IronTiger

Definitely a terrible user interface, but I followed all that to the zero KB folders, then clicked the yellow button at the upper right to see the pages, but then I had to download them.

Not sure where that came from, but this post discusses that it was probably an urban legend that it was supposed to be free. There was one Dallas toll road that became a free road later, but... That said, the Beltway is pretty expensive and only makes sense during rush hour.

What's the difference from a regular one?

Beltway? I meant the Loop. The Beltway seems much flatter than the Loop.

OK, I wanna know how fast you guys drive on the road. I mean, I would've driven at 60 mph on the Beltway as signed in normal situations, but I drove much faster than most signed roads. Not super-fast, mind you, nor did I make a lot of lane changes...it was a balancing act to go fast enough to be "I'm a driver who wants to keep up with the crowd" and not too fast to be "I'm a jackass who's willing to put others' lives at risk so I can get to my destination 5 minutes faster"

We've also discussed the 610/45/225 shift. My dream plan for that area would be removing the useless stub of 225 inside the Loop (no need to remind anyone of that freeway for good or bad), reconnect the streets east of Broadway (Woodruff and Roosevelt, say), and also in the process, make a true connection to Lawndale. I might post a plan later...

Update: Greenway was demolished last week, thought you guys might like to know. http://arch-ive.org/archive/houstonaire/ I find it a bit odd that it used the Ramada Inn name (Swamplot says it was built in 1965) but it's not actually mentioned in the text of the post that's there. By the way, because of the low resolution it's a bit hard to see, but that post card does say 1978, yes? I wonder if it had any other names. (If this post seems a bit disjointed, it started out as a PM) Anyway, the hotel's gone now, so...one eyesore gone, one to go?

Business park, looks like

Hate to bump a 5+ year old thread, but does anyone have a map of the old Lamar Terrace? As you know, the redevelopment demolished or reconfigured much of the original streets...

The whole thing did tend to make me a more aggressive driver. The way up I went at the speed limits (65 on 290) until I got to 610 (because there's no way I was staying at 60 mph the whole way). The way back, I was pushing at least 70 on 290 save for a few incidents and even pushed it to 80 once to get around a small U-Haul trailer I didn't trust. The way back I found I was routinely going at least 5 miles past the speed limit on most roads. This wore off by the next day (College Station cops aren't exactly forgiving in this aspect) but I could easily see how this will rewire your driving habits.

I do remember reading in HAIF that the Ship Channel allowed an optical illusion of lining up all the skylines to appear as if there's one giant skyline.

There's supposedly a homeless camp in the wooded areas north of Patterson and Interstate 10. I wouldn't be surprised if it was connected somehow.

...except he was raised in Arkansas. You might get away with some names: Bryan in Bryan, Texas, but not Houston in Houston.

I did the full trip this time, a 288/610/290 death race. 288 was easy, 610 felt a bit like a roller coaster (fast turns, ups and downs), 290 was just plain mean. Uneven concrete that made my vehicle tend to go left, narrow lanes...the whole experience was most stressful at that point. At least 290 didn't pull the "Incredible Vanishing Lanes" trick as it's been known to do the last few years. A quarter tank of gas and a Buc-ee's club sandwich later, I'm back home safely.

Today, I prepare for the voyage home. Any "surprises" regarding getting back on 290 I should know about?

290 was the real beast, but it was 610 that was also not fun, though the slow traffic made merging a snap.

I did it! I survived 610! First time through!

The other thing is that the Holiday Inn building is huge and they had to eventually (prior to selling it) close off rooms because there was just too much. The thing had 600 rooms, and given typical dorm room size (two per a room of that size, give or take, usually take), that's capacity for 1200 students. That's certainly more than the undergrads, and converting it for grad student use doesn't make much more sense either.

Again, I ask, why is all this development going on when there's so much vacancy to be dealt with from overbuilding years ago?

I'm not trying to drive fast or get there faster, I just don't want to get into an accident if I'm going 65 and everyone else does closer to 75.

OK, one more thing--the posted speed limit on 610 (60, 65?) isn't how fast I should go--I'll get rear-ended. What is the "right" speed to drive on there? (I won't be playing speeding games in Pearland, though)

Dallas has a LOT more vacant space downtown. The tunnel system isn't well developed either, which arguably puts surface level activity at an advantage.

I did see the curbs, but I should've caught onto the fact that the barricades were movable and not permanent.

Hi...recently when I was mulling around the Pierce Elevated on Google Earth seeing what exits should be moved around and relocated for a better (and less congested) Pierce, I discovered this little "crossover" road near Crosby Street. (link) I recognized for what it was immediately, as I had seen it on suburban collector roads when the road goes from four lanes to two (or vice versa) and one of the lanes shift over so that they can complete the full lanes later. These are often removed after the widening. But what's the deal with this on Allen Parkway? From the looks of it, that strange closed off road segment has been there since at least '95 and it's been multiple-laned for decades. Historic imagery gets pretty muddy prior to 2000, and it's a small thing to pick out. Has this been here for decades, or is there something I'm missing?

Whataburger will be on the next update, but I don't have a lot of data, so it will look a bit anemic compared to the others.