Traffic; it's getting worse. Have you noticed?

[Guest danax]

Worsening traffic is one of those things that creeps up on you slowly, like aging.

My evening commute for going on 3 years, from I-10 and Shepherd-Durham to Gulf Fwy at Broad , has noticibly worsened. Baring traffic events, the front part of the commute seems to have started backing up before I get on recently, whereas I used to have clear sailing until close to DT and the Gulf Fwy. portion is now backing up between Telephone and Wayside, whereas it used to start backing up between Woodridge and 610. School sessions only seem to make a minor difference. That's 3 exits in less than 3 years. At this rate, it'll be bumper to bumper for me by 2010.

So we're all going to likely live to see the day when rush hour means stop and go the whole way, in most cases, all across town. Will we get more rail, buses, freeways or just higher inner-loop housing prices and less free time? I'd say none of the above will make much difference.

[WesternGulf]

It really is and I am not on any sort of agenda here. Every time I go to my mother's house, I am taking all type of alternative roots, every turn, not freeways but streets, are packed. Granted I usually leave around 6:00.

[nmainguy]

Will we get more rail, buses, freeways or just higher inner-loop housing prices and less free time. I'd say none of the above will make much difference.

The only thing I can quarantee that we will get is no more new HOV lanes and an increase of particulants in the air; an increase in the suffering of those with asthma and emphysema with the possiblity of early death; hours of lost quality time with your family and yourself.

So you could move away to the deepest woods you can find. Give up your home, job and friends. But you still have no choice when it comes to breathing air...unless you choose not to.

R.I.P.

[mpbro]

Heavy traffic's the sign of a good economy, and it can work in reverse. I lived in the SF Bay area until 2004. In 1999, freeways were packed. In 2001, the same commute was smooth sailing. So as you stew in gridlocked traffic day after day (as I do) enjoy the silver lining: rising property values, full employment, etc.

[TheNiche]

The only thing I can quarantee that we will get is no more new HOV lanes and an increase of particulants in the air; an increase in the suffering of those with asthma and emphysema with the possiblity of early death; hours of lost quality time with your family and yourself.

So you could move away to the deepest woods you can find. Give up your home, job and friends. But you still have no choice when it comes to breathing air...unless you choose not to.

R.I.P.

Along the Katy Freeway, we're getting bidirectional HOT lanes. The Hempstead Corridor will have a toll road (possibly HOT), and the South Freeway has plenty of room for expansion. Even the North Freeway and Hardy are going to get redesigned, with the Hardy being extended south to downtown and north to possibly Conroe. And don't forget about the proposed Alvin Freeway, the Highway 90 extension to the 610 Loop, the Fort Bend Toll Road connection to S. Post Oak., or the expressway along US 90A to Sugar Land. Westpark also has the adjacent and unused corridor that could be used in the future. And of course, the grand-daddy of them all, the Grand Parkway.

We've still got a good bit of room for road expansion, but if the economy keeps booming like it is, we could start to exhaust our expansion potentials sooner than not.

[Mr. Chenevert]

I drive 30 miles from midtown to Louetta and 249 each morning and back again... usually takes me 26-30 minutes. Got a lot better once 59 was finished.

[Scharpe St Guy]

I get on 45 at Cullen and head towards Kirkwood and Westheimer in the mornings. My morning commute is not bad and has improved since completion of the 59 work. Morning commute is approx 20minutes.

Going home though using the same route is a totally different story though. Approx 40-1hr to get home and it got worse after completion of 59 if that could be true. The three lanes headed past the spur get backed sometimes all the way to Buffalo Speedway or even past that. It binds up where 288 and 59 meet where it becomes two lanes going through. I would imagine that intersection will be the next one reworked.

But yes I agree traffic is getting much worse here in town. If they would be a little stricter on who could drive or shoot even devise a system to crack down on uninsured drivers and get them off the road then traffic would be a breeze.

My .02cents,

Scharpe St Guy

I drive 30 miles from midtown to Louetta and 249 each morning and back again... usually takes me 26-30 minutes. Got a lot better once 59 was finished.

[GhostDog]

I will say that traffic is pretty bad in Houston- worse than most cities i've visited and lived in.

I would love for the freeways and city streets to be traffic and mainly construction free...

that being said- outside of just b!tching to b!tch traffic is what big cities are all about.

the nice thing about houston is that in the areas that are construction free traffic is only really obnoxious during rush hour...

so in that aspect houston traffic really isn't that bad.

most cities aren't that bad.

Cities like LA have bad traffic anytime of the day anywhere in the city...Houston really is not even close to that bad.

LA's got 15 million living in there and probably has several million tourists at any given time patrolling the highways and streets of LA.

Houston fortunately for traffic reasons has very little tourism...

[Pumapayam]

I am fortunate to have the opposite drive.

I live/play around uptown and work in Sugar Land. Hopping on 59 S from Chimney Rock to exit about a mile past Beltway 8 is about 9-12 minutes. The best part about it is that I always am going against the flow of traffic and always get to drive the speed limit.

[ssullivan]

I'm lucky. I usually only drive in Houston on weekends when traffic isn't an issue. The only time I have a problem with Houston traffic is when I book a flight out of town on Monday that leaves IAH around 6:00-7:30, which puts me in the evening rush hour traffic. As long as the planes are taking off on time at IAH, my commute is relatively traffic free.

[sevfiv]

i have noticed the traffic on 59 heading north on many occasions, usually while on kirby, shepherd, or somewhere around there. looks terrible!

thank goodness i don't take freeways anymore (except to get out of town).

[TJones]

I have only noticed that it is Hit or Miss at about 8:30am around Hwy.6 and Clay then Hwy.6 at I-10. Somedays, NOBODY at all, then somedays it's backed up all the way to Clay on Hwy.6 trying to get to I-10. From there it looks like everyone is trying to go east into H-town, I have to head out to Katy in the mornings. So I miss the rest of it. Lucky me. So, on the days it IS clogged, it is about a 10 minute delay at most.

Edited December 15, 2006 by TJones

[westguy]

Last time I went to the airport I took BW8 and had to go through three toll plazas. Each was backed up for a least a mile.

[lockmat]

The only way this question is relevant is that it's about traffic.

Do one way roads increase or decrease the amount of traffic? Does anyone know why they're normally only seen in dense urban areas?

Edited December 15, 2006 by lockmat

[musicman]

I get on 45 at Cullen and head towards Kirkwood and Westheimer in the mornings. My morning commute is not bad and has improved since completion of the 59 work. Morning commute is approx 20minutes.

Going home though using the same route is a totally different story though. Approx 40-1hr to get home and it got worse after completion of 59 if that could be true. The three lanes headed past the spur get backed sometimes all the way to Buffalo Speedway or even past that. It binds up where 288 and 59 meet where it becomes two lanes going through. I would imagine that intersection will be the next one reworked.

But yes I agree traffic is getting much worse here in town. If they would be a little stricter on who could drive or shoot even devise a system to crack down on uninsured drivers and get them off the road then traffic would be a breeze.

My .02cents,

Scharpe St Guy

SSG, try getting off at the downtown spur and take travis to pierce and get back on the gulf freeway southbound. It is less stressful because traffic is actually moving

The only way this question is relevant is that it's about traffic.

Do one way roads increase or decrease the amount of traffic? Does anyone know why they're normally only seen in dense urban areas?

I think they're used to prevent the congestion due to making LH turns.

[Trae]

Well the completed Katy freeway is smooth sailing until you go over Barker Cypress (my pops says). Hopefully when they get this whole thing complete, traffic will lighten up a bit (but property values will rise).

Off topic, but one thing that I do like with the Katy Freeway is the newly planted trees. They have some medium-sized ones. They will look good in ten years.

[Guest Marty]

The county is widing Aldine Westfield hopefully that will help some.

[houstonfella]

Commute

Houston and Dallas are vying for around 5th in worst traffic. Now, all those folks who say "Houston has no rail and yada yada yada ..... it seems to make little difference because New York and D.C. and Atlanta have lots of rail." Yet, Texas cities (Dallas has spent lots of money on rail and isn't better off than Houston in traffic); so, conclusion, it takes more than trains to move the masses. I am happy that Houston's HOV lanes move people and its 7.5 rail system is really used a lot. Yeah, we'll get more rail here, but Houston is far from being the worst in traffic. OK. That still doesn't make us happy when we sit on the fwy. after an accident and are cranky when we get home. But, hey, it could be worse. We could be NY, DC or Atlanta.

[desirous]

Reverse commuting from DT on 59SW is still a simple business. Outbound in the morning is deserted; northbound is clogged in the evening, but the leftmost lane clears up fairly early, somewhere around Mandell.

[VelvetJ]

Commute

Houston and Dallas are vying for around 5th in worst traffic. Now, all those folks who say "Houston has no rail and yada yada yada ..... it seems to make little difference because New York and D.C. and Atlanta have lots of rail." Yet, Texas cities (Dallas has spent lots of money on rail and isn't better off than Houston in traffic); so, conclusion, it takes more than trains to move the masses. I am happy that Houston's HOV lanes move people and its 7.5 rail system is really used a lot. Yeah, we'll get more rail here, but Houston is far from being the worst in traffic. OK. That still doesn't make us happy when we sit on the fwy. after an accident and are cranky when we get home. But, hey, it could be worse. We could be NY, DC or Atlanta.

Your above statement may be true but it is true for today. Yes, the extensive rail systems that have been built in Dallas and most other cities of the world was about relieving traffic now, but it was just as much about the future as well. The tone of your post suggests those places were foolish to invest so much into rail systems, while Houston outwitted them all by placing most of our eggs in the freeway basket. I don't believe that is entirely accurate. The massive amounts of concrete Houston has focused on obviously has shown benefits but drawbacks as well. And we all know Houston's lack of an extensive rail system has come back to haunt us more than once.

Rail isn't the "Holy Grail" of answers to congestion, but freeways aren't either. It's a combination of things and I think that is what Houston is just realizing.

[musicman]

And we all know Houston's lack of an extensive rail system has come back to haunt us more than once.

Please explain.....

[Guest Marty]

I think the people from New Orleans and the open border has lot to do with traffic, but i don't mind my fellow Americans needing a place to call home. The illegal's need to go back home, end of story!

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

I drive 30 miles from midtown to Louetta and 249 each morning and back again... usually takes me 26-30 minutes. Got a lot better once 59 was finished.

Careful on 59N. The cops are hot there with those darn radar guns. Usually find them hidden over the humps from just north of Dwntwn all the way to Beltway 8.

[mpbro]

I think the people from New Orleans and the open border has lot to do with traffic, but i don't mind my fellow Americans needing a place to call home. The illegal's need to go back home, end of story!

Heh-heh, the traffic in New Orleans is terrible, maybe as bad as it ever was. Most of it seems to be out of state contractors doing repair work.

[mumbles]

Cut the work day from 8 hours to 7 hours. That gives us an hour to sit in traffic or more flex time. I can get to work much faster when I leave my house later. Traffic is much better on Fri because many people are off work. Traffic is great when school is out and there is no school traffic. Change the school hours? More tele-commuting. Let people work from home one day a week. Cut taxes so both parents don't have to work, keep more people at home.

Let's get creative instead of building more roads. With all the building going on out in Katy, the new freeway will be just as bad as the old one.

[desirous]

Eh, just ride an express bus. Watch movies on the bus, it passes the time more quickly than traffic does.

[Vertigo58]

Cut the work day from 8 hours to 7 hours. That gives us an hour to sit in traffic or more flex time. I can get to work much faster when I leave my house later. Traffic is much better on Fri because many people are off work. Traffic is great when school is out and there is no school traffic. Change the school hours? More tele-commuting. Let people work from home one day a week. Cut taxes so both parents don't have to work, keep more people at home.

Let's get creative instead of building more roads. With all the building going on out in Katy, the new freeway will be just as bad as the old one.

All excellent points, especially the work from home at least one day.

We must get more creative! We are up there with LA, traffic and pollution-wise.

Something's gotta give!

[spiderman]

All excellent points, especially the work from home at least one day.

We must get more creative! We are up there with LA, traffic and pollution-wise.

Something's gotta give!

When I lived in the LA area in the mid 90s, the regional air quality management distict mandated that all large employers implement programs to reduce emissions from employees commuting to work - each company had a target to meet, and it was up to the individual companies to develop their own program in what ever way was the most cost effective for them. Some of the programs that companies implemented were 4/40 or 9/80 work schedules, financial incentives for employees to join car pools or take public transportation, allowing employees to work from home, etc.

Don't know how/if this ype of program would be accepted in Houston, since we seem to have a laissez-faire approach to things....................

[Vertigo58]

When I lived in the LA area in the mid 90s, the regional air quality management distict mandated that all large employers implement programs to reduce emissions from employees commuting to work - each company had a target to meet, and it was up to the individual companies to develop their own program in what ever way was the most cost effective for them. Some of the programs that companies implemented were 4/40 or 9/80 work schedules, financial incentives for employees to join car pools or take public transportation, allowing employees to work from home, etc.

Don't know how/if this ype of program would be accepted in Houston, since we seem to have a laissez-faire approach to things....................

I promise I am trying to stick to the topic. When I lived in LA early 80's over in Venice we used to look towards downtown (which was hardly ever visible). You could almost always see a dark black layer floating above the skyline. I thought people exagerrated about the smog. Luckily we were by the sea so the breezes always pushed the crappy air inland. I vividly recall seeing "Smog Alert" on the digital traffic signs on the Santa Monica Frwy. Houston is just about there and with traffic. Back to topic!

[Transit Nut]

Mayor White's already started the initiative:

http://www.houstontx.gov/flexworks/flexinthecity/index.html

http://www.houstontx.gov/flexworks/index.html