j_cuevas713 Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, GrapefruitTea said: Found this in recent Midtown MRA meeting. Sounds like Midtown and Montrose are planning to join Upper Kirby in applying for grant funding for W Alabama reconstruction along the entire corridor. Would be amazing if they can get it done. see @ 1:16:09 Yeah Council Member Abbie Kamin said this would help expedite the improvements instead of placing it back on the CIP list and hoping for funding. What I found really exciting about this meeting was the survey they did for Midtown residents. It amazes me the culture shift in thinking that has happened the past 20 years. When the community is saying they want more bike lanes, more transit, more walkability, more density then we are heading in the right direction. And for the community to want less parking or more market based parking is just mind blowing, in a good way. @Ross Thought I'd tag you to mess with you Ross 😄 Edited February 15, 2022 by j_cuevas713 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted February 15, 2022 Share Posted February 15, 2022 (edited) they really need to rethink this street. especially East of Shepherd. I picked up my daughter from daycare on Friday, and rather than hopping on freeways, we decided to take a leisurely drive down West Alabama into midtown. this was in afternoon traffic (and according to google maps, only cost me about 3 minutes vs freeways). anyway, the way the lanes were signaled, there should have been 2 lanes being used for westbound, and 1 for eastbound, aka, the suicide lane was dedicated westbound traffic. I would say 1 out of 20 cars were using the middle lane as an actual westbound lane? everyone else was just sitting behind every other car in the right most lane. I tried to have a teaching moment with my daughter for the eventuality of when she becomes a driver herself. I described the situation (since she wasn't seated in a position to see the scenario) and followed up that she needs to be observant so she can take full advantage of the road as it is offered to her. I'm not sure how much of it sunk in since she's just 3 months old, but I tried. Edited February 15, 2022 by samagon 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfastx Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 Some of the lights that indicate the status of the reversible lane are faulty which creates a very dangerous situation IMO. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 (edited) there is certainly that. at the same time, I did the same commute yesterday, and there is definitely a light at W.Alabama and Montrose that designates no left turn, it was on and working. yet there were two cars sitting in the oncoming lane trying to turn left. whether it's unobservant drivers, or bad signaling, it is dangerous, and I'd say a failed experiment. Edited February 16, 2022 by samagon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 (edited) I drive on W. Alabama almost daily. The original reason for the contra flow lights was that 59/69 was under construction. So in order to somewhat relieve traffic in the area they used W. Alabama. I feel that new residents to Houston don't know what should be done will driving on the street and the lights and signs are not working or missing. Morning rush gets 2 lanes into town and evening rush gets 2 lanes outbound. Lots of people don't know this. http://swamplot.com/the-swamplot-award-for-special-achievement-in-traffic-the-official-2012-ballot/2012-12-14/ Edited February 17, 2022 by hindesky 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samagon Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 yep, I recall the reason for the implementation, and the signs they do have don't exactly explain it well, there are signs that say 'center lane reverse lane' which means the center lane can carry reversible traffic. anyway, it's way beyond now and hopefully it's fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freundb Posted February 16, 2022 Share Posted February 16, 2022 7 hours ago, hindesky said: I drive on W. Alabama almost daily. The original reason for the contact flow lights was that 59/69 was under construction. So in order to somewhat relieve traffic in the area they used W. Alabama. I feel that new residents to Houston don't know what should be done will driving on the street and the lights and signs are not working or missing. Morning rush gets 2 lanes into town and evening rush gets 2 lanes outbound. Lots of people don't know this. http://swamplot.com/the-swamplot-award-for-special-achievement-in-traffic-the-official-2012-ballot/2012-12-14/ I unfortunately was that person. Like within two weeks of moving here I tried turning left from the middle lane when I wasn't supposed to. I realized my mistake fairly quickly and the lady driving directly at me made sure I wouldn't forget my error. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 (edited) Grabbed these screen slides from the Neartown Online Feb. 2022 Zoom Meeting about the reconstruction of W. Alabama from S.Shepherd to Spur 527. I also learned that the current configuration has been existing for 20 yrs and was done to alleviate traffic when TXDOT was redoing HW59/69 Spur 527. It used to have bike lanes and no middle turn lane. They also took out a stop sign at Garrott St. https://www.neartown.org/minutes-archive Edited March 24, 2022 by hindesky 5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 Wow they aren't wasting time. I seriously thought we wouldn't see stuff like this for another year at least. The only piece left is Upper Kirby. I'm literally a block away from Shepherd on W Alabama. I hope they start this section once Shepherd is done. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted March 23, 2022 Share Posted March 23, 2022 2 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said: Wow they aren't wasting time. I seriously thought we wouldn't see stuff like this for another year at least. The only piece left is Upper Kirby. I'm literally a block away from Shepherd on W Alabama. I hope they start this section once Shepherd is done. They didn't mention a timeline but they need to finish the Wesleyen to Buffalo Speedway section first and I suspect they will then do the Buffalo Spdwy to Shepherd after that. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted February 1, 2023 Share Posted February 1, 2023 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted July 30, 2023 Share Posted July 30, 2023 The W. Alabama project from Weslayan to Buffalo Speedway is almost finished, mostly just curbs and sidewalks left to go. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_cuevas713 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Upper Kirby plans to start on their sections in Summer 2024 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hindesky Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeerNut Posted January 30 Share Posted January 30 I'm so ready for them to fix this street. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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