Land West Of Katy

[Zapata]

Hello there..!!!

Can anyone advise where's a good place West of Katy to buy land...?? Let's say between Katy and Sealy..??

Thanks

[WesternGulf]

LOL. This is funny, because Houston seems like it actually stops sprawling past Katy. Isn't Katy like a stopping point? Beyond that seems rural. Sorry I am not an expert on this so I am probably not much help.

[TJones]

Look into Fulshear and Simonton. Reasonable stuff out there.

[Gary]

Brookshire isn't a bad bet either.

[Benson]

how much land and what use?

[Zapata]

how much land and what use?

How much land: Maybe 5 to 10 acres.... not sure about this.

Use:

1 - Build a small cottage/cabin (mobile or manufactured) as a "getaway" weekend place.

2 - Investment..??

[Montrose1100]

Once you get past the Katy Mills Mall, Houston seems to stop. Yeah you got the vacation motor home place, and the Stewart & Stevenson plant... and Sealy... But not much else out there.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

Don't think that the sprawl will end at Katy. There's no physical barrier that will keep development from stopping at Katy.

Waller County will be booming in a few years.

There are also developments planned around Fulshear and Sealy.

It's coming your way.

Just like development is spreading down 288 beyond Pearland, beyond Manvel, beyond Iowa Colony.

Just like development is spreading up I-45 north of The Woodlands into Conroe and points north.

Just like development has pushed past Sugar Land through Richmond-Rosenberg.

One wonders where the limit is...what's the limit of how far people will commute into town? I know of several people who commute in from Columbus every day.

[The Great Hizzy!]

Anti-sprawl, anti-suburban peeps will be disappointed to read this:

Fulshear's on its way. Already there are hundreds of homes slated for construction (some of which are already under construction) in large developments with numerous man-made lakes along FM 1093, about three miles east of Fulshear and maybe about three miles west of the Grand Parkway.

There's a protected bird sanctuary along I-10 just west of Katy and before you get to Brookshire, so that is a somewhat strong deterent to further westward development along that corridor. But FM 1093 is full systems go. And it's going. In fact, I could see the "need" to extend the West Park Tollway all the way out to Fulshear in about 15 years or less.

[TAK]

I know of several people who commute in from Columbus every day.

tell me this is an exaggeration. that is absolutely nuts.

[Zapata]

tell me this is an exaggeration. that is absolutely nuts.

WOW.....! I was thinking the same. Maybe 100 years from now it will be a huge Metroplex where San Antonio, Houston and Dallas/Ft. Wort will be one urban area with no land in between...!!!

[TheNiche]

tell me this is an exaggeration. that is absolutely nuts.

If you think that's bad, I know someone that commutes daily to an office on the Loop from a home just west of Independence, TX.

Anti-sprawl, anti-suburban peeps will be disappointed to read this:

Fulshear's on its way. Already there are hundreds of homes slated for construction (some of which are already under construction) in large developments with numerous man-made lakes along FM 1093, about three miles east of Fulshear and maybe about three miles west of the Grand Parkway.

There's a protected bird sanctuary along I-10 just west of Katy and before you get to Brookshire, so that is a somewhat strong deterent to further westward development along that corridor. But FM 1093 is full systems go. And it's going. In fact, I could see the "need" to extend the West Park Tollway all the way out to Fulshear in about 15 years or less.

Actually, the Katy EDC, Waller County, West Houston Assn., and a few other groups in the area have already drawn up proposed alignments for the extention of Westpark to Fulshear, where it would abruptly turn northward, connect with I-10 and provide Waller County a north/south axis. The justification: hurricane evacuation route and the next loop after the Grand Parkway.

Don't think that the sprawl will end at Katy. There's no physical barrier that will keep development from stopping at Katy.

Correct...however, as Houston builds out in concentric rings, each mile outward that we go takes in a geometrically-increasing portion of land. Our population growth is too slow to continue to push outward at the rates of the past.

There will always be outlier communities, of course, that get built far away from the path of development, but they're the exception, not the rule.

[desirous]

If you think that's bad, I know someone that commutes daily to an office on the Loop from a home just west of Independence, TX.

Actually, the Katy EDC, Waller County, West Houston Assn., and a few other groups in the area have already drawn up proposed alignments for the extention of Westpark to Fulshear, where it would abruptly turn northward, connect with I-10 and provide Waller County a north/south axis. The justification: hurricane evacuation route and the next loop after the Grand Parkway.

Correct...however, as Houston builds out in concentric rings, each mile outward that we go takes in a geometrically-increasing portion of land. Our population growth is too slow to continue to push outward at the rates of the past.

There will always be outlier communities, of course, that get built far away from the path of development, but they're the exception, not the rule.

Concentric rings become counter-productive at a point, when getting from one's home to the nearest spoke freeway is unacceptably inconvenient. Rather build another 10 miles out on I-10 than 10 miles from I-10 at the same radius.

One wonders where the limit is...what's the limit of how far people will commute into town? I know of several people who commute in from Columbus every day.

The furthest I knew was someone that commuted from Port Lavaca to Austin. Make sure your spouse doesn't work on the other side of the world, or both of you are in for long commutes.

[Trae]

Sprawl has already passed Katy with this, Firethorne and Westheimer Lakes.

[TheNiche]

Concentric rings become counter-productive at a point, when getting from one's home to the nearest spoke freeway is unacceptably inconvenient. Rather build another 10 miles out on I-10 than 10 miles from I-10 at the same radius.

The furthest I knew was someone that commuted from Port Lavaca to Austin. Make sure your spouse doesn't work on the other side of the world, or both of you are in for long commutes.

Concentric rings only become inefficient when the inbound/outbound connectors are insufficient to funnel traffic in the general direction of employment centers (i.e. the way that someone in Champions would take 249, then Beltway 8 to 290, then 610 to I-10, then to CBD, as opposed to having to go all the way to 225 or I-45 from Fairmont Pkwy at Beltway 8 before going in the correct direction).

Concentric rings also frequently serve to connect far-flung suburbs and edge cities on one side of the region to similarly far-flung suburbs on a different side of the region. That way, a husband and wife that work in The Woodlands and Katy can buy a home in the northwest area and use the Grand Parkway to most efficiently go their separate ways each day.

Also, they never really become counter-productive because buying a home 10 miles further out on I-10 is actually the exact same as buying a home 10 miles further out in a direction perpendicular to I-10. If it hadn't been for the ring, then the land further out away from I-10 wouldn't have been as accessible, and the same home built within 10 miles of the interchange would have to be built 11 to 20 miles west of the same interchange following the I-10 corridor alone. It's all geometry.

[Subdude]

A grid system is probably most efficient in terms of traffic distribution. The concentric ring system was designed back when it was assumed that downtown would remain the primary destination of traffic. Grids allow more optional routes, improving traffic flow, and don't necessary presuppose one dominant destination.

[desirous]

Concentric rings only become inefficient when the inbound/outbound connectors are insufficient to funnel traffic in the general direction of employment centers (i.e. the way that someone in Champions would take 249, then Beltway 8 to 290, then 610 to I-10, then to CBD, as opposed to having to go all the way to 225 or I-45 from Fairmont Pkwy at Beltway 8 before going in the correct direction).

Concentric rings also frequently serve to connect far-flung suburbs and edge cities on one side of the region to similarly far-flung suburbs on a different side of the region. That way, a husband and wife that work in The Woodlands and Katy can buy a home in the northwest area and use the Grand Parkway to most efficiently go their separate ways each day.

Also, they never really become counter-productive because buying a home 10 miles further out on I-10 is actually the exact same as buying a home 10 miles further out in a direction perpendicular to I-10. If it hadn't been for the ring, then the land further out away from I-10 wouldn't have been as accessible, and the same home built within 10 miles of the interchange would have to be built 11 to 20 miles west of the same interchange following the I-10 corridor alone. It's all geometry.

You can make 25 miles on I-10 in the same time it takes to make 10 miles on a concentric "local" road. A couple red lights and it's not "all geometry" any more. Given no traffic (i.e., after Katy Freeway construction finishes), 10 miles on I-10 equals 8 minutes, whereas 10 miles on a road like SH6 takes 20-25 minutes.

By the way, it takes 1 1/2 hours to get from Champions to downtown during morning rush hour. Maybe those residents would do better living on a spoke freeway. Kingwood is the same distance from downtown and the Eastex takes only 20 minutes to funnel them in.

[TheNiche]

You can make 25 miles on I-10 in the same time it takes to make 10 miles on a concentric "local" road. A couple red lights and it's not "all geometry" any more. Given no traffic (i.e., after Katy Freeway construction finishes), 10 miles on I-10 equals 8 minutes, whereas 10 miles on a road like SH6 takes 20-25 minutes.

By the way, it takes 1 1/2 hours to get from Champions to downtown during morning rush hour. Maybe those residents would do better living on a spoke freeway. Kingwood is the same distance from downtown and the Eastex takes only 20 minutes to funnel them in.

I didn't really have Highway 6 in mind. I consider that a failure of TXDoT because it wasn't built as a freeway/parkway. I'm really referring to freeway rings. And Champions is way out there; granted the freeway system could be considerably more efficient than it presently is, but those are mainly capacity issues relating to TXDoT's failures. The Eastex Freeway, on the other hand, is a TXDoT success, and that is why Kingwood has it so easy.

A grid system is probably most efficient in terms of traffic distribution. The concentric ring system was designed back when it was assumed that downtown would remain the primary destination of traffic. Grids allow more optional routes, improving traffic flow, and don't necessary presuppose one dominant destination.

True, but then our 'rings' seem to almost always have corners. I'd argue that what we have is a modified grid. True, the focus is on the CBD, but that also gives us diagonal connectors, which I view as efficient.

[desirous]

I didn't really have Highway 6 in mind. I consider that a failure of TXDoT because it wasn't built as a freeway/parkway. I'm really referring to freeway rings. And Champions is way out there; granted the freeway system could be considerably more efficient than it presently is, but those are mainly capacity issues relating to TXDoT's failures. The Eastex Freeway, on the other hand, is a TXDoT success, and that is why Kingwood has it so easy.

True that. However, some development simply ask for trouble. Look at West Houston west of BW8. Even if the Grand Parkway is completed, we still have a swath of residential areas the size of Oklahoma not properly served by freeways. The Westpark Tollway can't handle Barnum's circus troupe, much less a full-fledged rush hour invasion. Unless of course they expand the tollway atop Alief Clodine to 8 lanes.

[editor]

Actually, the Katy EDC, Waller County, West Houston Assn., and a few other groups in the area have already drawn up proposed alignments for the extention of Westpark to Fulshear, where it would abruptly turn northward, connect with I-10 and provide Waller County a north/south axis. The justification: hurricane evacuation route and the next loop after the Grand Parkway.

The next loop, eh? I think it's time we start coming up with a name for it.

The Loop..

Beltway 8..

Grand Parkway..

(insert your suggestion here).

The Prairie Parkway

The Katy Konnektor

Wallerwood

Flaming Ring Of Doom

Corruption Junction

[desirous]

Actually, the Katy EDC, Waller County, West Houston Assn., and a few other groups in the area have already drawn up proposed alignments for the extention of Westpark to Fulshear, where it would abruptly turn northward, connect with I-10 and provide Waller County a north/south axis. The justification: hurricane evacuation route and the next loop after the Grand Parkway.

By Westpark, do they mean Westpark Tollway? Westheimer already runs to Fulshear in a straight line.

[Trae]

^Yeah, Westpark Tollway.

[UrbaNerd]

The next loop, eh? I think it's time we start coming up with a name for it.

The Loop..

Beltway 8..

Grand Parkway..

(insert your suggestion here).

The Prairie Parkway

The Katy Konnektor

Wallerwood

Flaming Ring Of Doom

Corruption Junction

How about "The Landgrab Parkway"?

[TheNiche]

How about "The Landgrab Parkway"?

Nah, Landgrab implies the theft of peoples' land...but they generally donate it because it allows them to jack up the land values and sell out, making a lot of money.

Editor's idea of Corruption Junction was better...but its not a TXDoT project, so that discriptor doesn't apply quite as well. I could share a story to substantiate that, but it might make me a target of some kind.

Waller Parkway seems most likely. Waller County seems to be pushing hard.

[dbigtex56]

The next loop, eh? I think it's time we start coming up with a name for it.

The Loop..

Beltway 8..

Grand Parkway..

(insert your suggestion here).

The Prairie Parkway

The Katy Konnektor

Wallerwood

Flaming Ring Of Doom

Corruption Junction

The Road To Perdition (oh, wait...that one's been used)

The Atkins Prairie Chicken Memorial Parkway

The Big Yellow Taxi Tollroad (thank you, Joni Mitchell)

Sprawl Speedway

The Loopy Loop

[Montrose1100]

Inlightment of the "Space City", I think we should name the loops like this:

610 - Mercury

8 - Venus

G.P. - Earth

then Mars, Jupiter, Saturn... etc. But we should all pray it never gets to Pluto!!!

[TJones]

WOW.....! I was thinking the same. Maybe 100 years from now it will be a huge Metroplex where San Antonio, Houston and Dallas/Ft. Wort will be one urban area with no land in between...!!!

In 100 years, that is EXACTLY what you are gonna get, just look at the past 50 years in these two towns.

[Trae]

Inlightment of the "Space City", I think we should name the loops like this:

610 - Mercury

8 - Venus

G.P. - Earth

then Mars, Jupiter, Saturn... etc. But we should all pray it never gets to Pluto!!!

Hell yeah, and Downtown could be the Sun.

[Dominax]

GOOD ONE THOU Trae and Others

The Grand Parkway will be the final loop

As considering building more as the city gets bigger

Having more future freeway loops after the GPkwy won't really be go around the whole area because houston is on the edge of the GULF COAST it will just consider being a 3 quarter loop to be only from south i-45 all around to east i-10

But houston's metro could get 2 more after the Grand Parkway.

PICTURE sorry it came out so small the real size was much bigger than this.

[desirous]

GOOD ONE THOU Trae and Others

The Grand Parkway will be the final loop

As considering building more as the city gets bigger

Having more future freeway loops after the GPkwy won't really be go around the whole area because houston is on the edge of the GULF COAST it will just consider being a 3 quarter loop to be only from south i-45 all around to east i-10

But houston's metro could get 2 more after the Grand Parkway.

PICTURE sorry it came out so small the real size was much bigger than this.

Aw geez. The spokes can't handle these loops.