JLWM8609

They usually prefer private schools and magnet schools.

I've seen the bald eagle flying around the neighborhood, too. I can never catch it on camera though. Usually, I manage to get a brown spot with a bit of white.

They're working pretty fast. The columns for the 610 interchange have started going up as well as the new center bents for the Bellfort overpass.

Not really. One of the proposals to bring the bullet train downtown was to elevate it along I-10 so it wouldn't go through residential areas near Washington Ave. http://www.chron.com/news/transportation/article/High-speed-rail-route-would-affect-Houston-6085167.php

That makes sense. That's what they do with I-285 in Atlanta.

That was an option. They'd have to take one lane away from Pierce St but they could have cantilevered the freeway over Pierce St. to expand it.

Both things are happening. The Hardy extension will connect to the new Elysian Viaduct as seen in these schematics. http://www.ih45northandmore.com/docs5/20160428_NHHIP_Seg3_Project_Updates.pdf TxDOT anticipates the viaduct will be complete in 32 months, or Dec 2019. (Source: http://www.txdot.gov/inside-txdot/get-involved/about/hearings-meetings/houston/030917.html) According to the Hardy Toll Road Connector site, the Hardy ramps to the Elysian Viaduct will start construction in July 2019 and finish in June 2021. The HTR mainlane extension to downtown will start in May 2019 and end in August 2022. The overpass at Collingsworth began construction last year. The overpasses at Lorraine and Quitman will begin this year and next year respectively. Source: http://www.hardyconnector.org/schedule.html

Houston has more extensive feeder roads than Atlanta, too. If a section of Houston freeway had to shut down for an extended period of time, it would help if that section had parallel feeders that were unaffected by whatever caused the mainlanes to shut down.

TxDOT will begin the demolition of the Elysian Viaduct next week. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2017/03/29/193365/work-is-about-to-begin-on-the-new-elysian-viaduct/

Yes.

I'm glad about this. It'll be less than a mile from me. I wonder what they'll do with the HEB on Scott and OST. I doubt they'll keep it as is since two HEBs would be so close to each other. Maybe they'll turn it into a Joe V.'s?

So the construction of the ramp reconfiguration will be complete in 2019, then in 2021, they'll start reconstruction of the whole interchange, most likely demolishing the new ramp.

Any trip longer than 1/2 a block requires a car. It's the Houston way. Get with it, tourists!

It's still known as Calhoun by UH and where it currently ends past Yellowstone. Before I-45 was built, it ran all the way downtown. Interesting thing is old maps show the section near UH as being called Leeland. But, back to the Calhoun name. After the freeway was built, part of it became the NB feeder and it became wholly disconnected from downtown once Spur 5 was built. Around that same time period, the downtown section's name was changed to St. Joseph Parkway despite not being an access controlled, multilane facility running through a park-like setting. Roadgeeks will get that one.

The I-10 express lanes are elevated over the I-45 SB mainlanes. That's why the I-45 SB mainlanes disappear in the schematics.

I'm not sold on this re-routing plan, but depressed highways flooding are actually a good thing. Otherwise, that water would be going into neighborhoods. I'd rather see our freeways used as spillways than our neighborhoods. They can put sensors and gates at the onramps to keep people from entering the freeways while they're flooded. I live along Brays Bayou so it's better to see 288 underwater than Riverside Terrace, and I'm sure the folks in Meyerland would agree about their neighborhoods, too. I doubt pumps add that much extra cost to depressed freeways, and if streets can flood, freeways at ground level can flood, too. You say the Pierce Elevated would be good since it's elevated, but what good would 2 miles of elevated highway do when the depressed and ground level sections at I-10 are flooded by Buffalo and White Oak Bayous?

I guess the old timers out there in Sunnyside ought to thank their lucky stars that they haven't died in that battlezone despite being there 50-60 years!

That sucks.

Six months later and the S. Main Krispy Kreme is still uncompleted.

I think they can turn off the clock on the pedestrian signals if that's the case.

Riverside Terrace is a good example of the transition from grid to curvilinear streets. East of 288, once you cross Blodgett and more so when you cross Southmore, the Third Ward grid transforms. The transformation is in line with the southern edge of the neighborhood being developed later than the northern edge. https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7190926,-95.3639526,15.25z Parts of Riverside already have some blocks that resemble the liquid grid. They do so as a result of the neighborhood streets following the curve of S. MacGregor which is following the curve of Brays Bayou. You can see it on Parkwood, Charleston, Ozark, and Tampa between Bowling Green and Del Rio. https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7066323,-95.3689262,17z Then it's seen again on the other side of Scott St. on Charleston, Roseneath, Fernwood, and Cullen. https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7067387,-95.3500204,16.25z

I can confirm it's open. I used it last Tuesday. Felt good to finally get on I-45 South from Allen Parkway without that lip puckering left lane merge. Now, if they could only do a minor widening of the onramp overpass to I-45 North for a decent acceleration lane. Once you finish creeping up that sharp, 1950s loop ramp from Allen Parkway to the I-45 North onramp at 25 mph, there's barely any acceleration space to merge with traffic already going 60 mph.

Activity has ramped up on this project. Segments 1 and 4 seem to be where they've started off (BW and 610 respectively). They're already in the process of widening the 288 overpasses at the Beltway, and the Beltway mainlanes are being widened too, though I believe that was part of a separate project that started before the 288 project. They're removing paint from the direct connector ramps at 610 and have put down asphalt for a temporary ramp from 610 W to 288 N.

UHD has just released their latest Master Plan which takes into consideration the possible re-routing of I-45 and I-10. I wondered how the re-routing would impact the campus. Now, we know! https://v3.boardbook.org/Public/PublicItemDownload.aspx?ik=39728683

Mercedes-Benz of West Houston will be opening December 2016. http://www.mercedesbenz-westhouston.com/