Market Street

[ricco67]

I had the pleasure of spending the entire day in the Woodlands, particularly in Market Street and the surrounding area.

While I realize they wanted to make this a more "pedestrian friendly" area, the congestion GETTING to the place (The Kanye West concert didn't help much) was a test of what little patience I have left. Once you get into the area, not only is finding a parking spot a challenge, but being able to maneuver around to be able to look at other potential sites was just on this side of insane.

In addition to this chaos, one of the most interesting trends in traffic control occurred after the concert when Lake Robbins (East Bound) is forced to do a U-turn and go north or south on Grogan's Mill Rd. Having experienced this idiocy during a previous concert experience I decided to stay far away from the street, but those that are unfamiliar with the area wandered around aimlessly until they found one of two obvious (to them) choices to go East to I-45 and make the mistake of joining the masses on those two roads and creating a massive jam.

Getting back to the subject of Market Street and The Woodlands overall, I've found it very difficult to be able move around to see where a store I would be interested in going to.

I won't even get to what it is like going through the various neighborhoods.

Now bear with me, I'm looking at this through the eyes of someone who is not really all that familiar with the area. If you go there enough times, I'm sure you can easily find places to park and know where the layout is. It would be akin to someone going to The Village for the first time and trying to find "The Bead Shop" without the benefit of a mapquest or a GPS navigation assistance, but at least traffic can move "relatively" smoothly and be able to spot the various businesses from a reasonable distance.

In short, what my drug induced (with a Shiner Chaser, Mind you. But kids, don't try this at home.) post is meaning to say, Market square and The Woodlands sucks and needs a better form of transportation for its region.

[TheNiche]

Strategically-placed east-west grade seperations (tolled), a few more flyovers connecting to I-45 (tolled), and clearer more obnoxious directional signage. That's what The Woodlands needs in order to keep moving.

They're not alone, either. The most challenging part of traffic infrastructure in many parts of our region has gotten to be the surface streets.

[ricco67]

Strategically-placed east-west grade seperations (tolled), a few more flyovers connecting to I-45 (tolled), and clearer more obnoxious directional signage. That's what The Woodlands needs in order to keep moving.

They're not alone, either. The most challenging part of traffic infrastructure in many parts of our region has gotten to be the surface streets.

Agreed! Coincidently, turns out the Chronicle has it's own view on the matter.

Those quote says it all to me:

Planning Commission chairwoman Carol Lewis, who teaches transportation planning at Texas Southern University, said the commission has become more sensitive to the need for building more streets that provide options.

But she cautioned that congestion in the Houston area might decrease, but would hardly go away if suburbia had a more extensive traffic grid. A multi-prong solution also would call for more mass transit options and greater reliance on flexible work schedules, allowing some workers to avoid morning and evening commutes, Lewis said.

[TheNiche]

Agreed! Coincidently, turns out the Chronicle has it's own view on the matter.

Those quote says it all to me:

Ugh...I can't stand it when they quote that Robin Holzer. I've run across her a couple of times and find that although she's a very bright woman, she's quite adept at quickly yet cautiously crafting gross oversimplifications laced with toxic rhetoric. She's dangerous.

[musicman]

They're not alone, either. The most challenging part of traffic infrastructure in many parts of our region has gotten to be the surface streets.

But at least there are alternatives. in the burbs, they force you onto the main roads with the design of the hoods (deadends/culdesacs).

Ugh...I can't stand it when they quote that Robin Holzer. I've run across her a couple of times and find that although she's a very bright woman, she's quite adept at quickly yet cautiously crafting gross oversimplifications laced with toxic rhetoric. She's dangerous.

LOL true.

[lockmat]

I won't even get to what it is like going through the various neighborhoods.

Was going through the neighborhoods part of your route to getting to market street?

[ricco67]

Was going through the neighborhoods part of your route to getting to market street?

Well, considering i was IN the woodlands, I had to make way to and from a neighborhood that was almost to Kuykendahl. Getting to the subdivision was a pain, but so was driving within that particular subdivision because of the various turns. Make one wrong turn and quite a few time you won't have an alternative way to get to your destination without making a considerable number of turns.

[MetroMogul]

I'm not happy with the ridiculous nature of the Woodlands Parkway exit; it seems complicated just for the sake of being so. And don't let you be on the service road, missing the turnout to the flyover is easy as pie.