Why are the roads in Houston so crappy? (Dallas, Richmond: best cities, power lines)

[TexasTony]

Richmond, Shepherd, Kirkwood, Dairy Ashford, Wilcrest, Briar Forest the list goes on and on. In some places they have kept metal slabs for ages and they don't want to remove them or repair the road underneath. I believe some of the roads in the city are not car friendly at all. Most of the people here drive trucks so they have no issues. We have trucks in Dallas too but still the roads were way better.

[azinwood]

yup, they suck.

[GTRdad]

Lots of really bad roads on the west 'rich' side. I do not remember seeing a bad patch in Alief tho. We do have lots of complete sewer and full street repaving going on here non-stop it seems

[dreamz77584]

Richmond Ave is the worst i ve seen between Hilcroft to Sage Road....Horrible. Its been like that for the last 7 years that i know of....

[usc619]

The roads in Houston are bad, no reason to sugarcoat it. BTW I could care less about other cities roads, I'm talking about the roads I'm dealing with everyday.

[key2thecity]

Originally Posted by Schumacher713

We are a very spread out city with lots of problems. We would have to pass a lot of bonds to pay for it all. I would vote for a tax raise to fix roads. It will take a nice hike. And, Rich River Oaks has some pretty good roads. I have driven all parts of River Oaks and I am not even sure if I remember seeing one pot hole. Lower Westheimer needs it worse than any street.

ALL parts of River Oaks? I HAD to comment because they have many, many, many potholes/craters in this area. Perhaps the neighborhood streets within the community are what you're referring to - those aren't bad. However, the major thoroughfares in this area are horrendous.

[key2thecity]

Originally Posted by madrone2k

OK, guys, I'm in the camp that think the roads here are unusually bumpy. Maybe it's just because I grew up here and I now drive a car that doesn't soften out the bumps. But ... I have spend a lot of time driving and riding around other parts of the world, and I never experience it like here. In particular, I spend a lot of time in LA and southern CA because I have family there, but I never experience it there.

My boss is from the UK and has lived around the world and thinks it is because we have cheaply constructed roads. I have heard that idea, but I have also heard people say that our roads are not cheaply built, but that we have unusually unstable clay soil.

Any thoughts on these suggestions?

I think it's a combination of several things. First, there's probably a general lack of funding for infrastructure because the city is so expansive. Second, as a lifelong Houstonian (minus a few years) I'm familiar with how often and how badly it used to flood here. Before they started building all the retention ponds around here (which I think started after TS Allison in 2001) one thunderstorm could flood huge areas. I'm sure all of that flooding took a toll on the soil beneath the roads. Third, they never really "fix" the roads. If they do get around to repairing a pothole, crack, or even an entire street, they fill it with that god-awful black tar crap that seems to buckle and melt if it gets to hot outside. Or they slap a metal sheet on top of it indefinitely. Fourth, I'm pretty sure our super hot summers affect the soil some kind of way and cause cracks/potholes in the street - I'm not scientist or civil engineer, but I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, I lived in Southern Cali and the country panhandle of Florida and their roads were quite nice. I never knew how bad ours were until I left the city. I did notice one thing that Houston doesn't do that San Diego did - they repaired their roads early, instead of waiting for them to be almost completely intolerable like they do in Houston. They also repaired roads at night and rarely shut down freeways. I still don't understand why construction teams in Houston will work on roads in the middle of rush hour or shut down huge areas of freeway for entire weekends.

[Neo45]

I don't thinktheyre any worse than LAs. No idea about the other big car cities

[usc619]

Originally Posted by Neo45

I don't thinktheyre any worse than LAs. No idea about the other big car cities

I think they're much worse than LA.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by usc619

I think they're much worse than LA.

It probably depends upon the area, just like here. I know that 5 years ago, many of the road in City Of Industry/Whitier were horrible.