama is bad too. The drought really took it's toll. The road sank, but the manholes didn't.

Yeah there is one gigantic crater like that on Richmond near Talk of the Town. I swerved around the avoid it. Lower Westheimer is crap, and even crappier if you are in the more narrow right line doing all of those turns. If I'm relatively alone and no one is trying to go around me, I cheat on the lanes.

Perhaps this rendering is legit as to what will replace Macy's. There is nothing which indicates it is a rendering of a "remodeled" Macy's.

Except for the Macy's logo in the middle. I wonder if Macy's will take up the old Books-A-Million space? It would look bad for Downtown to lose another retailer and hurt what they are trying to build there.

The traffic signals, while they are not on wires, don't follow The Woodlands standard. All poles in TW are painted brown to resemble trees. Commercial signs can only be so high. I hope it's not an indication of the rest of the development. The trees are an aesthetic resource of this area. I hope they at least keep a line of them between retail.

This isn't in The Woodlands, but instead Houston's ETJ that will probably be annexed later on.

Actually...think about that.You don't have the money to build a rail line for the next 20 years. So, you partner with the Uptown District to purchase and set aside the ROW for rail, put buses on it to build traffic, and in 20 years hopefully it can be replaced with rail.

That's considered smart planning in some places. Apparently, not on HAIF.

Ah yes, let's wait twenty years and have prices for rail skyrocket even more and then complain about the prices when the time comes. If they don't build the rail now, its not going to happen (changing from brt to rail).

Uptown Dallas' skyline may not he as large as Uptown Houston, but UD is more dense and urban. Wide sidewalks and good human scale developments. The Dallas city leaders have really done a great job planning that area. It feels extremely sterile, but it looks nice. Also has light rail and trolley lines.

Wow, I am pleasantly surprised by those renderings. That will truly be a great addition to the neighborhood.

Here's hoping the vagrants don't destroy it was spray paint and urine.

Yeah, glad it wasn't leveled like your suggestion.

And if the Astros go back to the navy and orange next year, I wonder if there will be a new paint scheme at MMP. No idea what it is and apparently no one is suppose to be talking about it. Here is a photo:

10,000 Exxon employees plus 5,000 new home owners? Of course some might live in SWV, but most probably won't, I'm guessing.

I'm sure people who don't work for Exxon will buy in there. Maybe Exxon won't allow it though.

I never said it was not more attractive. What I am arguing is there is no need to replace the P&R system with commuter rail. It would be a massive expense and have only a marginal increase in ridership if any. I am saying why replace a extremely well-run system for something just because it is "cooler"? The people that are pre-disposed to mass transit already use the P&R - it's convenient and easy. There are thousands of people that will not use mass transit for any reason - and a shiny new train would not sway them.

I think they need to expand the P&R system if anything. The lots at West Belfort need garages as there isn't any more room to expand surface parking. Also expand the hours. If you have ever been at the P&R lot in the morning after the last bus leaves - there are probably 30 more people that come up and then drive away when the realize they missed the bus.

So, expand the Park and Ride service from 4:30 AM until 12AM then. And I do believe having it as rail would keep the riders who currently use it, plus add more. People are more comfortable with riding rails than buses. Commuter rail is just more reliable (less maintenance). I know they are Greyhound type buses, but maybe those buses could be used on express routes in the city or something. Commuter rail along the other half of the Westpark Tollway ROW, 290, etc., would be good for the city. Maybe if Washington decides to spend more on infrastructure, Metro won't be incompetent this time and use funds wisely.

I think that this is the problem, talking about parking, it wouldn't matter if there was a bus that had a route from an arterial road near your house to the station (were it too far to walk) that was reliable, as in, I walk out my door at 7:05, get to the bus stop at 7:12 and the bus is always there at 7:15, stops at the transit hub at 7:20-25 and I make my train which departs at 7:30 for downtown, I get off the train at 7:50 and since the bus and rail are synced there is a downtown circulator bus waiting for me to get on.

that reliability just wouldn't be there there, the commuter rail would probably be 5-10 minute window of reliability and the bus from your arterial road would be 15-30 minute window of suckage, you'd miss the train cause the bus was late, and the train was early, the next train would be late, and the bus downtown wouldn't be there if the train were on time.

transit in europe, asia, basically everywhere but USA works with clockwork like efficiency (unless someone is on strike, if your ticket says 3:07

departure, if you arrive on the platform at 3:07 you get to watch the train pull out of the station), why would we accept, or assume less?

I don't know if it is a US problem. More of a sunbelt problem. There are many cities in America with reliable mass transit.

And Pleak, rail is definitely more attractive to potential transit users than buses. That's not even a debate.

Only in very specific sitiuations. In other situations - they would be grossly ineffecient.

Take the Park n Ride lots. At West Belfort route 265, there is approximately a two-hour surge in the morning. The buses - I think they seat 48, but I'm not positive, are schediuled to leave every 3-5 minutes, but in reality they leave as soon as they are full. Then another instantly pulls up, the people in line file in and it leaves. The continues uniterrupted for close to the full two hour surge time. And it works beautifully.

They then take the HOV lane downtown. In the PM, they can take the same lane back and reverse the cycle - although the surge is actually more comressed about 4:45 - 6 pm.

If this were rail - you would need double lines out there first off (empty buses just take the freeway, plus the rail lines would only be used for this route (Metro stops at the County line) as opposed to the HOV lane which can be used by any vehicle with multiple riders and is soon to be a money-generating HOT lane. The price for a double rail line out the Southwest Freeway to West Belfort would be astronomical for what you would get out of it.

Plus on the late evening runs, with very light traffic, this route combines with the 262 route and uses only one bus. That would not be possible with a train without yet another substantial outlay in rail.

This is just one anecdote of which there are many more where buses are much more efficient -both in cost and in flexibility. I would love to ride heavy rail thundering down the middle of the Southwest Freeway past all the parked commuters. I just don't want to pay for it and I don't think the improvement over the buses already there anywhere remotely justifies it.

Can you use the Park and Ride lots on the weekends and how is the schedule during off peak hours? And lets not pretend that the HOV lanes dont gey backed up, or slow down either. What you described is so different than three or so heavy rail cars out together. Each car with the capacity of two buses. The trains would just wait longer.

What are the chances that another area lake is built, if flooding is such a concern?