If you were wondering what the construction on 610 near the Galleria is about, they're creating a new "busway" (two lanes in each direction) which will be used (by buses only) to bypass traffic between Post Oak and the Northwest Transit Center. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...-on-Loop-610-busway-a-nod-to-new-13904799.php "Come next year, buses traveling in their own lanes will ascend to the middle of the West Loop 610 for traffic-light trips between Post Oak and Metro’s Northwest Transit Center via a busway that will swing over the southbound freeway and then parallel to it." For reasons unknown to me (aside from political corruption), the City of Houston has always been enamored with buses and continues to spend money on the bus program, its resources, and its infrastructure. I don't see the sense in it. We should cease additional spending on the bus system, and take more aggressive action on a suburban rail system.
This project seems a little silly and I don’t remember this being even discussed? It’s made a hassle out of getting home for me (Bellaire) and has now bottlenecked 610 heading towards Galleria northbound. I thought 610 was fine.
I can't but help notice how close this is to the proposed location for the Texas Central Rail Line depot (Northwest Mall) in Houston. The 290 HOV that connects with the NW Transit center runs right in front of NW Mall. Just odd how that works out sometimes.
I think the idea is that if they can get approval to add rail in the future it would be easier to add. That's what they are doing with Post Oak Blvd.
I was back in Houston (and driving) last month when went to Game 3 against the Warriors. I left Houston in 2011. In the 15ish years I lived in west Houston before leaving there was always either construction or a giant mess of traffic on the west loop. I remember when they finished that "big" project 12-15 years ago, and it barely seemed like it helped at all. In the few times I've been back, there is always either construction or traffic on the west loop. I see all these things that show how I35 here in Austin is one of the most congested highways in America. Maybe so.... I don't actually get on I35 all that much. But I still find it hard to believe it's worse than the west loop, lol. And as much as that, the freaking giant, enormous I-10 they built from the west loop out to and past the Beltway now, despite being 20 lanes or whatever, also always seems to have traffic everytime I'm back. As a now "out-of-towner", indeed it feels insane coming back in.
This seems so incredibly short-sighted. I work near 610/290 interchange and drive through there every day. I can virtually guarantee you that getting "buses out of the general traffic lanes" isn't going to put a dent into traffic in that area. It doesn't take an advanced study to realize that the number of buses versus the number of cars on that route isn't even close. .
I had heard (anecdotally) (or maybe I read it somewhere) that they were going to build a "two-layer" (ie, upper and lower) highway system on 610 in the Galleria area. Not sure if this is still (or was ever) the plan. Also, the exit off 610 South to 288 South has changed significantly.
By the way, is it just me, or is there *no* good source on the net for Houston freeway info? Everything seems either outdated, or impossible to read. Mostly, hugely outdated -- including Transtar, TxDOT, Drive288 etc.
I agree that two bus only lanes will not put a dent in traffic, but the poster above has said that we should not invest in buses anymore and I completely disagree. Buses are one of your biggest bang for the buck public transport systems around, can greatly reduce congestion, and can use existing infrastructure.
When are they gonna rebuild the Southmore bridge over 288? It's frustrating trying to get on 288@59 with no traffic light.
Its always going to be a cluster**** in that area its just too much traffic going through there to not be a log jam at all times.
I look forward to 288 getting finished. I live south of manvel. I dont go into the city as often as i would because i anticipate traffic in pearland. The interchange onto bw8 from 288 should also help things and is overdue.
I used to use that bridge a lot when I was going to UH. Not so much these days. Which is to say -- I don't know. I'll reaffirm my point that there isn't a whole lot of good information about Houston highway construction on the net. To be sure, there's a lot of information -- but not much of it is useful. And a lot of it is hard to digest to boot. "Drive288" has some information, but not that much, and it is not all that useful either. For example, the exit off of 610S to 288S has just changed significantly, but you can't find anything about it on the net. If there's a good resource for all this out there, I'd love to hear it.
True this. They'd have to build a triple layer highway to even begin to relieve traffic in the Galleria. I recall when 59S (now 69) had a massive reconstruction/expansion update back in the early 2000s; this is in the Kirby/Buffalo Speedway/Weslayan area. Traffic had been brutal in the area. When the upgrade was finished, traffic in the area.....remained brutal. There might have been some slight improvements in flow. But not much really. Same thing for the Katy Freeway expansion. When the expansion/upgrade project was finished, traffic just filled up the new lanes and remained brutal. I guess you might be able to say that maybe things would have gotten worse without these projects, but suffice it to say that they did not seem to relieve the traffic. All this has implications for the work/commute paradigm, but that's a whole nuther thread.
I'm not against investing in buses, but dedicating new and very limited freeway space (along perhaps the busiest stretch of freeway in the state) for them does not make sense to me. I re-read the article and I can see how this could help the galleria area which is a cluster I know. I just hope they aren't sacrificing potential future expansion of 610 for this.
I think too many people think construction will relieve traffic. It might for a year or two, but in the end it is mostly about increasing capacity of roads to match future demand (i.e., to maintain status quo of traffic, but have more people in it).
