JLWM8609

I think they can be removed by using a hair drier to heat up the adhesive and then using a piece of dental floss to cut through the adhesive and get the emblem off. Any adhesive that's still left may have to be removed with a clay bar. I think the worst offender is the Katy dealerships. They use these letters in a faux Mercedes-Benz style font, often placed without regard to space between letters or whether the letters are level with one another. They use letters which look like this. http://www.ebay.com/itm/Car-Auto-Emblem-Badge-Decals-Chrome-Letter-Sticker-3D-/220743236011?hash=item33655279ab&item=220743236011&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr

I have seen one Mercedes-Benz dealership install one of those tags on the paint. It was from Dick Dyer Mercedes-Benz in Columbia, SC. Some other Mercedes-Benz dealerships around the nation opted to install a grille badge in lieu of the more common trunklid badge or license plate frame. I worked for a Mercedes-Benz dealership briefly. One thing the clients used to do is bring their car in to the service department to have the license plates installed. God forbid the owner would have to actually use a hand tool to do it with their own hands! But the general procedure would be to just install the plates. If they had a competing dealer's license plate frame, we would switch it out. If they already had our frame, custom frames, or no frame at all, we would not install our metal.

I think the yellow signals with the black blackplate look fine. Interestingly enough, one color I don't see represented in Houston much, if at all, are green signals. They seem to be very popular in Louisiana, though.

Here's some info about improvements to SH 35 along the stretch you mentioned: ftp://ftp.dot.state.tx.us/pub/txdot-info/hou/sh35/feasible.pdf

Eh, they're nothing fancy, but I suppose that's what TxDOT was going for, since I recall there were some who weren't fans of the 2009-2012 multicolor design. They kinda remind me of the black and white plates used from 1974 to 1985. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/New-classic-Texas-license-plates-hitting-the-3722339.php#photo-3214204

Nope, it's always been a Sears. Older family members who grew up in the area recall when it was built and it's always been Sears.

I see an airport in the 1952 aerial view in Google Earth.

There's a stub on the ramp from US 59 NB to I-10WB. I presume that stubout will eventually lead to the new Elysian viaduct and onward to the Hardy Tollroad extension since the sign, which was previously covered until Ike came through, reads Elysian St. https://maps.google.com/?ll=29.768112,-95.344913&spn=0.00474,0.010568&hnear=8611+Twisting+Vine+Ln,+Houston,+Texas+77040&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=29.767858,-95.344989&panoid=JQ0Bzo7FCY0m-xPLGnopBQ&cbp=12,16.24,,0,-20.74 You've also got stub outs at Spur 5's current terminus at OST, and there's a stubout on the SB feeder road of 288 down at the Airport exit waiting for the eventual construction of continous feeder roads between 610 and BW8. As far as the 288 dual freeway is concerned, the project will live on, although the express lanes will be tolled. I'm pretty sure that's not what the designers envisioned 50 years ago, but again, funding issues.

If you look under 59, you can see where the stubouts were. They've just been straightened out, so to speak. Look at the span carrying 59 NB from the intersection of Chartres and Congress. The pier caps from that section down to Franklin protude a bit more than the other pier caps. You can see what I mean here: http://goo.gl/maps/vzto

It probably has something to do with the fact that Bagby feeds directly into the Spur 527 mainlanes down at Elgin/Westheimer. I wouldn't be surprised if in 20-30 years, TxDOT decides to extend 527 to I-45 when it comes time to reconstruct the Pierce Elevated and the 288/59 dual freeways.

They don't fact check much, do they? The airport opened in 1927, and the current terminal opened in 1954.

I wonder if they would consider placing the ramp at Holcombe instead of MacGregor? The route would be south of the park instead of going through it, and Holcombe plows straight through the TMC anyhow.

Deleting the Westheimer exits will just move the congestion to another point. People will still need to get to Westheimer from 610 somehow.

I think you'll find that most residents of Riverside Terrace don't care about the race of their neighbors, at least I don't. Interestingly enough, back in the late 50s when Riverside Terrace was becoming THE place to live for black professionals in Houston, some white residents resisted the white flight and resisted the tactics of the realtors to get them to sell their homes and stayed with the hopes that the neighborhood would become a mixed race neighborhood. Those efforts lasted until the late 60s when the neighborhood finally tipped the scales and become majority black. Some of those white residents took it as a sign that their efforts to mold Riverside into a rougly 50/50 mixed race area failed and thus finally left. But, some white residents stayed until the 1980s before moving into retirement communities or smaller homes or condos in other neighborhoods. I think the efforts to make Riverside Terrace a throughly mixed neighborhood are being re-kindled. While it's still majority black, I have observed many white residents, and LGBT families living in the area and everyone seems to get along nicely.

Have you reported it to the City of Houston as an unsafe building?

I love truss bridges. It's a pity that this one had to come down, but it was past its prime. I suppose it was not cost effective to keep it in place as a pedestrian walkway as TxDOT did with the truss bridge over the San Jacinto River on the Eastex Freeway. http://bridgehunter.com/tx/fort-bend/richmond/ http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth621/m1/1/ From what I've been able to gather, the truss bridge was constructed in 1925 and served 2-way traffic until the parallel span was constructed to carry WB traffic in 1965, turning the 1925 bridge into the EB side of US 90A. Then the 1925 bridge closed in 1986 due to structural issues and the 1965 bridge served 2-way traffic for a few years. The 1925 bridge was demolished in 1988 and the current bridge was completed in 1989.

I eventually found my answer over at the 290 website of all places, http://www.my290.com/green-ribbon-project-p3. Turns out it's part of TxDOT's Green Ribbon Program. What TxDOT has done is they've divided the Houston District into three regional zones, the northern zone (includes most freeways north of I-10 including the entire North Loop and freeways north of 290 past the West Loop), the southern zone (which includes the eastern portion of the district and includes most freeways east of 288 and south of I-10) and the western zone (includes freeways wast of 288 and south of 290). Projects in the northern zone are marked by the Vertical Scheme, which includes tree like forms on the columns and vertical accoutrements to reflect the piney woods of the northern region of the area. You can see examples of this on 610 from Ella to I-10 East, the US 90 Crosby Freeway from 610 to BW8, I-45 from the San Jacinto River up to the Walker County line, US 59 from the Woodlands up to about Splendora, and 290 will reflect this design after the widening takes place. The southern zone is marked by the Wave Scheme, which as the name suggests features wave like patterns to suggest a nautical theme as you approach the coast. An example of this is the NASA 1 bypass freeway, various overpasses between Houston and Galveston over I-45, and the Galveston Causeway. The western zone is marked by the Horizontal Scheme which reflects open grassland west of Houston. The best example of this is the Katy Freeway between Katy Mills and Washington Ave. Since about 2003-ish, TxDOT has been reliably following the pattern on most new construction. The only exceptions seem to be portions of US 90A and the Southwest Freeway in Sugar Land, and the ramps to the Crosby Freeway from I-10 and 610. Those ramps are done up in a horizontal scheme typical of the western zone, although they're located at the confluence of the southern and northern zones. This may be boring to some of you, but I thought it was interesting that our region's highways are getting small architectural touches.

I remember seeing a map which showed Houston's freeway corridors each outlined in a color according to the direction in which they leave town. 45 north and 59 north were outlined in green, 45 south was outlined in blue, 249 was outlined in maroon and other freeways were outlined in other colors which I can't remember right now. I forgot the rationale for outlining the freeways in those colors on the map, but it was also stated that those colors would be implemented on the artchitectural details of the freeways as they become widened and updated. I've noticed it myself, 45 up through Conroe, the north loop, and 59 up almost to Cleveland all have green paint on the guardrails and a new addition, the overpass columns have a texture to them emulating trees. Then, parts of 45 south and 288 have blue paint, and parts of 249 have a maroon theme painted on it because I believe it's expected to be part of a yet uncompleted freeway route to Bryan/College Station. Does anybody recall this map or page? I searched TxDOT but couldn't find anything.

I've lived in Houston all my life and the Pierce Elevated doesn't bother me. I guess I don't expect every bridge in Houston to be the Fred Hartman. Maybe we can get Santiago Calatrava to design us a cable stayed Pierce Elevated with less bounce due to less expansion joints from less support columns. We could even have the tower shaped like a cross to match the St. Joseph Professional Building. Those of you who think the Pierce Elevated is bad now, who remembers when it was in its original early 60s configuration? All you'd hear is "kathunkkathunkkathunkkathunk" while driving over it, and the travel over it was a bit bouncier.

Someone mentioned this before, but Houston is not a tourism based city, and I don't believe it will ever be. I tell you, what we need is a Real Housewives of Harris, Montgomery and Ft. Bend Counties show on Bravo. See what it did for New Jersey?

I didn't see a topic about this, but John Chase died on March 29th. He designed buildings worldwide, but locally, he designed a few buildings at TSU including the Law School, Student Center, and MLK Center, and a few houses, including his own, in the Riverside Terrace area. Some of you may remember him being interviewed and seeing the interior of his MCM home in "This is Our Home, It Is Not For Sale." Here's his obit: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/houstonchronicle/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=156786037

I've passed the bridge about 3-4 times in the past week and haven't thought to snap a photo. If I pass it again, I'll take and post a pic. The first time I saw it, I said "wow".

I can't remember where I saw it, but I saw a proposal which showed part of the feeder lanes cantilevered over the outside shoulder of the freeway in the depressed section where N. Main is, similar to portions of the North Central Expressway in Dallas. That way, they can expand that portion without buying up as much land.

I think Beselman's drawing of that building, and others drawings including the Cotton Exchange Building drawing, are now housed at UHD.

Well, design cues across a brand don't have to be exactly identical. Cadillac has their vertical tail lights, but a XTS is not going to look the same as the CTS in the rear, there's a little bit of variation in there.