New Outer Loop Freeway? (Houston, Austin: tax, centers, move to)

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by tstone

That's where Oildog's Dodecagon 99 tunnel comes into play.

I'm calling a trademark on "Bayoumaggedon Tunnel"

[jdw7337]

Originally Posted by Dopo

There you go
I'll tell you who's going to benefit like a mother.....
whoever owns Hooks Airport by Tomball,
that airport is in the middle of nowhere and this loop is going to run right next to it (Right under the "F-2")

Hooks won't be the only thing to benefit, there are a good dozen planed industrial parks along the I-2 segment.

[NYer75]

I for one, will be happy when the E segment from I-10 to 290 is complete. Mainly for shopping reasons. After hitting up the Houston Premium Outlets, I can take a short cut to the I-10 and head over to Katy Mills.

[m48xhp]

Sorry folks that are against this, but it is necessary. To those that live inside the Beltway, they may not see why, but business and population are moving outward. This is a strategic move for the Houston and Texas economy. With better infrastructure, the area will land more business, which will lead to more revenue for the state, which will fund the state schools, which will fund education and food for kids, which will create more civil engineers, which will create another outer loop, etc, etc, etc, etc. I'm not saying money overall couldn't be spent better in some places, but spending money on infrastructure IS what drives this country. And things like this have to get built BEFORE it is too late.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by m48xhp

Sorry folks that are against this, but it is necessary. To those that live inside the Beltway, they may not see why, but business and population are moving outward. This is a strategic move for the Houston and Texas economy. With better infrastructure, the area will land more business, which will lead to more revenue for the state, which will fund the state schools, which will fund education and food for kids, which will create more civil engineers, which will create another outer loop, etc, etc, etc, etc. I'm not saying money overall couldn't be spent better in some places, but spending money on infrastructure IS what drives this country. And things like this have to get built BEFORE it is too late.

So, in order for "this area" to succeed in landing this business, we'll expand and further stretch the meaning of "this area" until there is nothing but "this area."

Ingenious.

[m48xhp]

Originally Posted by jfre81

So, in order for "this area" to succeed in landing this business, we'll expand and further stretch the meaning of "this area" until there is nothing but "this area."

Ingenious.

welcome to houston, texas, the united states, and the modern world.

[jfre81]

Originally Posted by m48xhp

welcome to houston, texas, the united states, and the modern world.

Then we figure out how to bring it to Mars and the Moon and reclaim "Space City" for eternity.

I'm really liking the sound of this.

[Lost_In_Translation]

Originally Posted by m48xhp

Sorry folks that are against this, but it is necessary. To those that live inside the Beltway, they may not see why, but business and population are moving outward. This is a strategic move for the Houston and Texas economy. With better infrastructure, the area will land more business, which will lead to more revenue for the state, which will fund the state schools, which will fund education and food for kids, which will create more civil engineers, which will create another outer loop, etc, etc, etc, etc. I'm not saying money overall couldn't be spent better in some places, but spending money on infrastructure IS what drives this country. And things like this have to get built BEFORE it is too late.

Its fascinating to see the evolution of the 4 loops (I consider Hwy 6 to be a 3rd loop) and how this will not only create additional suburbia, but help tie east Houston and Cypress in to the Woodlands, which was rather inaccessible from those areas before, basically doing for the woodlands what the beltway did for Greenspoint. In the future, I think the woodlands will develop its own orbit of businesses, possibly competing with the galleria and CBD for businesses, like the energy corridor does.

Each loop has its own business center too. Galleria for 610, Greenspoint and Westchase for BW8, energy corridor for Hwy 6 and now woodlands for TGP.

Houston is becoming a high energy Boron molecule. (with 5 business centers around the nucleus CBD.)

[m48xhp]

Originally Posted by Lost_In_Translation

In the future, I think the woodlands will develop its own orbit of businesses, possibly competing with the galleria and CBD for businesses, like the energy corridor does.

It already has. Exxon moving up there, Anadarko is already there and goign to build another tower, Waste Connections moved from CA to The Woodlands.

It is becoming a corporate utopia.

[LilyMay]

In many cases these sorts of big infrastructure projects can see effectively lose-lose. Build too early, and you have central planning authorities dictating what may or may not be most effective. Hence how to some degree enthusiastic interstate construction has fed suburban sprawl. I don't have a real opinion on whether or not that's good, but I do figure that some of the sprawl wouldn't be there if the infrastructure hadn't facilitated it.

On the other hand, though, if you let things grow totally hands-off, then years later come in and fill in the transportation as needed, you're getting into the whole can of worms involved with buying (or taking) the now even more expensive property that stands in the way. And even then the people in charge of the planning might get it wrong.

So really, I just don't see any easy solutions to transportation infrastructure issues. Add in the fact that the process is political, and we're talking one big mess. Traffic sucks away people's time, road construction may suck away taxpayer dollars for inefficient projects, and so on. I'm personally glad that Houston is at least a city where it is relatively more affordable to live closer to work, versus a city like DC, where below a certain price range, you have no choice but to slog through miserable traffic every day just to work.

From my own perspective, I like the idea of the new beltway, since it would make my life easier in going west or southwest out of the woodlands. I have no clue exactly how much demand overall there is for that sort of movement between the far suburbs of the city, though.