IronTiger

He certainly doesn't see himself as a traitor, and I'll say this again as I've said it once before (though not necessarily here): If this guy had pulled off what he did during the Bush administration, he would've unambiguously be portrayed as a hero. To be honest, it's difficult to condemn him or commend him either way.

Maybe a bit farther back from the cemetery...I mean, I put no stock into superstitious nonsense like "the dead were angry about it, so they cursed the building to burn down" (and I'm sure there are in Houston that actually do believe that unironically), but c'mon...it was pretty close to that site.

Probably pretty nasty-looking, which could've only delayed the already-happened-in-the-East-Coast inner city exodus to the suburbs (and for what it's worth, inner Houston never got as bad as the East Coast cities did). You do know that the bayous were once completely filthy drainage ditches in the 1980s, right? Anyway, on 1717 Bissonnet, I am disappointed, as the development just seems so out of place. It isn't in the major "edge cities" or downtown, but without zoning codes...

It's been really rainy, especially in Houston for these last past few days. Yesterday I heard there was a tornado warning and it was raining last night, too. Were anyone's Memorial Day plans ruined, by the way?

And here we go again. If anyone tries to find holes in the report, you'll just reply with more of the same, flooding this thread with links, all from pro-transit opinion pieces or other sites. There will be at least 3 more pages of arguing that will devolve to more of the same freeways vs. trains crap (expect Culberson to be mentioned in a negative light), and it will only stop when people lose interest or Subdude starts issuing warnings. There. I just accurately predicted the future of this thread. You can thank me later.

Yes, that was the Chicken Express in downtown Bryan. And like Krystal, sometimes franchises don't work out...the Burger King was supposed to be the first of 4-5 new stores, but there's only 3 in the area, total. (At least Houston seems to be getting their Carl's Jr., something we were promised but still denied)

Yeah, a lot of it depends on acceleration speed, too, which is where the real "I'm going fast" sensation kicks in.

Speed limits vary on car type, too. A modern car, especially one built for speed, could seem normal or downright pokey at 70, while some older or underpowered cars are absolutely terrifying at the same speed.

I think OP may be talking about other hobbies (planes, trains, and little figurines), not arts n' crafts like Hobby Lobby/Michaels have.

Where are you from originally? I think it makes a big difference from somewhere else in Houston, somewhere else in Texas, or somewhere outside Texas.

I'm sure that many of the "old landmarks" definitely predated any preservation ordinances. In fact, I don't think there was such a thing as preservation ordinances prior to maybe the mid-20th century.

Another quote that is completely wrong because it's not like "other" cities: despite the fact that Houston, is in fact, flat and not surrounded by any impressive physical features (Gulf of Mexico is not that great), if you drive around the outer suburbs, you'll notice that Houston falls on the convergence of three completely different ecoregions: the west part of Houston is predominantly plains and prairies (that is, if suburbs didn't gobble it up), the north and northeast parts are of the Piney Woods, and parts heading south and southeast is of the "Gulf Coast" part with palm trees and other life more suited to humid coasts.

I would argue it's more of uniqueness. If you think of all the landmarks that people like to photograph around the world (Eiffel Tower, Great Wall of China, any centuries-old religious building from Islam, Christianity, or Judaism) are all unique. The Rockies, any given Washington DC structure surrounding the Mall, and cityscapes (like skylines). It's tacky at best to build a full-size replica of the Statue of Liberty or the Dome of the Rock in another area where it doesn't belong, and there are some things that can't be replicated at all. California Redwoods, vast desert vistas, and the like: they're all unique. One of the reasons why Europe is do disproportionate to the rest of the world is that it's a draw for tourists as well as being a dense, well-off area to begin with. Europe is exotic compared to the U.S., that's one reason why people like it. Hell, for a good number of the traffic/transportation posts in the last year and numerous other topics, isn't the way Europe does it brought up, for better or worse?

Hm, looking at 45° view, Uchi DID butcher the top of the restaurant. Bummer.

Mr. Gattis has a point, the frontage roads make commercial development more appealing, which adds "clutter", but when widening a freeway, there's less resistance than if you do residential. The biggest demolition controversies along Interstate 10 were the Villages houses, not the other things (the shopping center in Spring Valley Village was another, but that was because it was SVV's main source of tax money), which included the Igloo plant, strip malls, a few hotels, fast foods, gas stations, and other commercial stuff.

From what I remember reading on West Houston Archives (a great site that you should see if not already) was closed by 2012. It was probably a franchised location that just didn't do as well as it was supposed to (I remember a Burger King locally that was built new and closed after just about a year--it is now a Chicken Express).

Hopefully this link should work. In either case, while it is trees it seems incredibly boring and unfeasible in denser areas.

Guessing that the site you're referring to doesn't allow hotlinking. And editing posts is allowed but it's always been a tight window (~1 hour)

More about my views on the "clutter" on highways: highway "clutter" has been around long since before the freeway (they aren't at least directly on the road anymore), so it's not unique, and I'd wager that non-frontage road freeways have lots of commercial clutter as well. Sure, it's understandable how one can grumble about the endless parade of strip malls, gas stations, and car dealerships, but it does two undeniable good things: 1) Shows that the city is in good economic health assuming all those strip malls, gas stations, and car dealerships are mostly occupied. 2) Shows that the city has nothing to hide.

Although I'm not in the Pearland area, I'm not only jealous of H-E-B Plus stores but the fact that they'll be adding what I've heard is a pretty good Greek restaurant there (for what it's worth, one of my cousins/good friends lives in Pearland). Anyone know what it's replacing in the store? [EDIT: Is the Auntie Anne's Pretzels? Yelp seems to indicate they were there at least as of 2009]

Very true. Frontage roads (paired with those turnaround lanes) add a "safety net" if you get off too late or too early.

I agree with the sentiment that it tends to attract car dealerships, strip malls, and industrial buildings (NW Freeway and formerly Katy Freeway), but at least it's something. Nothing I hate more than passing through a city and seeing nothing. This is to the cities that hide what they have with trees, or walls, or in the case of some cities, not actually commercial developments but old houses that predated the freeway (I see this in Louisiana a lot). I also agree Katy Freeway has too close exits for the number of lanes. But it while it isn't too great a "local street": too many driveways will really muck it up for everyone, they're antagonistic for pedestrians and bicyclists (generally--sidewalks may help alleviate the issue). But it's better for roads to end there than just having them abruptly dead-end/curve into another street. I'm also a fan of the "frontage roads first" philosophy by not necessarily pouring the money into the main lanes as it stands right now (until traffic demands it) while keeping a nice "giant median". For the most part, 288 doesn't have frontage roads from Brays Bayou to Beltway 8 and has an even wider median, which is comfortable yet a bit offputting at the same time. [i believe that in the Houston area they are called feeder roads but I don't technically live in Houston so it's okay ]

I'm not willing to get into another pointless trains/highways discussion or another pointless Pierce Elevated discussion, so how about something different: frontage roads, the type of highway design commonly found in Texas? A brief primer is at Wikipedia. Frontage roads are considered to be a type of highway lanes and allow businesses and others to interface with the highway. Otherwise, you're left with a wide thing that actually no serves true "city" purpose (and is why freeways have a bad rep). Continuous freeway lanes (not just providing exit/entrance purposes) of course take up more space, but it also serves as detour lanes when highway closures are necessary. I tend to not like them when exiting/entering (depending on where the ramp is and what the traffic is like), nor do they seem particularly well as local routes (Cypress Towne Center businesses are a great example of this), but they do give local road function (always good) and they make highway scenery more interesting. What do you think?

The Westheimer location has the picture today to what it looked like in the 1960s. Even though it remained open until circa 2008, I'm betting that the building itself had fallen into disrepair and had removed some of the more attractive elements from years ago.

Looks like it was unified with the updates made a month ago or so.