Posted on 07/29/2014 10:14:21 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
Does the “Big Dig” come to mind when you see this?
Here is the top graphic from the article (I neglected to include in the above posting):
Renderings of existing and proposed sections of I-45 through Downtown. Source: TxDOT.
More surface grade highway. Houston floods. Often.
And as it currenly exists The "Pierce Elevated" has crossroads that go under it. Would they be turned into tunnels?
Then there was this quote:
Given the experience of other cities that have decommissioned highways, real estate currently flanking the Pierce Elevated all the way to its connection with IH-10 would likely rise tremendously in value. The neighborhood immediately west of Downtown would also take a boost. Developers and businesses along the corridor would have ample reason to celebrate.
Our crooked city is run by the property developers in the Downtown business partnership (and has been since at least the 1950s). Tearing down our interstate highway to appease them is not in the public interest.
Neither was building billions of dollars worth of stadiums to appease them.
Neither is handing them our downtown (central) post office or jail all so we can build ourselves NEW facilities and they get prime real estate for more entertainment districts (funded by "redevelopment zone" taxes) and high rent condos.
Boondoggle comes to mind. Like their fail-rail project.
Big Dig = Big Flooded Road.
Afterall, Allen’s Landing on the banks of Buffalo Bayou is only 6 feet above Sea Level.
There are now only two bridges across Spring Creek. Any plans to change that?
Rule number one: Build Highways to be above the flood levels from all previous Tropical Storms - - - DUH!
Bkmk
But think of the opportunities for property redevelopment and the contracts to rebuild the highways!
Never mind the 5-10 years of congestion it causes during the build out.
And with the current trends, expect more “toll lanes” on these highways. There is no room to put on the Piece Elevated.
Of course, they COULD go to double decker freeway systems...
Why all the hoopla?
Just ask the local Chamber of Commerce where they want the road.
That is the way they do it in DFW.
Two Level, - - - - ?
That has potential:
“Normal Drought traffic use Lower Level.”
“Use Upper Level only if the car in front of you is flooded out.”
Get that dingbat racist Sheila Jackson Lee out of office and Houston will improve immediately.
Never mind the 5-10 years of congestion it causes during the build out.”
What happens when a hurricane hits? Rita was a total disaster but was some better for Ike, although a lot of people didn’t evacuate for Ike because Rita was a false alarm for our area. We have several hundred thousand more people now than then and most of those people have not a clue as to what to do, whether to go or stay or how to prepare.
Corporate bigwigs need to get it through their heads that making everyone drive 2 hours per day round trip in order to be visible in a downtown skyscraper is costing their company BIG $.
Splitting up these ridiculous monolithic headquarters into smaller facilities located on the outskirts of the city or in the suburbs where rent is much lower, makes more sense. Especially in light of the technology available that makes meetings or other communications just as effective as face to face.
But this won’t happen until the current batch of small-minded dinosaurs leading corporate America die off. Yeah, this subject is very personal to me.
I was driving the insane, recently completed interchange on I-10 East at the 610 West this weekend. The (unmarked) eastbound feeder lane ramp onto I-10 plunges about 20 feet below the surface, passing beneath the existing 610 loop.
They did this despite decades of experience with these types of underpasses flooding. Sometimes motorists drown.
I think traffic engineers are just affirmative action employees with no college education whatsoever.
I had a surface road commute to downtown for job. 10 minute commute by car. 45-60 minute commute by bus (no transfer) longest trip by bus took over 2 hours.
Office I worked at had their own parking garage and by being an employee I could buy a pass to park there for ONLY $8 per day, I don’t recall if I had to buy it by the month).
Surface lots typically cost $5 (although sometimes rates would rise for the Convention Center) and one time my lot was closed (to the regulars) for convention business. I did $800 damage to the underside of my car leaving the surface lot that was next up the road.
Thing is, I now see that the sky is the limit for those parking lots during “events” (the same lots voters were assured would be affordable when baseball moved from South Main to downtown).
I saw lot pricing of $20-50 per car at the Paul McCartney show and hear that for Jay-Z/Beyonce this year, parking lots were charging $80-100 per car.
Those are the same lots used by downtown office workers.
I have no love of Houston’s corrupt downtown business practices.
And they are the ones who hand pick our mayors.
I’ve seen a lot more ramps in Houston that resemble “roller coasters” in the past 20 years of new construction than in all my years preceding that.
Agreed. I don’t get the lure of high-rise glass towers when 80% of your workforce lives 20+ miles away (and usually the same direction out within a 90-120 degree arc).
Of course, Harris County still spent their tax dollars of "public" works and highways like I-45 and I-10 are major interstates (not all of the traffic is local and drivers in the trucking industry shouldn't be punished because some wiener Democrat hates the suburbs).
TIme for me to start looking for another job where I’m not commuting to the Medical Center every day.
“Our crooked city is run by the property developers in the Downtown business partnership (and has been since at least the 1950s). Tearing down our interstate highway to appease them is not in the public interest......&....”Neither was building billions of dollars worth of stadiums to appease them.......&...”Neither is handing them our downtown (central) post office or jail all so we can build ourselves NEW facilities and they get prime real estate for more entertainment districts (funded by “redevelopment zone” taxes) and high rent condos.”
Maybe “Alternative X” should be, using the power of eminent domain for a very brief spell of one Saturday and one Sunday, ALL land owners in the downtown district would have all the land collected into a joint holding company with each owner allotted shares in proportion to their land’s market value at midnight on the Friday before, but held in escrow by the city, and then that holding company given full title to the stretches of highway around downtown Houston, incurring a debt to the city of Houston, held by 30-year bonds, and then that holding company “privatized” back to the original owners, in their new collective ownership and each property with a perpetual & transferable lease to each original owner. Then, they can do what they want, and raise their own money - go themselves into more debt - to pay for remodeling Houston’s highways for their benefit.
Fanciful yes, but you get my point.
Real estate investors get wealthier the more population density increases. Unfortunately a population density higher than a small town always results in majority Democrat voters. As the developers get rich, America turns into a third world socialist dystopia. To add insult to injury, the developers can re-finance their higher valued properties to get money out and they pay NO INCOME TAXES on that money. As long as they or their heirs don't cash out, they live 100% income tax free.
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