Trophy Property Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 This was emailed to me, I have no idea where this article came from , but it is pretty interesting. Construction Boom: 1 Million SF in Park 10 More than 1 million sf of commercial construction is underway in the Park 10 Regional Business Center, a business park along Interstate 10 near Highway 6 and Barker-Cypress. The construction activity began to surge late in 2005 and it continued to build momentum during the first quarter of 2006, according to Wolff Cos., the developer of Park 10. According to Wolff, new projects either underway or soon to be announced, include: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 There are three mid-size office buildings currently under construction here, one of which is pretty close to completion, another which is about 50% complete and one that's only recently broken ground. There are also plans to build a branch of the Texas Children's Clinic (or something similarly named) on a huge swath of land ont he western boundary of Barker-Cypress Road. In addition, construction is underway on new structures in the Westlake office development east of Hwy 6 and in between I-10 and Memorial Drive.The Energy Corridor really is cooking with gas right now, which could only escalate once the I-10 @ Hwy 6 mega-interchange is completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted June 2, 2006 Share Posted June 2, 2006 When is Bally going to be completed? Also, I have seen the construction sign for the Texas Children's Hostpital for over a year now. When will construction start on that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 Smith International is expanding their Headquarters, which was moved from Louisiana Place (downtown) 4-5 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 This should prove to be very interesting by the fact that it seems like with the increased construction practically is a cinch that the Katy freeway will be at capacity the moment the construction is completed. The question is will they continue to simply build on the north side of I-10 and potentially displace the majority of the apartments that are there? If not, then are they eventually going to build on the south side (and more affluent) of I10?As far as the HWY6-I-10 interchange, I never seen any mention of this anywhere, how massive is this supposed to be? With the congestion that is bound to happen in the coming years, substantial improvements shoul be made on that intersection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 Expansion to the south side of I-10 is not possible until Greenhouse Road. The Barker R, sits to the immediate south of the freeway from Highway 6 to close to Barker Cypress. And the Highway 6 interchange: Before After Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 Wow, that's one HUGE scar. Is that 19 lanes including the feeder?Of course, this will just encourage more development further out and more and more suburban office complexes. Building bigger freeways isn't the long term solution. AND, what the hell is going to happen to the Katy Prairie? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted June 3, 2006 Share Posted June 3, 2006 I counted 20 lanes of traffic movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston1stWordOnTheMoon Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 Building bigger freeways isn't the long term solution. AND, what the hell is going to happen to the Katy Prairie?The bigger freeways will also serve as improved evacuation avenues.......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 ^^Yeah, imagine all of those 20 lanes reversed for an evacuation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarthaG Posted June 4, 2006 Share Posted June 4, 2006 ^^Yeah, imagine all of those 20 lanes reversed for an evacuation. Forget Dallas, we will be going to San Antonio! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 The bigger freeways will also serve as improved evacuation avenues.......... Sure, right up until you get to the Austin County line... Bottleneck. Under the same pretense, there is a plan being pushed by the Katy EDC and West Houston Assn. to extend the Westpark Toll Road north along the western periphery of the Fullbrook development to IH-10 in Waller County and ultimately up to SH 290. Same problem, though. I'd much rather see them take Westpark to Eagle Lake, intersecting with US 90A if that's going to be their rationale. AND, what the hell is going to happen to the Katy Prairie? It will be developed because people evidently want to live there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Great. We should always let people (developers) do what they want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 5, 2006 Share Posted June 5, 2006 Great. We should always let people (developers) do what they want. Couldn't agree with you more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooner&RiceGrad Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Forget Dallas, we will be going to San Antonio! Hell yeah now I can't wait to move back in time for the next hurricane. Actually the funny thing about that freeway is that I knew a guy who's kids were going to an exclusive private school that was going to be mowed over by that new freeway expansion. I do wonder where the old Rainard School moved to... Texas just aint Texas anymore. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trophy Property Posted June 7, 2006 Author Share Posted June 7, 2006 I love those renderings. I know Kinkaid Alum is not happy with 19 -20 lanes and does not think it is a solution. I disagree. The traffic along that stretch is horrible and the capacity if way overused. There needed to be an expansion of the Katy Freeway in a bad way. I am not sure what other choice there was. Remember, we can't go back in time and pretend that all the development that occured out West never happened. It did and we need to provide for better transportation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooner&RiceGrad Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 Agreed.But notice how they did not bother to show the rendering during any real scenario. Lunch through the evening. Funny, it must be one of those Aurora Borealis type things. That rendering is clearly at Midnight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 I most like the smaller detention pond next to the Waffle House. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooner&RiceGrad Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 It'll probably smell like Waffles before too long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KinkaidAlum Posted June 7, 2006 Share Posted June 7, 2006 The Katy Freeway was way too small. The traffic was horrendous. It must be a nightmare for most folks.However, adding 20 lanes of concrete is just a quick fix. Does anyone really think that in 2 years, there wont be traffic on this monster? Developers are already licking their collective chops as they head West towards Sealy!Additionally, the flooding problems the greater Houston area has witnessed over the last decade will just worsen as we pave over the Katy Prairie with freeways, grand parkways, cinco ranches, and pod site restaurants (not to mention the raping of the piney woods in the Northern reaches and stilting of the coastal prairies). A retention pond next to a Waffle House just wont help much...I guess my main issue is, in five years, when 20 lanes are chocked with traffic instead of 10, what do we do then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trophy Property Posted June 8, 2006 Author Share Posted June 8, 2006 The Katy Freeway was way too small. The traffic was horrendous. It must be a nightmare for most folks.However, adding 20 lanes of concrete is just a quick fix. Does anyone really think that in 2 years, there wont be traffic on this monster? Developers are already licking their collective chops as they head West towards Sealy!Additionally, the flooding problems the greater Houston area has witnessed over the last decade will just worsen as we pave over the Katy Prairie with freeways, grand parkways, cinco ranches, and pod site restaurants (not to mention the raping of the piney woods in the Northern reaches and stilting of the coastal prairies). A retention pond next to a Waffle House just wont help much...I guess my main issue is, in five years, when 20 lanes are chocked with traffic instead of 10, what do we do then?Make it 40 lanes???? Just Kidding. I do not have a legit answer for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 There is no fool-proof answer. Throwing dozens of trains won't be a cure-all either. It will take some revolutionary thinking. The fundamental problem, of which urbanists and suburbanists both have to concede, is that when you take a large number of people and have them move towards a small, centralized area at the same time, you're going to have congestion. Take the dynamics of a football game at Reliant Stadium. Notice the logjam and traffic required to enter the stadium over that 90-min stretch before kickoff? Why? Because you have thousands of people all trying to head into a smaller area at the same time. The dynamics of Katyland commuters wouldn't change if they lived with four miles of downtown or Uptown, they'd still have traffic. Granted, their commute times MIGHT be shorter because the distance traveled is shorter. Or maybe not. New York is a solid example of how even mass transit doesn't necessary eliminate travel time during rush hours, even with shorter distances. Congestion is the problem, and it's a very difficult one to solve completely. Of course, the easy solution in a perfect world would be for everyone to work at home, but that sure ain't gonna happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sooner&RiceGrad Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 The Katy Freeway was way too small. The traffic was horrendous. It must be a nightmare for most folks.However, adding 20 lanes of concrete is just a quick fix. Does anyone really think that in 2 years, there wont be traffic on this monster? Developers are already licking their collective chops as they head West towards Sealy!Additionally, the flooding problems the greater Houston area has witnessed over the last decade will just worsen as we pave over the Katy Prairie with freeways, grand parkways, cinco ranches, and pod site restaurants (not to mention the raping of the piney woods in the Northern reaches and stilting of the coastal prairies). A retention pond next to a Waffle House just wont help much...I guess my main issue is, in five years, when 20 lanes are chocked with traffic instead of 10, what do we do then?We all get in our spacecars and rename Houston Jetsons City is what we do! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 The Katy Freeway was way too small. The traffic was horrendous. It must be a nightmare for most folks.However, adding 20 lanes of concrete is just a quick fix. Does anyone really think that in 2 years, there wont be traffic on this monster? Developers are already licking their collective chops as they head West towards Sealy! Additionally, the flooding problems the greater Houston area has witnessed over the last decade will just worsen as we pave over the Katy Prairie with freeways, grand parkways, cinco ranches, and pod site restaurants (not to mention the raping of the piney woods in the Northern reaches and stilting of the coastal prairies). A retention pond next to a Waffle House just wont help much... I guess my main issue is, in five years, when 20 lanes are chocked with traffic instead of 10, what do we do then? Developers have recognized that detention ponds (which weren't built along with older suburbs, creating the runoff problem) can double as an amenity. They can be duck ponds or can have soccer/football/baseball fields in them that are temporarily submerged in a storm. Some developers have even stocked detention ponds with bass and put in small piers for fishermen. Also note that the Katy prairie drains into Addicks Reservoir, which can further limit the amount of water emptied into the Buffalo Bayou during a storm...so there is double-redundancy in the detention of runoff. I can't speak to the "raping" of the piney woods...I don't swing that way, personally. ...sure gives a new dimension to the phrase "tree hugging". And as for there being traffic on the new and improved Katy in two years...I'd hope that there is traffic immediately...that's kind of the point of a freeway: to effectively handle large volumes of vehicular traffic. Even if there is some rush-hour congestion here and there, you have to realize that it is occuring because people are less apt to take alternate routes...so there is still less congestion on Memorial Drive, Westview, and other alternates because the Katy would be able to handle so much more traffic without becoming bongested. In 20 to 30 years, when even the new capacity is overwhelmed and both sides of the freeway have been so thoroughly built out that expanding the ROW is not practical, we could start looking at double-decking, installing 'parkway-like' improvements to Memorial Drive, Briar Forest, San Felipe, Woodway, Long Point, and Clay. We can also start looking at hotlinks, like those along the West Loop, as conceptual alternatives where practical. And if all of the cheapest and most flexible alternatives fail, I think that it'd be ok to even consider converting the entire Interstate to toll and running commuter rail in a raised platform down the median, if that'd do the trick. But we've got a long way to go before then...the cost of operating ultralight aircraft is actually relatively low and they require relatively little room for takeoff/landing...who knows...perhaps in 10 to 20 years a multi-level airport/parking garage downtown could accomodate commuters from all over southeast Texas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
houston-development Posted June 8, 2006 Share Posted June 8, 2006 I can't speak to the "raping" of the piney woods...I don't swing that way, personally. ...sure gives a new dimension to the phrase "tree hugging". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 You have to remember, when the LAST widening of I-10 was done and completed, traffic was terrific....for about 2 years. then you get the state of what it is now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 ...because the Katy would be able to handle so much more traffic without becoming bongested.That happened at a party I was at several years ago. Too many people trying to hit the bong at the same time, so it became bongested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 You have to remember, when the LAST widening of I-10 was done and completed, traffic was terrific....for about 2 years. then you get the state of what it is now.Yes, but as I addressed in my post, the new freeway traffic is coming off of slower alternate routes, clearing them up to a great extent so that getting around within the neighborhood is easier. This pattern was discussed in one of my economics courses at UH several years ago. Just because the one freeway still looks pretty bad doesn't mean that the side streets aren't significantly better off or that the social good generated by the new freeway has been negated.Perhaps more importantly, it opens up a vast supply of heretofore inconvenient land to new markets, and all at once. Less expensive land means less expensive homes means an improved standard of living. This new traffic that will be introduced to the Katy Frwy. slowly over a period of many years will indeed congest the freeway and alternate routes again at some point down the line...but that's just a signal that another round of roadbuilding has become necessary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westguy Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I heard that the Katy prarie was the stopping point for virtually all migratory birds in North & South America. They can all go to Hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted June 9, 2006 Share Posted June 9, 2006 I heard that the Katy prarie was the stopping point for virtually all migratory birds in North & South America. They can all go to Hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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