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Old 09-23-2012, 09:57 PM
 
Location: Houston, Texas
10,447 posts, read 49,516,015 times
Reputation: 10614

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Quote:
Originally Posted by DiverTodd62 View Post
It has been proven so many times that building rail does VERY little to reduce traffic. Show me one example in the U.S. where a city has reduced it's traffic congestion by building rail.

Expanded roads do not spawn cars. Traffic increases because the population is growing. Freeway infrastructure is like any other infrastructure - electrical lines, water systems, or schools. Seems they are always issuing bonds to build new schools. What's the point? The schools will just fill up with new students and we'll soon have overcrowded schools again, right? Fact is, as long as the population grows the infrastructure needs to expand.
I never agree with much you ever say but I sure do with your statement here. Probably because you are right. What good is light rail? Ok so it picks you up from some parking lot next to a highway then gets you someplace close to where you work downtown. Now what? Walk? Take a Taxi every day? Jog? Hitch hike? Jump on a bus? Either choice takes a 1 hour automobile drive commute into a 2 hour hodge podge of people mover vehicles.

I'll take the roads any day.

Wanna improve traffic flow? Abolish those useless HOV lanes. That one single lane available to only a select few can make 2 lanes and a shoulder in each direction. Any govt activity that limits specific groups is flat out discrimination. And HOV does not work. Get behind one slow poke doing 40 and you have a back up with people wanting to kill the idiot. And of course very few use the discriminatory privileged lane anyway.

Here is the biggest scam against our citizens. The DOT actually has given itself legal authority (over state government) to authorize the use of PUBLICLY FUNDED roadways to discriminate against the majority. Isn't that sweet? A billion dollars to build one single lane that is of use for about 5% of the city's motorists.

Happy motoring fellow suckers!
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Old 09-23-2012, 10:37 PM
 
561 posts, read 967,139 times
Reputation: 472
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertsun41 View Post
I never agree with much you ever say but I sure do with your statement here. Probably because you are right. What good is light rail? Ok so it picks you up from some parking lot next to a highway then gets you someplace close to where you work downtown. Now what? Walk? Take a Taxi every day? Jog? Hitch hike? Jump on a bus? Either choice takes a 1 hour automobile drive commute into a 2 hour hodge podge of people mover vehicles.

I'll take the roads any day.

Wanna improve traffic flow? Abolish those useless HOV lanes. That one single lane available to only a select few can make 2 lanes and a shoulder in each direction. Any govt activity that limits specific groups is flat out discrimination. And HOV does not work. Get behind one slow poke doing 40 and you have a back up with people wanting to kill the idiot. And of course very few use the discriminatory privileged lane anyway.

Here is the biggest scam against our citizens. The DOT actually has given itself legal authority (over state government) to authorize the use of PUBLICLY FUNDED roadways to discriminate against the majority. Isn't that sweet? A billion dollars to build one single lane that is of use for about 5% of the city's motorists.

Happy motoring fellow suckers!
2 hours with a light-rail? you know that actually travels quickly right... its not subjected to traffic and other drivers.. you realize this right?

And if you did work in downtown and the lightrail dropped you off on main where the existing track is, you wouldn't be walking much more than 30mins. unless you were on crutches or something...And another thing you conveniently forgot to mention, the ease of sitting down and being able to read a newspaper or a book is much more favorable to most people(maybe not you) than sitting in traffic with thousands of other people going to the same area.

Seriously you came up with 2 hours!?? and walking? You act like legs are only made for you to jump in your truck or car and drive that around.. you know you can use those two things to actually travel places as well....you do know that right?

Im not saying that the answer to the congestion problem is light-rail.. I never did, I am saying that that would be an option and something that would be favorable to people that want something less stressful and when they come home they dont want to be thoroughly exhausted from the drive. There are no numbers for that.

Yes light-rail costs money, but so does expanding highways, and there are some areas in Houston where expanding the highway is just improbable (59/610 and westheimer area, 290/59/I45 interchange etc.)

Lets take an example, the Katy freeway, they expanded that thing to a ginormous mammoth of a highway because before that there was hell on that freeway, but is there still traffic during rush hour? Is it totally alleviated? absolutely not. Light-Rail wont fix that either but at least you have a choice of using that and you would probably make it there faster depending on if you worked in the areas it was serving(which I realize is the main reason why some people wouldn't use it)
And you would like to get to that highway from the Galleria, oh thats about 30minutes to an hour, depending on where you got on, and from the upper kirby area, thats much over an hour, just to get to that big highway

Another thing to consider, the people that take park and rides, they would love to have that be light-rail instead of a bus, which is subjected to the same issues of vehicle traffic.

There are no numbers that can say light-rail is the only solution, the solution might be a combination of the two, but sometimes you two just need to stop being so steeped in ignorance and just look at it at a different angle.
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Old 09-23-2012, 10:42 PM
 
2,942 posts, read 4,960,668 times
Reputation: 3382
Quote:
Originally Posted by OducksFTW! View Post
2 hours with a light-rail? you know that actually travels quickly right... its not subjected to traffic and other drivers.. you realize this right?

And if you did work in downtown and the lightrail dropped you off on main where the existing track is, you wouldn't be walking much more than 30mins. unless you were on crutches or something...And another thing you conveniently forgot to mention, the ease of sitting down and being able to read a newspaper or a book is much more favorable to most people(maybe not you) than sitting in traffic with thousands of other people going to the same area.

Seriously you came up with 2 hours!?? and walking? You act like legs are only made for you to jump in your truck or car and drive that around.. you know you can use those two things to actually travel places as well....you do know that right?

Im not saying that the answer to the congestion problem is light-rail.. I never did, I am saying that that would be an option and something that would be favorable to people that want something less stressful and when they come home they dont want to be thoroughly exhausted from the drive. There are no numbers for that.

Yes light-rail costs money, but so does expanding highways, and there are some areas in Houston where expanding the highway is just improbable (59/610 and westheimer area, 290/59/I45 interchange etc.)

Lets take an example, the Katy freeway, they expanded that thing to a ginormous mammoth of a highway because before that there was hell on that freeway, but is there still traffic during rush hour? Is it totally alleviated? absolutely not. Light-Rail wont fix that either but at least you have a choice of using that and you would probably make it there faster depending on if you worked in the areas it was serving(which I realize is the main reason why some people wouldn't use it)
And you would like to get to that highway from the Galleria, oh thats about 30minutes to an hour, depending on where you got on, and from the upper kirby area, thats much over an hour, just to get to that big highway

Another thing to consider, the people that take park and rides, they would love to have that be light-rail instead of a bus, which is subjected to the same issues of vehicle traffic.

There are no numbers that can say light-rail is the only solution, the solution might be a combination of the two, but sometimes you two just need to stop being so steeped in ignorance and just look at it at a different angle.
The tolls there would be much more full if the cops weren't every 3 feet like a Starbucks. During rush hour it's amazing how few cars are using the Katy tolls while everyone and every 18 wheeler is on I-10 both ways.
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Old 09-24-2012, 01:12 AM
 
Location: Texarkana
123 posts, read 357,611 times
Reputation: 62
Quote:
Originally Posted by Redlionjr View Post
Since I moved here in 08 I've noticed the traffic get worst due to the spike in population. I think the Mayor spoke about this and stated that something needs to be done immediately. It really is frustrating, I mean only when i'm in traffic do I HATE Houston. It's like i'm Hulk when i'm on the road. Traffic sort of forces you to be more aggressive down here. And besides the obvious license plates I can always tell when somebody is from another state by the way they drive. And not to generalize but the worst out of state drivers in my experiences tend to be people with Florida license plates. I don't understand it.
It's funny you say that because my mom used to live in Miami and she said they were horrible drivers.
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Old 09-24-2012, 08:35 AM
 
23,177 posts, read 12,050,873 times
Reputation: 29347
Quote:
Originally Posted by OducksFTW! View Post
2 hours with a light-rail? you know that actually travels quickly right... its not subjected to traffic and other drivers.. you realize this right?
Quickly? You realize that nationwide light rail systems average about 15 mph, right?

You can quibble over whether a one hour car commute becomes a 90 minute or 120 minute light rail ride but it does add significantly to the commute. And it doesn't make side trips to drop the kids off at school or swing by the grocery store.

Light rail is great... for the lucky 5% of the people whose home and work has convenient access to it. They get to take a $15/person ride for $2.50 and let the taxpayers pick up the rest of the tab.
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Old 09-24-2012, 01:30 PM
 
Location: Pearland, TX
3,333 posts, read 9,129,919 times
Reputation: 2338
What we need are steamboats running up and down the bayous.

Ronnie
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Old 09-24-2012, 05:29 PM
 
Location: Houston
6,870 posts, read 14,786,318 times
Reputation: 5890
Quote:
Originally Posted by desertsun41 View Post
I never agree with much you ever say but I sure do with your statement here. Probably because you are right. What good is light rail? Ok so it picks you up from some parking lot next to a highway then gets you someplace close to where you work downtown. Now what? Walk? Take a Taxi every day? Jog? Hitch hike? Jump on a bus? Either choice takes a 1 hour automobile drive commute into a 2 hour hodge podge of people mover vehicles.

I'll take the roads any day.

Wanna improve traffic flow? Abolish those useless HOV lanes. That one single lane available to only a select few can make 2 lanes and a shoulder in each direction. Any govt activity that limits specific groups is flat out discrimination. And HOV does not work. Get behind one slow poke doing 40 and you have a back up with people wanting to kill the idiot. And of course very few use the discriminatory privileged lane anyway.

Here is the biggest scam against our citizens. The DOT actually has given itself legal authority (over state government) to authorize the use of PUBLICLY FUNDED roadways to discriminate against the majority. Isn't that sweet? A billion dollars to build one single lane that is of use for about 5% of the city's motorists.

Happy motoring fellow suckers!
I love the HOV lane. If it actually motivates people to car pool than I think it's a great thing that needs to stick around.
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Old 09-24-2012, 06:20 PM
 
18,041 posts, read 25,061,271 times
Reputation: 16721
Yes, the lightrail is not gonna drop you off at your house,
but the city of Houston would be much better with just two light rail lines.
One just like the Beltway and one going from Bush Airport, through downtown, Hobby to Galveston.

It won't take you to work, but it sure would be nice to fly into Bush Airport or Hobby, get on the light-rail and get off in Cypress, Katy, Sugarland, Pearland, etc. and then get in your car.
Or the other way around and be able to go to downtown, the airport, Galveston without having to drive there.

It also would be an option for people that don't want to drive all the way across the city to go to work.
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Old 09-24-2012, 07:11 PM
 
23,177 posts, read 12,050,873 times
Reputation: 29347
Yeah, it would be nice to get to the airports easier. But how many personal trips a year do you make? I don't want to be paying more taxes every day so that a couple times a year it's easier to get to the airport.

Light rail is running $100 million per mile, the Beltway is 88 miles around, do the math. The downtown lines would mostly be used by business travelers, many of them out of town.
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Old 09-24-2012, 07:49 PM
 
Location: Not Moving
970 posts, read 1,862,844 times
Reputation: 502
Quote:
Originally Posted by westhou View Post
I love the HOV lane. If it actually motivates people to car pool than I think it's a great thing that needs to stick around.
I always thought this was funny in So. Cal. when I first encountered it (early '80s)...........driving with a boyfriend......definitely NOT carpooling...........to a job or anything.......ever......... Then, when I'd visit my Mom in Houston, we'd use the HOV...........just 'cause there was the two of us since she didn't drive too well.

So...........maybe they bump it up to three or more. Now, THAT's a Carpool.
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