Slick Vik Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 Long but interesting article http://www.houstonpress.com/2014-03-20/news/houston-traffic/full/ 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I remember Lannie Griffin early in his radio traffic career, telling drivers when a certain freeway had cleared out that it was "clear to your momma's house." 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 "Press" puts puff piece promoting "Pedestrian Pete". 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 "Press" puts puff piece promoting "Pedestrian Pete".Not really Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) "Press" puts puff piece promoting "Pedestrian Pete".The "Press" is owned by Village Voice Media, this shouldn't be surprising, but I do appreciate them quoting Mayor Parker - "we have to recognize that rail will not be the ultimate answer for us". Edited March 20, 2014 by livincinco 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloud713 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 The "Press" is owned by Village Voice Media, this shouldn't be surprising, but I do appreciate them quoting Mayor Parker - "we have to recognize that rail will not be the ultimate answer for us".not the style of rail we are building now at least.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Not really Well, besides trying for an alliteration attempt, it really was just mostly Peter Brown yammering about Houston traffic, and if I wanted to hear that, I'd watch a YouTube video. To be fair, they also talk about how METRO has been corrupt in the past (which is why it's not very good) but they also go with the whole "Culberson is anti-rail" line which isn't a total fabrication but tends to gloss over some details (just like HAIF). Such amateurish fact-checking is why I don't take the Press seriously as real journalism, which I guess should be par anyway for some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 Well, besides trying for an alliteration attempt, it really was just mostly Peter Brown yammering about Houston traffic, and if I wanted to hear that, I'd watch a YouTube video. To be fair, they also talk about how METRO has been corrupt in the past (which is why it's not very good) but they also go with the whole "Culberson is anti-rail" line which isn't a total fabrication but tends to gloss over some details (just like HAIF). Such amateurish fact-checking is why I don't take the Press seriously as real journalism, which I guess should be par anyway for some.It has a lot of other points as well but if you choose to cherry pick the ones you don't like and make an overall judgement that's on you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativehoustonion Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Great article, right to the point. I wish Congress had term limits, I lived two blocks from Ted Poe's district. I cannot stand Culberson! We need to vote him out! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I'm all in favor of complete streets as long as appropriate measures are taken to ensure that there are arterial streets in proximity that can accommodate the flow of traffic. Main Street is useless to traffic flow at this point anyway, close it down to vehicle traffic and ensure that Fannin and Travis are dedicated as throughways. I'd love to see the city do the same thing to Westheimer through Montrose, but I don't think that the street grid is designed appropriately in that area to support through traffic without it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 It has a lot of other points as well but if you choose to cherry pick the ones you don't like and make an overall judgement that's on you. I glanced over, I didn't "cherry pick the ones I [didn't] like". They basically took an interview with Peter Brown and his views on the subject, added some other quotes and facts, glossed over some inconvenient facts that they didn't like addressing (Culberson and rail), and repackaged that as an attempt of serious journalism on a larger issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 It has a lot of other points as well but if you choose to cherry pick the ones you don't like and make an overall judgement that's on you. Guys, keep it on topic and avoid personal remarks and retorts. One warning only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nativehoustonion Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 METRO light rail had 71,054 customers yesterday which broke a record. Tell me light rail does not work here. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totheskies Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Great article... Thanks for sharing. I think the main issue here is that Houston is at a point where it has to be an "all of the above" strategy. Yes we need the bike lanes. Yes we need the street repair. Yes we need more rail transit, and more/better bus transit and more Park and Ride service and sidewalks. This city needs it all. IMO a good start would be to create bus only lanes on the freeways... separate ones from the HOV/HOT lanes. This would allow for something akin to an adjustable BRT. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 I'm all in favor of complete streets as long as appropriate measures are taken to ensure that there are arterial streets in proximity that can accommodate the flow of traffic. Main Street is useless to traffic flow at this point anyway, close it down to vehicle traffic and ensure that Fannin and Travis are dedicated as throughways. I'd love to see the city do the same thing to Westheimer through Montrose, but I don't think that the street grid is designed appropriately in that area to support through traffic without it. Are Fannin and Travis not dedicated throughways already? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 The best thing to do would be replace the HOV lanes with heavy rail and then use the park and rides as the rail stations. Now you don't just have rush hour transit, like the park and rides are now. But, of course that has a 1% chance of happening. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 Are Fannin and Travis not dedicated throughways already?To clarify, I meant that they need to remain as dedicated throughways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 The best thing to do would be replace the HOV lanes with heavy rail and then use the park and rides as the rail stations. Now you don't just have rush hour transit, like the park and rides are now. But, of course that has a 1% chance of happening.If i remember correctly, the train in the middle of the highway in LA took up more room than the size of some HOV lanes here are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
livincinco Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 A regional strategic plan would be a good start.I'd start with a projection of population by zipcode in 2025 along with expected demographics in each area. I'd then look at a projected job disbursement in 2025 by area and then start to look at best ways to connect a high percentage of population to multiple job centers with a maximum travel time of 45 min inside the transportation network. That would give you as close to, what I would consider the "perfect network", as possible. Once you've identified that network, then you start down a process of identifying and purchasing ROW with the intent to determine method of mobility later, specifically paying attention to opportunistic purchases that can occur in projected high growth areas. Then I'd look at anticipated overall funding and identify methods for each corridor based on impact to overall network cost with flex options based on funding/demand along with estimated conversion costs for each corridor as well. I'd also overhaul METROs project management process at the same time with an emphasis on delivering on time and on budget as well as minimizing the scope change that kills most public projects. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 I think the main issue here is that Houston is at a point where it has to be an "all of the above" strategy. Yes we need the bike lanes. Yes we need the street repair. Yes we need more rail transit, and more/better bus transit and more Park and Ride service and sidewalks. This city needs it all. I could not agree more. The Houston MSA has twice as many people as it did in 1980, but aside from adding lanes here and there and the first wisp of a rail system we are largely still using the same infrastructure design. It's just overloaded, and it's not going to get any better without a significant investment - which by the way, will recycle dollars through the community. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 There needs to be an all-new freeway, but no one will be talking about that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 There needs to be an all-new freeway, but no one will be talking about that.No there doesn't. Houston has more than enough freeways and I think the grand parkway is an all new freeway basically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 22, 2014 Share Posted March 22, 2014 No there doesn't. Houston has more than enough freeways and I think the grand parkway is an all new freeway basically. You kind of proved my point--any highway that requires all-new ROW (already developed) will be met with heavy resistance. East End didn't even have a lot of political power, and they stopped 225 dead in its tracks. Imagine what more well-moneyed NIMBYs would do. Coupled with lack of state's available funds, no freeways will be built in probably decades. Add to that with freeways less desirable in an urban planning sense currently, and you won't see any. But does it NEED freeways? Yeah, it does. But is a popular (or even realistic) option? No, probably not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Vik Posted March 23, 2014 Author Share Posted March 23, 2014 You kind of proved my point--any highway that requires all-new ROW (already developed) will be met with heavy resistance. East End didn't even have a lot of political power, and they stopped 225 dead in its tracks. Imagine what more well-moneyed NIMBYs would do. Coupled with lack of state's available funds, no freeways will be built in probably decades. Add to that with freeways less desirable in an urban planning sense currently, and you won't see any. But does it NEED freeways? Yeah, it does. But is a popular (or even realistic) option? No, probably not.I don't think so. Do you honestly think houston doesn't have enough freeways? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IronTiger Posted March 23, 2014 Share Posted March 23, 2014 I don't think so. Do you honestly think houston doesn't have enough freeways? Some parts could use them, yes, but I think that we should build out the ROWs of what we have (TX-35, specifically) as we'll probably never see wide-scale ROW acquisitions again. And in non-freeway road arterials, we should build out the stubs of roads (Bellaire, Kirby) that were placed decades before. (the TX-35 expansion south of U of H was never officially cancelled. 225 was the only one totally canned) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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