Trapped: There Are No Simple Solutions to Houston's Traffic Crisis

why do you always post traffic stuff?

 

Edit: Nothing against you Da1, but that is a book.

 

When are they going to begin construction on 45 N ? I think you said it was going to be done for better traffic to bush.

 

These threads are really political and belong in the D&D.

 

Too short. Didn't read.

 

Did you type this up while stuck in traffic?

 

Nice. I read this article about traffic while sitting in traffic.

 

I tried reading the whole thing, but the scroll wheel fell off my mouse and I ended up getting carpal tunnel in the process. Thanks Obama.

 

Residents don't want these streets fixed because they place a de facto limitation on traffic in the area. Affluence is all a part of it. They won't fix a road until a car breaks down on it usually. One time I was riding my scooter at night up Buffalo Speedway between Holcombe and Braeswood. Now THAT was a f--ed up road. I passed the worst of it and thought I was in the clear, but just as I made a lane change I hit this huge divit in the road where there was a 4-5in high separation in the middle of the lane. I wiped out and did a lot of barrel rolls--still the only accident I've had in my life, car or bike or otherwise. Yea, they fixed that road 3 months later.

I have no problem whatsoever with traffic in Houston. I sit through 10-20 minutes each way depending on whether or not I get off work early (early = 5-5:30). Anyone who commutes 45+ minutes each way made the conscious decision to do that, by buying a house or renting property far away from the city. They have traded convenience and a sense of social responsibility (yes I am invoking the liberal term "carbon footprint") for the chance at comfort and more squarefootage in the suburbs or countryside. Or maybe the public schools are better in the suburbs. In that case you're a parent, and you've long ago sacrificed personal well-being for the well-being of your kids.

The solution for such people is the same thing people do in every other city on earth. MOVE CLOSER TO THE CITY. Or get a job in the suburbs. People in New York or Chicago get to complain just like you do about traffic; but they don't get to blame the city for their decision to make their work and home far apart.

And it gets even worse once you leave the country. Just try sitting in a cab in Bombay, walking through a Shanghai subway station, renting a hotel room in Tokyo. People don't have license to demand such space for themselves. They are forced to live in greater harmony with society. And you know what? Even in the developed, less crowded cities outside the US, people exhibit more decency. Look at the bicycling commuters in Copenhagen or Amsterdam. My point is, when it comes to transportation, we in Houston and the greater Texas area are among the most spoiled in the world. If lack of funding, stupidity of management, or sheer impracticality of physics means that automobile commuters will have to suffer, then so be it.

Know this: before you die, the streets in many of the major cities around the world will start to have regions that ban cars. Some places already do this; many more will in the future. There are too many people on earth to continue to indulge in this practice of lugging around a 1-5 ton piece of metal as part of your personal entourage.

 

I don't see a sign near Beechnut and H59 lol

 

The obvious solution to all of this traffic is to keep building giant retail/residential buildings all over the inner loop. Oh, and a Whole Foods on Post Oak and San Felipe

 

I used to work around the West U area. It usually takes me around 10 minutes without traffic to get home going up 610 N and then to I-10W. Leaving work at 6PM rush hour and especially in the holiday season, I was in traffic for an hour. **** that area in the ass.

 

Dude. Ain't a damn person is gonna read that.

 

I bike to work. I'm part of the solution.

 

Meanwhile in Dallas, cops on two different ends of a traffic jam tell motorists to turn around on the freeway..causes mass confusion in the middle as the cars drive towards each other

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=9962691

 

Need more facts, I detect bias from the OP

 

Dude, you and everyone else who knows this city needs to understand that 610 between 59 and I10 does not exist. Ok? You look at your google maps in that area and there's no highway. Just a parking lot whose hours run from 6am until 9pm each day. Hell I think I've seen that thing jammed at midnight. Then again I've seen I-10 inbounds at 45 jammed at 1am lol.

Just know the streets better. Do not take 610 in that area for any reason at all. Use 59 to Westpark to Beltway 8 if you really need to get to the Memorial area. 59 to Westpark to Katy if you must. Or just use whatever other road you can find to get to I-10. But 610 over there is not an option.

 

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