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Highway 290 Commuters

avicalc

By avicalc
in The Great Northwest

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avicalc

avicalc

Posted
Posted

I know first hand that the US-290 Corridor out to Cypress is a desirable place to live. However, I was wondering how the people who live in this area and have to commute anywhere inside the Beltway during normal working hours can maintain their sanity on the nightmare that is US-290? Do you carpool? Ride the bus? The situation on US-290 is not going to get any better for at least 5 years (before the Hempstead Tollroad is complete) and will most certainly get worse with all the growth out there. I know there are some initiatives to get businesses to locate out that direction but even then, you will have a lot of people still commuting to Downtown, the Galleria, and Greenway.

In looking at the TranStar traffic data, US-290 is the first freeway to get congested in the morning around 6 am and the last freeway to clear out around 10 am!

How the heck do you do it!!???

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CDeb

CDeb

Posted
Posted
How the heck do you do it!!???

It can really suck if you keep normal work hours, but if you don't mind getting up early, it's no big deal.

I live near Barker Cypress and US 290, which is 17 miles from IH 610 on US 290. I work near Woodway at Augusta, a total of 23 miles from my house. My employer allows flex time and my boss is OK with my coming in early -- really early. I wake up at 4:50, leave my house at 5:30 and am usually at the office at 6:00. US 290 is heavy at that time, but unless some idiot removes themselves from the gene pool in a spectacular manner, it moves pretty well.

I work until 4:00 p.m. The commute is worse than in the morning, but US 290 is still reasonable at that time, and I'm usually home by 4:45, 5:00 at the latest. I take Voss/Bingle to US 290, as it usually saves about 10 minutes over taking Woodway->IH 610->US 290 to that point.

The bus is not an option for me (once I get to the NWTC, I'd have to go downtown to catch the bus that goes back out to Woodway, no thank you!), and rail probably wouldn't be either, but I fully support both as they take other folks off the road and give people more options.

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Jax

Jax

Posted
Posted

I have a friend who commutes from Cypress to study at Rice and at the same time she's working in an internship at an environmental consulting company in Sugarland. And she has 2 kids. It must be hell.

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mrfootball

mrfootball

Posted
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That commute is hell. I live in Longwood which is about equidistant b/w 290 and 249 so if I'm going downtown I'll check the TranStar site and choose which way I want to go in.

Without traffic, I've gotten into Downtown Houston in as little 21 minutes (of course, I'm sure I may have surpassed the posted speed limit).

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cnote

cnote

Posted
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I live at 290 and Barker Cypress and work downtown. I take the park and ride. I leave at 6:50, catch the 7 o'clock bus, and get downtown at eight. In the afternoon it is around the same or a little shorter since getting on the HOV lane in the morning (past 1960) from the new park and ride can take a half hour on some days, and once you are past 1960 in the afternoon 290 is open.

It could literally take about 30 minutes to get downtown if the HOV was extended out to Telge or further.

Before I worked downtown I was at post oak and westheimer and driving was a nightmare...the bus has both positives and negatives but I really feel the former far outweigh the latter.

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wakester

wakester

Posted
Posted

I live by Fairfield and work in Uptown. If I catch the 6:45 Cypress bus I can be on Post Oak/San Feilpe by 7:30. I can usually catch the 286 bus on Post Oak around 4:15 and be in Cypress by 4:50. I use the time on the bus to read/answers emails or playing my PSP.

To ride the Bus to Woodway and Augusta, you would take the 217 to NWTC, then the 33 or 286 to Woodway or Post Oak. Then the 6 or 35. Not for the faint of heart. I actually take 3 buses. It can be a pain but I prefer it to sitting on 290. I actually get a lot of work done on my laptop on the bus.

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jb4647

jb4647

Posted
Posted

I solved the problem easily...I moved to just inside the loop off of 59/Weslayan. My commute to downtown in the morning is 10 mins and my commute home is the same. If in the event my job location changes, I'm centrally located so any commute would be against the flow.

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musicman

musicman

Posted
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I'm considering moving to Bridgeland with a commute to the NASA area. Is this

even thinkable?

my boss lives out there and works at nasa...she tells me 100 miles round trip. she takes the bus if she's working business hrs. if she works off hrs she drives. she gets to work early when she drives to avoid rush hr commutes

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ricco67

ricco67

Posted
Posted
<br />Part of the deal with accepting the position. Will include a flexible schedule. But maybe I should <br />consider a change in careers, to the energy sector. Thank for the info. everyone.<br />

xanax.

better living through chemistry, i always say.

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Trae

Trae

Posted
Posted
Part of the deal with accepting the position. Will include a flexible schedule. But maybe I should

consider a change in careers, to the energy sector. Thank for the info. everyone.

There are plenty of good communities around NASA that would give you the same amenities (or close) as the Bridgelands would.

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PureAuteur

PureAuteur

Posted
Posted
I solved the problem easily...I moved to just inside the loop off of 59/Weslayan. My commute to downtown in the morning is 10 mins and my commute home is the same. If in the event my job location changes, I'm centrally located so any commute would be against the flow.

This is the only reasonable post on here, in my opinion. :) Living close to where you work, so that you don't have to sit in traffic on a freeway for 2 hours out of each day of your life: what a concept!

My "commute" is 10 minutes at the most. If it took me any longer than that to drive to work, I would move or get a new job. Even after knowing the reasons for having long commutes, (i.e. we love our home out in the suburban nw, we do it for the kids, i have no other option for work location) I still don't see how anyone can do it. If I'm going to be doing nothing productive for 2 hours, I'd rather be relaxing in a hammock or on a patio drinking a nice beer or glass of wine.

Here's my schedule:

5am-9am: sleeping through everyone else's long commutes

10:50am: leave for work

11:00am: arrive at work

7:00pm: leave work

7:10pm: arrive at home

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shinoda28107

shinoda28107

Posted
Posted

Ha! I know how everyone feels! I live near 290 @ Barker Cypress and worked between the Memorial and Heights communities. I learned that taking West Little York to the Hempstead Highway to Washington, or 529 to US 290 saved me a lot of hell (depending on the day of the week). Even the HOV lanes are extremely congested and moves just as fast as the regular traffic.

Something has to be done about this situation soon. The Cypress- Fairbanks community's population is knocking at 800,000's door and is only 40-60% developed. US 290 is just about the main artery (unless you prefer 249 or the Katy freeway) and plans to combat the traffic horrors will not move fast enough to accommodate the growth.

I just moved to Austin three weeks ago and traffic here is a mess also. Luckily, I live within walking distance of where i need to go (I even pass up vehicular commuters stuck in traffic when I am walking).

I love my Northwest Harris county home with a swimming pool, but I swear, when I move back to the Houston area for good, I will definitely give it all up for a place in the Heights. I'm single....why not?

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wakester

wakester

Posted
Posted
Here's my schedule:

5am-9am: sleeping through everyone else's long commutes

10:50am: leave for work

11:00am: arrive at work

7:00pm: leave work

7:10pm: arrive at home

If I left my Cypress home at 10:50am and work at 7:00 pm it would only take me 35 minutes.

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CDeb

CDeb

Posted
Posted
This is the only reasonable post on here, in my opinion. :) Living close to where you work, so that you don't have to sit in traffic on a freeway for 2 hours out of each day of your life: what a concept!

My "commute" is 10 minutes at the most. If it took me any longer than that to drive to work, I would move or get a new job. Even after knowing the reasons for having long commutes, (i.e. we love our home out in the suburban nw, we do it for the kids, i have no other option for work location) I still don't see how anyone can do it. If I'm going to be doing nothing productive for 2 hours, I'd rather be relaxing in a hammock or on a patio drinking a nice beer or glass of wine.

Here's my schedule:

5am-9am: sleeping through everyone else's long commutes

10:50am: leave for work

11:00am: arrive at work

7:00pm: leave work

7:10pm: arrive at home

Where are your home and office located? What size home do you live in? Do you have a wife and/or children? I look forward to your answers.

By the way, your description of everyone else's choices for their own life as "unreasonable" is, in fact, unreasonable and quite arrogant. Your inability to see that everyone has different things they value in their choice of housing is as closed-minded as you claim all the commuters to be.

I have no desire to sleep from 5 am to 9 am and I have no desire to work until 7 pm every day. I could just as easily label your schedule as "unreasonable." If I left at your times, my commute would take 25 minutes each way (I've done it several times before). Is that extra 15 minutes over your commute "unreasonable?"

Don't hurt yourself getting down off your high horse.

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PureAuteur

PureAuteur

Posted
Posted

Ok, so I'm arrogant, I'll admit it. I'm 26, single, and I live in an apartment. I am also an instigator, so while my post was intended to be light-hearted, I was also trying to brag about how I don't have to deal with any of that business of sitting in traffic for hours. I am smart enough to realize that people who suffer through these commutes are intelligent and logical and have good reasons for doing so, based on their life situation. I admire the dedication involved. However, I don't have to deal with any of that, and I have a quick little drive up the road to work and back every day. I don't have to get up until 9:30 or even 10am. You would be bragging too :). So, based on my lifeview and perspective, the post about living really close into town to avoid traffic sounded reasonable to me.

I live on the north end of the Willowbrook Mall area in NW Houston by the Methodist Hospital. I work at 1960 and Veterans Memorial. Even with traffic, it takes 12 minutes at the most. I'd say 7 minutes with no cars on the road. The fact that I can wake up late and don't have to arrive at work until 11am is just good fortune. And no, I don't own a business of my own that gives me freedom to do so, I'm just an everyday worker. I just got lucky. :)

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TAK

TAK

Posted
Posted

i work at home (inwood forest - inside the beltway). i did work downtown a couple of days a week at a client office - took me 30 mins at 8:30.

i suggest every who doesn't have a real physical need to be at a work place to give it a try. (Being where your manager can 'see' you is not a need.)

i would have to be making a heckuva lot of money ($200k+) to commute from outside the beltway on 290 to Clear Lake. i would move to Clear Lake / Friendswood / League City before spending well 2+ hours a day in the car. (actually it could possibly be a little less by taking the beltway from 290 to 45 instead of going through the city... not sure how the beltway runs at that time - it's probably just as bad.)

if you aren't on the road by 5a - 5:30a, you're stuck.

2 hours a day - driving - 100 miles...

put it this way, i used to commute from N.E. San Antonio to N. Austin every day - 160 miles round trip. one of the most pissed off years of my life. i moved to san marcos. cut the round trip to 80 miles. didn't like that much, either. moved again - 1.5 miles from the office - much better...

if the job is that much better that it's that much more important, and you have no "special needs" that keep you NW, move.

good luck with that... hope you have some like for traffic and terrible drivers.

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Trae

Trae

Posted
Posted
Ok, so I'm arrogant, I'll admit it. I'm 26, single, and I live in an apartment. I am also an instigator, so while my post was intended to be light-hearted, I was also trying to brag about how I don't have to deal with any of that business of sitting in traffic for hours. I am smart enough to realize that people who suffer through these commutes are intelligent and logical and have good reasons for doing so, based on their life situation. I admire the dedication involved. However, I don't have to deal with any of that, and I have a quick little drive up the road to work and back every day. I don't have to get up until 9:30 or even 10am. You would be bragging too :) . So, based on my lifeview and perspective, the post about living really close into town to avoid traffic sounded reasonable to me.

I live on the north end of the Willowbrook Mall area in NW Houston by the Methodist Hospital. I work at 1960 and Veterans Memorial. Even with traffic, it takes 12 minutes at the most. I'd say 7 minutes with no cars on the road. The fact that I can wake up late and don't have to arrive at work until 11am is just good fortune. And no, I don't own a business of my own that gives me freedom to do so, I'm just an everyday worker. I just got lucky. :)

Can you meet any single females in the 'burbs?

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