Guest Plastic Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Houston has 3 tollways. 1 has busineses along it(BW8). The Westpark doesn't cause it's new.(exlcuding prior businesses). That leaves The Hardy. The Hardy Toll Road has been around for about 20 years. As you drive along it outside of 1 gas station there's not 1 single bussiness down it. My question is why. There are tons of people whom travel down it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Marty Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Houston has 3 tollways. 1 has busineses along it(BW8). The Westpark doesn't cause it's new.(exlcuding prior businesses). That leaves The Hardy. The Hardy Toll Road has been around for about 20 years. As you drive along it outside of 1 gas station there's not 1 single bussiness down it. My question is why. There are tons of people whom travel down it. That's because people have been living there for over 50 years. Do you thank they should move because you need to buy something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Houston has 3 tollways. 1 has busineses along it(BW8). The Westpark doesn't cause it's new.(exlcuding prior businesses). That leaves The Hardy. The Hardy Toll Road has been around for about 20 years. As you drive along it outside of 1 gas station there's not 1 single bussiness down it. My question is why. There are tons of people whom travel down it.A friend's parents have a machine shop there. It has been there since the 60's. Remember that was basically an industrial corridor because the rail that was there. After the toll road went it, the businesses that remain tend to be industrial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Answer: The Beltway has frontage roads. The other two do not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjetexas Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Is the Hardy really all that utilized outside of rush hour? I thought it was a money loser overall (compared to the beltway which is heavily used 24/7). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Plastic Posted September 26, 2006 Share Posted September 26, 2006 Answer: The Beltway has frontage roads. The other two do not.The Hardy does have frontage roads.And I'd think it'd get more used than The Belt since it leads straight to the suburbs and not going between highways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double L Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 I think the answer is that there isn't enough traffic and it's tolled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Plastic Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 Why wouldn't alot of people take Hardy when The North Freeway backs up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 Why wouldn't alot of people take Hardy when The North Freeway backs up.I take it every morning going from downtown to IAH - there is hardly any traffic - compared to 45, it's like having my own freeway !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 Why wouldn't alot of people take Hardy when The North Freeway backs up.They do...look at this morning's traffic, 3 wrecks on the north freeway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 The Hardy does have frontage roads.And I'd think it'd get more used than The Belt since it leads straight to the suburbs and not going between highways.Look again. The Hardy does not have frontage roads in any meaningful way, and certainly does not have continuous frontage roads or frontage roads in areas that would be most likely-to-be-developed (i.e., the areas not previously developed).As to your presumption about usage: The actual usage of the Beltway once again goes to disprove the myth that there is no demand for suburb-to-suburb commuting (see discussions regarding the Grand Parkway). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Plastic Posted September 27, 2006 Share Posted September 27, 2006 If the Hardy doesn't backup why does The Westpark Tollway?The Hardy does have Frontage roads inside The Belt. No traffic lights at alot of intersections. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted September 28, 2006 Share Posted September 28, 2006 If the Hardy doesn't backup why does The Westpark Tollway?Most of it is the horribly designed interchange at the beltway I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Montrose1100 Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 (edited) Well, I don't know many people that need to stop for gas/food/buy stuff on the Hardy Toll Road since it is just a relief for 45. And its not even that long. edit: Beltway 8 is not a tollway, It is a continous road around Houston ("Sam Houston Parkway" is the freeway sections of the beltway 8), and it is the "frontage roads" of the Sam Houston tollway. The Sam Houston Tollway starts from I-45 all way down to Blackhawk Blvd. Then it becomes Sam Houston Parkway - same thing as beltway 8.Also, westpark is only 2-4 lanes across. Hardy is 4-6.Next stupid question... Edited October 13, 2006 by Montrose1100 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted September 29, 2006 Share Posted September 29, 2006 If the Hardy doesn't backup why does The Westpark Tollway?The Hardy does have Frontage roads inside The Belt. No traffic lights at alot of intersections.The Hardy dumps people onto a segment of the 610 Loop that doesn't congest as frequently as does the Southwest Freeway. Also, much of Westpark's traffic gets dumped onto the street near the Galleria area.Roads and freeways operate as systems, not individual segments. The Westpark is proof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaTrain Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 (edited) Houston has 3 tollways. 1 has busineses along it(BW8). The Westpark doesn't cause it's new.(exlcuding prior businesses). That leaves The Hardy. The Hardy Toll Road has been around for about 20 years. As you drive along it outside of 1 gas station there's not 1 single bussiness down it. My question is why. There are tons of people whom travel down it. You're just asking for trouble. The Hardy is one of few scenic highways Houston has; we're not gonna clutter up the greenery just so you can get a bite to eat or fill up your tank. It's bad enough Pierce Elevated has the tallest McDonald's sign that nobody can get to without gettin lost on the nearest exit one mile away. Why go through the trouble of paying an extra $3 exit and enter thru toll plaza to do all that? Go to the HCTRA and ask if maybe they'll build a travel center in the middle of the road full of gift shops, lavatories, food and gas places a.l.a the Florida Turnpike, PA Turnpike, wherever. Too bad TxDot closed down them rest areas in Baytown on I-10 just to give hotels more money for ppl to sleep for $50 an hour to discourage broke travelers from sleepin in them rest areas for FREE in their cars. They widen the road and don't care about rest stops. Edited October 13, 2006 by DaTrain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaTrain Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 If the Hardy doesn't backup why does The Westpark Tollway?The Westpark Tollway backsup because of all these reasons:1. METRO didn't know any better because they punked out of putting a rail line because of somebody else's car fueling politics. So they sold half the land for WPTW. Union Pacific already had a rail line along Hardy, so they were cool with building the Hardy on both sides a.l.a. Mopac in Austin.2. WPTW was poorly designed. Why the hell can't buildings on Westpark DRIVE be demolished for a frontage road runnin west? WPTW coulda been six to eight lanes, swallowing Westpark Drive whole for a better design of the Tollway.3. WPTW terminates with POST OAK BOULEVARD in Uptown where traffic snarls like a monster all hours of the day. The tollway only made things in Uptown worse and doesn't care. This, after 59 crosses over it the first time and doesn't even know it until the Westpark monster bridge humpover the Drive and the easily floodable trenched Tollway. HTR doesn't have this problem because of 59 and 45, and ppl between DT and 610 have a third choice of taking the Elysian/Hardy Street backroads to and from downtown by way of the unknown Elysian Street Viaduct. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin Posted October 13, 2006 Share Posted October 13, 2006 2. WPTW was poorly designed. Why the hell can't buildings on Westpark DRIVE be demolished for a frontage road runnin west? WPTW coulda been six to eight lanes, swallowing Westpark Drive whole for a better design of the Tollway.HCTRA doesn't build feeder roads since you can't toll them. It would be up to TxDOT to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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