Dallas proposal to eliminate i-345 elevated through deep ellum/east downtown denied

[Hugh Stone]

This isn't an argument. This is more like teasing a cat with a ball of yarn than it is an argument. It's harmless and funny watching kitty spaz out over something he doesn't have the capacity to understand. 

 

Cutting a vital artery in the heart of downtown Houston that carries hundreds of thousands of cars per day with nothing to replace it is NOT an improvement. As an idea, it is idiotic, asinine and is so removed from the possibility of actually happening in the real world, a serious discussion on the idea wouldn't be taken any further than the dayroom of a lunatic asylum.

 

 

Go read the title of this thread. It's not happening in Dallas. It's not happening in Houston.

 

Clinging to the fantasy that one day you will wake up and all the freeways are going to magically disappear and and 6 million+ people are going to sell their cars to the junk yard and only use mass transportation in metro areas that span hundreds of square miles in every direction is borderline psychotic if were truly taken seriously by anyone. 

 

BTW, I'm not calling Slick Vic borderline psychotic. I don't even think he is taking the idea of removing the Pierce seriously. He just comes here for the attention. 

 

That reminds me, I need to pick up some kitty litter.

[dfwcre8tive]

The group that helped fund Klyde Warren Park has jumped on this as their next project.

 

TREC to fund study eyeing controversial I-345 project

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/03/12/trec-to-fund-study-eyeing-controversial-i-345.html

[IronTiger]

The group that helped fund Klyde Warren Park has jumped on this as their next project.

 

TREC to fund study eyeing controversial I-345 project

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2014/03/12/trec-to-fund-study-eyeing-controversial-i-345.html

I visited Klyde Warren Park, it was great. However, I doubt that it's particularly practical to remove I-345, and either way, I think that by the time they finish the study it will be too late (repaired or already well on that way). The reason why Klyde Warren Park worked out particularly well was twofold:

1) The highway was sunken, eliminating the extremely high price of actually digging out and sinking the road. What would be a major operation: digging out the highway, redirecting traffic, et cetera, et cetera, was already done decades before. Of course, the park wasn't exactly cheap but wasn't prohibitively expensive.

2) Traffic was not impeded for the most part (there may have been lane closures). If the idea had been to backfill or otherwise demolish the freeway (like what they want to do to 345), then there would be some difficulty since it's still a major thoroughfare and lots of cars use it.

P.S.: I used your Dallas tunnel map, it was great! While I still prefer Houston's tunnel system hands down, it helped me navigate to the Chick-fil-A in the Renaissance Tower food court.

[JLWM8609]

Here's an article about who uses I-345.

http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/04/where-they-come-from-where-they-go-on-i-345.html/

[IronTiger]

Here's an article about who uses I-345.

http://transportationblog.dallasnews.com/2014/04/where-they-come-from-where-they-go-on-i-345.html/

Yup. I feel like people seem so enamored with the idea of connecting the two parts of Dallas with the park are forgetting that highways still have a purpose, and that Woodall Rodgers Freeway wasn't actually affected very much as a throughfare.

[JLWM8609]

In this article on Texas transportation, the author states that highways like I-45 are a necessary regional link, but then advocates for the demolition of I-345 and mentions that he was one of the individuals that pushed for its demolition. How do you support necessary regional links and also support tearing down the connections to those very regional links?

 

http://tribtalk.org/2014/06/22/why-the-fate-of-a-dallas-highway-matters-to-all-texans/

[JLWM8609]

So now, they also want to eliminate parts of I-45 and I-30.

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/blog/morning_call/2015/02/business-leaders-form-pac-to-inject-i-345-teardown.html?s=image_gallery

[IronTiger]

I see that part of the plan as they see it includes adding a highway to the southeast.

[cloud713]

It looks like the "new highway" to the southeast is just a redirection of 345 through the MixMaster and under Klyde Warren, both of which seem almost impossible to accommodate.

[JasnoDTX]

Looks interesting. Might give the CBD extra breathing room to grow. I like the idea.

 

Tired of too many damn freeways, Thats what messed up things to begin with.

[mollusk]

IDK - ever been on Atlanta's Downtown Connector? 

[cloud713]

yeah the Atlanta downtown connector is horrible. hopefully Houstons i45 rerouting doesnt pose the same problems.

[ADCS]

yeah the Atlanta downtown connector is horrible. hopefully Houstons i45 rerouting doesnt pose the same problems.

 

Don't think it would - Atlanta's Downtown Connector is much longer, mixes traffic, and has several more major intersections than what currently exists in Downtown Houston. From the posted schematics, it appears that traffic on 45 would stay separate from 59/69 traffic.

[cloud713]

yeah thats what i was hoping and thinking too. having all the highways merge together as one big mass through the middle of the city ended up being a total cluster **** for Atlanta.

though it looks like this Dallas idea would be another downtown connector waiting to happen if it just dumps the 45 traffic onto 35, having to weave through the mix master and somehow squeeze the new lanes for additional capacity through the tunnel below Klyde Warren Park/downtown/uptown. way too many obstacles for anything of the sort to ever be feasible IMO. i feel like their only viable shot is trenching/decking 345.

[IronTiger]

345 trenched with attractive bridges wouldn't be all that bad in terms of traffic feasibility and aesthetics, plus no flooding problems like in Houston.