Houston traffic... exponentially worse? (San Antonio, Austin: taxes, living in, centers)

[KerrTown]

I'm actually considering taking the Park-and-Ride and the 77 local to UH to I can save time during the afternoon rush hour by bypassing the traffic jams on the Katy Tollway/HOV on the bus (and save gas, miles, and wear on the car). I'm only driving the car and parking in the garage right now (got the garage permit!) to avoid coming back to a hot car and slowly damage the interior by heat.

Can't wait when the weather gets cooler and the sun less intense as we get closer to Winter so I can park in the Park-and-Ride lot! The only time I would have to drive in is in the rain; such as days like today.

[Dopo]

Here's the problem that I see in Houston highways

The highway design is a total piece of s....
- Most entrance ramps don't have an entrance ramp acceleration lane that will allow drivers to comfortably get on the highway. Instead, you are pretty much dump onto the highway.
- Who's the genius that came up with the idea of having the highways go over every single street completely reducing driver's sight distance which scares people and make them slow down in the middle of the highway just because "They can't see over the bridge"
- Why do left lanes end instead of right lanes? The best example of this is on I-10 right in front of Katy's Mills mall where one little sign tells you "left lane ends" all of a sudden you realize that you are driving on the left shoulder.
- Who is supposed to install highway signs? When you drive North on I-45, right in front of Texas Roadhouse in Conroe, the right lane ends (exit ramp) and there's absolutely no sign telling drivers that the right lane is going to end.

You can add all the lanes that you want, but the highway design is still a piece of s....
add to that all the "left lane hogs" and you have ..... Houston.

[DejaBlue]

It's bad. This summer I think we got a LOT of new residents because it seems more packed than usual.

It's worse in the rain. I wish people timed flashing lights but only 2-3 cars each way pass then the other folks at the other light, turn, stop are gunning to drive so it's extreme gridlock bumper to bumper.

And whoever mentioned people going slow in the left lane passing the traffic. I do that but only because I HAVE to. Stupid people in the center dart out either real slow or super fast and that causes accidents. Most accidents during rush hour are because of that. Accident in the left lane? Gee I wonder why person A trying to drive while being worried about someone from their left coming over and here comes a car darting out. BAMM. Thank you a-hole dart out Houstonian.

What gets me is people who wait for a passing car to get within a foot to pull out. If you're on a side street, pull out WAAAAAAY before you can clearly see me through my windshield. Seriously! You've been there all that time. That's just being an a-hole straight up. You've been watching the car approaching you for 15 seconds. WHY wait until I'm right at you to pull out? You don't have money and want a payday when I hit you so you can call some ambulance chasing Jim Adler?????

[Glossa]

Even the buses are getting too crowded. There has been standing room only on my 228 route in the last couple of weeks.

I'm angry with all those magazine article writers! Look what they've done to us.

[N. Olikee]

Originally Posted by Glossa

Even the buses are getting too crowded. There has been standing room only on my 228 route in the last couple of weeks.

I'm angry with all those magazine article writers! Look what they've done to us.

Another bit of history.................I remember when I was in high school we silly kids thought it would be fun to take the bus downtown.............to Foley's. The bus stop was practically at my doorstep in the 'burbs, or now what you guys call "City Center."

By the time we got to the Foley's stop, there were people hanging out of that bus. Times have changed?

[MikeyAusmus]

Originally Posted by OducksFTW!

I know Houston has got some bad traffic, but lately it has gotten downright ridiculous. Every major highway has turned into a parking lot in the morning hours.

Back in July/August it took me 20 mins. to get from Sweetwater to Beltway8 and Westpark tollway. Now it is taking me almost an hour!

On the radio it seems like every major highway is taking an hour to get into town from every direction!

I had no idea schools had such a high impact on rush hour traffic!

The increasingly bad traffic is a result of an average of 2,500 new residents moving to the Greater Houston area each week.

Houston had a massive growth spurt like this back in the 1970's which resulted in a complete traffic disaster! Unfortunately, there is no way for TxDOT to keep up with the massive growth. The only way we can solve our own commuting problems for the next few years is moving closer to work. That is what I did. When I lived close to Tomball it took me over an hour to get to work in uptown, now that I live in Greenway Plaza it takes only 8 minutes. Definitely more expensive, but it's worth it not having to having to sit through sluggish bumper-to-bumper traffic on 290 ever again! Ugh, I hate even typing the number 290 lol

[N. Olikee]

Oh......I forgot to add that way back then, it was really, really HOT and HUMID in Houston.

[Redlionjr]

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.

[dejamiller]

I-45 is starting to become almost unbearable now. Geez Louise...

I know we need the rain, but I want it to stop raining now because of course it makes things even worst.

[N. Olikee]

I find it quite humorous and perplexing that "they" expanded the Katy Fwy. and it's STILL loaded with traffic.