longcat Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Why is it that Houston seems to have some of the worst maintained roads in the country? Is it entirely due to the 'lower tax' environment here? Even Austin, Dallas and San Antonio don't seem to have the magnitude of issues we do, to say nothing of LA, SF, Chicago...etc. Certain roads like Kirby south of 59 could well and truly be used by Detroit for testing the suspension of new 4 wheel drive prototypes. I know that the kirby drive storm sewer replacement project is supposed to repave this entire section so there is an excuse for why it has fallen into this state, but Kirby has been like that for a long time and there are plenty of other roads inside the loop that can send coffee spilling into someone's lap.Is the land subsidence issue also key here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 the inadequate patching and the rain we've received this yr are the reason for a large number of potholes. the water finds its way into the patched holes and when a car goes over it, the patch breaks up.the mayor wants the citizens to use 311 to report the problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Subsidence can contribute to the problem, with land sinking at various rates across the County. Two other issues I can think of are:1) High plasticity index soils...as anyone with a slab foundation knows, there is a large shrink/swell potential in our gumbo soils here in Houston. The clay swells when wet and shrinks when dry. Therefore roads (and foundations) are subjected to a lot of stress from the ground shrinking and swelling.2) Poor construction methods/poor construction inspection of the past. Many, many roads in Houston were built in the boom days of the 70's and early 80's. From what I hear, things were moving so fast that there were a lot of roads being built to substandard conditions, with either non-existant construction monitoring, and sometimes inspectors paid to look the other way. There was so much work back then, there were lots of fly-by-night contractors operating.With all the construction activity going on today, I wonder if the sins of the past are being repeated today? With as much construction inspection and especially materials testing that goes on nowadays, I believe that things are being built to a much higher standard. But you still wonder... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 2) Poor construction methods/poor construction inspection of the past. Many, many roads in Houston were built in the boom days of the 70's and early 80's. From what I hear, things were moving so fast that there were a lot of roads being built to substandard conditions, with either non-existant construction monitoring, and sometimes inspectors paid to look the other way. There was so much work back then, there were lots of fly-by-night contractors operating.With all the construction activity going on today, I wonder if the sins of the past are being repeated today? With as much construction inspection and especially materials testing that goes on nowadays, I believe that things are being built to a much higher standard. But you still wonder...this is true. surprises me how bad some streets are after only a decade or so, even those in neighborhoods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 18 wheelers do a lot of damage too, especially asphalt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Have you ever driven on Colquitt between Shepheard and Mandell? Never again will I drive on that street unless there is no other option! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Parts of Beltway 8 and 59 were constructed with breadsticks and shellack.The reason our other roads are in poor condition is because we have too much infrastructure to maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jax Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 I guess that could possibly be a disadvantage of a system that relies so much on cars as opposed to other forms of transportation? One of the most car centric cities in the country with a non stable surface to build those roads on = a lot of roads to rebuild and maintain. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Original Timmy Chan's Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 Have you ever driven on Colquitt between Shepheard and Mandell? Never again will I drive on that street unless there is no other option! Hell, that could be a 70-year old road! It might be historic...you should speak of it with reverence! In fact, maybe that's why the City doesn't repair some of these roads...they're historic and would require too much paperwork to touch them! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 I guess that could possibly be a disadvantage of a system that relies so much on cars as opposed to other forms of transportation? yeah that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted August 30, 2007 Share Posted August 30, 2007 yeah that's it. Thank you for your contribution. HAIF is always looking for more posts with snotty sarcasm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted August 31, 2007 Share Posted August 31, 2007 Thank you for your contribution. HAIF is always looking for more posts with snotty sarcasm.all of the cities i've visited have roads, you're welcome to point out one that doesn't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfre81 Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 Houston has its bad roads but by no means are they the worst in the country.I lived in Raleigh, NC for a couple years and I just about needed an Abrams tank to traverse some of those streets. I'll take Colquitt@Shepherd/Mandell anyday over that mess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 The reason our other roads are in poor condition is because we have too much infrastructure to maintain.So, what you're really saying is that roads are crappy because we have invested inadequately in ongoing maintenance? That is different, of course, than saying something ridiculous such as that as we build roads there just gets to be a point at which they are physically impossible to maintain, and so they degredate all to crap just because there are so many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted September 1, 2007 Share Posted September 1, 2007 I guess that could possibly be a disadvantage of a system that relies so much on cars as opposed to other forms of transportation? One of the most car centric cities in the country with a non stable surface to build those roads on = a lot of roads to rebuild and maintain. Not really. Transit requires maintenance too and unless you have ideas on how to levitate it, say with magnetic fields, is no less subject to soil conditions. ...the levitation devices will be, of course. And then our politicians can just say that the purpose of the levitation devices was only ever to suck up electricity produced by power plants, so that many thousands of tons of CO2 were put into the atmosphere to try and make Alaska a warmer more hospitable place. Then they can justify writing off the expense of the levitation devices and their maintenance in a different non-transportation government account, and voila, there you have it, guided rapid transit makes fiscal sense! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Hands down ... Holly Hall.I was visiting mom and forgot I needed to pick up something for dinner so I exited Holly Hall from 288. After crossing Almeda I was shocked ... no ... dumbfounded at the number of bumps, potholes, cracks, and just plain holes in the street.What tha...?!?And this is in the shadow of the Astrodome.It's almost as if the city has given up on the upkeep and repair of that street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Airline Dr. in front of the Farmer's Market. Is there really enough room for that many lanes or did they just measure the street equally from curb to curb and said, "paint the stripes here"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 isn't this a repeat thread? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 isn't this a repeat thread?Echo Lane? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Holmes Road between Almeda and S. Main used to be bad, but it seems like a lovely boulevard compared to Holly Hall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Native Son Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 South Braes Wood between Stella Link and South Main is a patchwork of uneven fixes and new potholes, along with the road's tendency to follow Breas Bayou it really bites! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark F. Barnes Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 isn't this a repeat thread?Bingo!http://www.houstonarchitecture.info/haif/i...;hl=Bad+streets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Echo Lane? LOL Well played! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 I did a search for worst streets before I started this thread and nothing was returned so I figured it was a safe bet. You know ... nothing's new under the sun.If editor wants to merge them, I would not be offended.Correction ... Ugly Streets was returned but that was a little different as it talked about how streets look ... mine is about how terrible they are (potholes, craters, road hazards).But, they are similar enough threads I suppose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Holmes Road between Almeda and S. Main used to be bad, but it seems like a lovely boulevard compared to Holly Hall.They've reconstructed it, and although it looks ugly, its a much easier drive than it had been.Cambridge is another street that I always have to be careful about. There's one pothole near the Kroger that the City has filled a number of times, but it just gets deeper and deeper. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Merged with existing topic, and moved thread to Traffic and Transportation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 Welch St east of Montrose, turning into Dennis St all the way to Bagby. Passes in front of the junk store (?), no way it has been maintained in the last 20 years. I haven't been by in a few months, maybe they snuck in there since then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houstonmacbro Posted May 26, 2008 Share Posted May 26, 2008 They've reconstructed it, and although it looks ugly, its a much easier drive than it had been.Cambridge is another street that I always have to be careful about. There's one pothole near the Kroger that the City has filled a number of times, but it just gets deeper and deeper.There used to be this awesome(ly dangerous) pothole on the south side of Richmond (maybe around the Momentum car dealership) that was just bad. Hit it and you'd have wobbly wheels for awhile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 Richmond has always been bad, as long as I can remember. The outer lanes tend to be so uneven that traffic is forced to the inner lanes. There are numerous smaller streets that have practically deteriorated into dirt roads. Part of Yupon comes to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted May 27, 2008 Share Posted May 27, 2008 Lets add York/Sampson to the list. It gets really bad right around McKinney. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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