IronTiger

From what I see, there's six lanes of Westheimer with no median. West of the railroad, there's three westbound, two eastbound, and a central turn lane.

They did take out pretty much everything related to the building's previous life: you can see the riveted I-beams first installed years and years ago. I believe it about putting brick on the lower levels though--a large apartment tower in the "far northwest exurbs" here has brick on the first floor (where a CVS and sandwich shop are) and surrounding the parking garage directly above it, but stucco on the building above. The end result, unfortunately, is still pretty hideous (http://s3-media3.ak.yelpcdn.com/bphoto/hkM5d7_SePkabqyNa2VxgQ/l.jpg)

Well, the way I see it, for the sunken pathway, it is one lane each way, with the two lanes on the surface to serve as turn lanes for barriers/left turn lanes.

That would muck with a "Westheimer subway" but whatevs. I was thinking in more in-line with those other 1960s-style underpasses you'll occasionally see in Houston (Medical Center and areas around it) where you have a few lanes intersecting with the road with some lanes going under. Maybe starting just east of Suffolk (two lanes descending, two lanes remaining), then re-emerging on the other side of Mid Lane.

You know, for what it's worth, I read that there was a gas station at the corner of Ashby and Bissonnet up into the 1970s. Can you believe the outcry if someone wanted to place a gas station there today, even a small one?

Looking at the Post Office site, Washington looks to be currently closed and converted to parking under the Interstate. Is this because of a low clearance from the descending HOV lane ramp?

Facade still looks pretty cheap--did they actually say, by the way, that they would "restore" the facade or just resurface it as something similar before the first resurfacing?

Instead of fighting the courts for years, it seems to me like a better solution would have been to get some sort of "special district" in the area to limit building heights out of the city. That way, it wouldn't risk setting an anti-development precedent or anything and we can all go home happy (even the developers, who manage to make some ultra-dense townhomes on the site instead)

So, a giant tunnel bypassing not only the rail but also the Galleria area and 610 as well? That sounds like a bit much.

The drainage ditch complicates things. If it were completely removed and not just open for years and recently covered over, then it would worth be discussing. That or moving the tracks (which is why a "median in 610" would've been pretty swell had they been able to implement that). The "comparison", a sunken intersection of two farm to market roads, has two things that this doesn't: some ROW to spare, and no water connections. Finfeather and the connection road not withstanding, the fact that the area to the north was a golf course was a good thing (you can see where the detour road went). You cannot do a railroad project ANYWHERE along that railroad corridor without some ROW demolition.

A lot of reasons. I've driven under that Villa Maria underpass many, many times. For one, there was generous right of way for a detour on the road and rail part, with the detour Villa Maria on the golf course. Explain how that could be done on Westheimer without major ROW demolition. Secondly, the railroad there parallels a recently closed-in drainage ditch, something that could make an underpass problematic at best.

It even looks like the last of it was pulled around 2005, based on obvious scars from Google Earth (and it existed in 2002). You can see at Memorial Heights and Washington, the railroad cut straight through the intersection, even going well into the southbound lane. This never saw much use as the southbound lane was opened in 2003, so it likely saw few, if any, rail traffic. (On a related note, I doubt Westpark and Edloe, another "crazy crossing" seems to have built in the "spur years" and didn't have much in the way of rail traffic)

Title says it all: what's the best pizza place in Houston? As a side-note, back in 2011, I had a pretty good take-out pizza while at the Texas Medical Center, but I forgot the name of it (it wasn't Brothers, and it seemed rather expensive for a take-out, upper end of the spectrum)

I know, I was just noting that fact. I think the lower right block of stores, that corridor, became a food court later, at least at NW.

If only they had widened 610 before the ROW got cramped with the tall buildings in the Uptown area. They could've have an entirely grade-separated freight train running in the median...

Right, the Macy's side was still open. Maybe I just like the idea of a through Main Street too much.

I could imagine that either the barricades are placed so that someone could worm their way in or have someone there to open it up for them.

I'm not sure of they had the exact same stores on opening day, but by the mid-1970s, they had different stores in different spots, even if it was the same layout.

I wish that there were "before and after" pictures of old Sakowitz and the current garage (which you can see traces of, such as tile) but I'm sure that would end up angering and depressing people.

The Chron reports the Rice Hotel has been sold with no changes in leases. When did it reopen, 2001? Some sources say 1998 but I think that's when renovation began. At least this explains why it was called "Post Rice", never got that. Now I do! Will it be renamed to Rice Lofts now?

Where do people park?

OK. I actually did want to share my "light rail expansion plans", actually, because we are talking ideals here. I created a "Red Line" extension by a combination of some tunnels and running in the medians of highways. In fact, a Galveston rail is a pretty cool idea, even though it probably won't work all that well in reality. I ended up making others, too, including a new Uptown line and a substantially different University Line. Those come later, though.

Yes, there was once a spur that went down that went down to Montrose and Dallas, though I believe the spur was still intact even into the 1990s. The bridge (and Allen Parkway) had probably been rebuilt though.

Is that one of the buildings cleared in the Houston Center land clearing? It makes me wonder if anyone else remembers when they actually cleared the land. The freeways may have flattened several blocks of homes, but the Houston Center took out an amazing chunk of downtown for a mega-development that was dramatically downscaled.

Notice that it's filed under "Opinion"... I'm not avoiding the question. OK, let's say that the main track between Galveston and Houston was double-tracked entirely, which it currently isn't, and circles up near Navigation Blvd. instead of going for a route around the 3rd Ward. Let's also assume tthat existing freight traffic won't muck up the traffic on our new line. Let's assume thirdly that the passenger train goes on a 50 mph clip. In theory, it could make it to downtown Houston in under an hour, if it was only picking up trains to and fro Galveston. Even at peak hours, the amount of commuters would be abysmal, especially if the train came once an hour, and that's another coming at an interval so the other doesn't have to make it downtown and come back (100 miles, about two hours). But Galveston isn't the only city on the line, so the train has to slow down and stop for those other stops, too...that would add commuters and rapidly make that "50 minute" time diminish. This would make the train less desirable to ride--and since once you get into Houston, you'd need to get a new transfer card--since any Galveston/Houston train wouldn't be operated by METRO (remember, it was a private company originally) it would need a new transfer agency--and while all this time, costs are going up, desirability and function go down. See how complicated this is? Please don't accuse me of making "blatantly false commentary" when you've done similar things. By 1940, the line had already gone out of business and was abandoned. In fact, much of the former ROW was actually used as high voltage power lines, and urban explorers have found backfilled tunnels used by the interurban even to this day.