HouTXRanger

30 minutes ago, BEES?! said:

That glass on the main building is just stunningly beautiful. Wow.

It really is. I absolutely love the color of the windows with the color and texture of the walls."

Is there a name for this kind of architecture? I want to say modern/contemporary, but this looks . . . too good to be called that imho 😁

I just hope everyone so against the rail on the grounds of eminent domain voices their concerns to their representative. After all, there are like a dozen of projects for pipelines and other utility easements in various phases of work right now, not to mention the massive I45 project which is projected to displace even more vulnerable people than the rail. I'm sure they're just as concerned about those uses of eminent domain too.

2 hours ago, wilcal said:

This was just posted in the bicycle advisory committee infrastructure meeting. Staging for this project is going to block the bike lane so a temporary bike lane is going to be made, and the developer is going to pay for the temporary polk st segment to become permanent in addition to restoring it along lamar/crawford after construction.

26 month construction for the project and the start is imminent. Temp bike lane going in as soon as next week.

They're putting up a temporary bike lane for construction blockage? That's insane! It's like someone, somewhere treats the bike lanes as actual transportation infrastructure . . .

1 hour ago, X.R. said:

I was thinking about why now, like why did Metro feel these two particular BRT lines were the ones to push to get done (outside of the mandate by the voters).

These two lines, especially Richmond, are the most important rapid transit lines in the city after the Red line. Thanks to Culberson et. al, our city has lacked an east-west rapid transit line to link our 3 largest job centers: downtown, galleria, and med center. The lack of a Richmond line to link our rail to the silver line is especially crippling. This is basically the second major step towards Houston having an actual viable regional public transit system.

Also, I believe the Katy BRT is getting lots of money from TXDOT, so they want to get that going while they have the funds. I think that's an oversimplification of the two lines, but feel free to add in if anyone else knows more.

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

The express bus network was indeed part of the bond vote.

Looks like you are correct! The 2 way express lanes in and out of Houston to the P&Rs was indeed part of the vote.

I was thinking of plans to connect these with 2 way lanes over 610 to allow region-to-region express busses, instead of just region-to-center express busses as the plan is now. My mistake.

2 hours ago, cspwal said:

As a additional question, when do you think the express bus network will be implemented? Next few years, or closer to 2040?

That's a million dollar question. Wasn't part of the bond vote, but I bet TXDOT will fund most of it. Crucial part is that the inner loop needs 2 way HOV lanes for it to work, and as far as I know only I-10 has 2 way HOB lanes.

23 hours ago, houstontexasjack said:

Looks like the section of the project trenching 69 (nice) between Midtown and Museum Park is still moving forward:

“Though TxDOT has halted development of many segments, the portion along I-69 from Spur 527 to Texas 288 — which includes Wheeler — remains on pace for construction to start next year. Widening I-45 and redoing the downtown system is spread across many distinct but connected projects, and TxDOT had approvals and design ready for the first segments, but has halted development of the others until a lawsuit filed by Harris County and the federal review are settled.”

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/transportation/article/Metro-set-to-spend-millions-to-make-sure-I-45-16118744.php

This is the best possible outcome. Hopefully 1 and maybe 2 get trashed and 3 can go through.

10 hours ago, wilcal said:

Very true. And yes, I can certainly hear the heavy trucks go by. At least 1 or 2 an hour during the day. 

I actually am closing on a house in the East End on Friday, but only got it for a decent price because it needs a significant renovation. Our lease is up August 1, so I'll get another few months of getting to watch this one go up. 

After shopping for about 1.5 years, I was pretty unimpressed with the property value increases of any townhome in Montrose and decided I would be better off long term aiming for something that had more land. 

 

Yeah, although I'm far off from buying myself, I like to keep tabs on real estate in different neighorhoods. Montrose is awesome but unless something crazy happens I think I was just born too late! It's very unlikely I'll be able to afford anything in Montrose, so I'm looking more towards the east end or possibly near northside now.

47 minutes ago, JBTX said:

GFR was not scrapped. They are working with a comercial realtor to start looking for tenants. The GFR will be located on Canal, right across from the current structure (where Andes Cafe once lived) and on Navigation at the corner with McAlpine. Desired tennats are the the usual: cafe, brewery, etc.

n i c e

6 hours ago, thatguysly said:

I ate at Burger Joint Saturday and saw this for the first time in person. Having lived near there for 5 years and spending a lot of time at this intersection, I really love how this project fits into the neighborhood. I think they did a great good of building a midrise that really doesn't feel like it is taking over the area.

It's by far my favorite under-construction project in the entire city for that reason, among others :)

I don't see why they would eliminate the ability to make right turns. It is still a major street and all. The biggest thing is eliminating the slip lane and shortening the number of lanes people have to cross.

Just saw this today: That terrible intersection at Bagby/Elgin/Westheimer is finally getting some work done, looks like Bagby is losing that crappy turn lane AND a travel lane! Really awesome small scale stuff. Hope we get to see more soon!

https://mailchi.mp/houstontx/montrose-midtown-initiative

Although I like Skanska, I am super nervous about the whole thing. There is so much potential, meaning there's so much potential for this to get screwed up! I'm crossing my fingers for something like Drewery place at the minimum, but . . . who knows?

I really wish Montrose had gotten Walkable Places applied and approved for by now!

They're probably super early mockups and who knows if it'll turn out like this, but cool nontheless!

Found working links!

https://www.h-gac.com/uploads/transportation-improvement-program-call-for-projects/1030201845847PM.pdf

I KNOW I saw designs floating around here somewhere, I'll try and look for them . . .

Looks great! Is there a link to a recording of the meeting these are from? (I'm assuming there was a meeting where these were presented . . .)

Wine storage? Is that a thing? Do people pay just to store their wine in places like this???

Also, wouldn't mind something like this if it included a little GFR . . . as it is this is probably going to detract from the community unfortunately.

God, I wish we had restricted these off of TOD streets . . . the fact that this is going up a block away from a future BRT is terrible.

1 hour ago, Houston19514 said:

I don't know who said the Inner Katy BRT is the only major project from MetroNext that's "in progress" or what they exactly meant by that, but to be clear, there are at least 3 BOOST corridors that are very much in progress and the University BRT is also in progress.

It seems unlikely we would see ground breaking on the Inner Katy BRT this year.  They are "hoping" to achieve LPA (locally preferred alternative) "later this year." Construction would almost certainly be some months after achieving LPA, if not more.  

When I said it's the only major project that's in progress, what I really meant to say is its the only major extension or addition of service/lines that's confirmed its funding and is officially beginning the road to groundbreaking with meetings like this. The BOOST stuff is great (I take one of those routes to school!) but it's not an addition or extension of a line, just an improvement of the experience. And the University BRT damn well BETTER BE "in progress" in some way, but I haven't seen confirmation that its money is set or that even the most preliminary planning/meetings have started.

I remember hearing that this would be the first major project to get started way back in 2019, something about because TXDOT was funding the busway just like they funded the busway for the uptown line.

41 minutes ago, wilcal said:

What public-facing info has been released about the University BRT?

I haven't heard anything at all. I think it's way, way out there while metro focuses on the quick and cheaper stuff like BOOST and these highway aligned BRTs.

I was looking through Metro's website for updates on MetroNext, and found this powerpoint from a meeting that apparently happened about a week ago.

According to the presentation, the whole project is already funded through the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Improvement Program (and as I understand it, the root of much of that money is TXDOT), and the first public meeting is happening by the end of February. We've already seen preliminary designs for the two middle stations, and the whole thing seems pretty straightforward. It's the only major project from MetroNext that's under the "in progress" category . . . anyone think we'll see ground breaking this year?

Glad to hear this project is still moving forward, kind of.

I was trying to say at the last Ion meeting . . . since this is going to be at the hub of two of the busiest and most connected transit lines, this is going to be one of the least necessary places in Houston for parking. They should really be trying to minimize the overall footprint of land there for parking lots/garages, including doing some kind of shared parking agreements.

What made that section so weird to begin with? Why doesn't Lovett just continue straight?