Commute times significantly worse after I-10 expansion - Interesting read (Katy: low income, new house)

[bu2]

Originally Posted by haudi

Right, they didn't address the population increase, but I think it shows an interesting perspective that our freeway projects are already behind the curve from the minute they are finished. We can keep adding lanes, but at some point they are going to reach a bottleneck. We have to find other ways to reduce traffic and Houston/TxDot planners seem to keep turning their heads at the issue and pretending it doesn't exist.

I think they understand that.

There was a TXDOT person last year who made a comment that our system wasn't "scalable" and that we needed alternatives, but we would keep building as much as we could.

The idiots are the ones who think we should build alternatives and ignore the continuing need for additional roads also.

[bu2]

Originally Posted by d2mini

Bingo.
We lived just north of 1-10 at Blalock for 12 years in a 2400 sq ft 1960's house. Started having kids and "needed" more room, better schools, etc. Moved to the Katy/Fulshear area with an extra 1100 sq ft. After almost 4 years we couldn't take it anymore. With both of us working near downtown, most of the advantages we moved for weren't realized due to the time suck that was our commute, even having access to the HOV. So we recently moved back into town (even closer in) into a 2500 sq ft 1960's house (remodeled). Full circle and you know what... it's enough room! I don't miss the extra space really at all. We are loving life. Close to everything, no stress, I don't even touch a freeway during my commute, and it feels like we have so much more time in our day. Plus we just fit in much better with the people who live in town. You wouldn't think it, but it's a whole different lifestyle. I'm sure that's one reason why some people don't mind the commute or are willing to put up with it.

I too remember 1-10 before the expansion and it definitely made a huge improvement, especially on weekends. Weekends could be as bad as during the week sometimes but not any more. As said above, the reason its so bad still during the commute is just due to all the massive growth. Even in the short time we were out there, seeing the office buildings go up in the energy corridor was insane. More jobs, more people. Now master planned developments are pushing past Fulshear!

We lived out in Cypress before Spring Branch and it was bad then. We're talking over 15 years ago. No way we were going to move out there so chose the katy area. Now after experiencing both, I can't say one was any better than the other, they are both horrible. Once 290 is complete it may be better for a little while, but it's also going to invite even more new home and business construction so unfortunately it won't last. Especially with 99. Fairfield has developed pretty slowly compared to other neighborhoods and has been pretty much the last stop when heading NW for the past 20 years. Won't be anymore! Houston is just cray cray.

Definitely a good point about the weekends. I always tried to avoid Katy on Saturdays.

[LocalPlanner]

If you thought the Katy expansion would make congestion just go away as we grew, then yes you were an idiot. For those pointing out that the Katy area grew enormously in population and therefore that's why this article is stupid, you are correct about the growth, but you're also missing the point that the increased capacity helped lure the growth because developers (and buyers/tenants) thought, "Wow, more lanes so let's build out there so folks don't have any traffic issues!" Anyone with half a brain could see how that would turn out. (The concept is "induced demand.") Plus of course increased throughput on one section of highway means that new bottlenecks will form elsewhere as a higher flow of traffic suddenly hits areas that were more accommodating to the constrained flow before. (See: the West Loop southbound exit from the Katy in the mornings - didn't have the backup before the widening; also, the congestion inbound inside the Loop, which hardly ever happened before.)

That said, it's also wrong to call the improvements a waste. A couple extra lanes is still moving more cars in a given amount of time, even if they're moving at 10 mph.

[LocalPlanner]

By the way, I was talking with some local public officials last year, and they were saying a developer was looking at a project to build a cluster of high-density office space near the Westpark Tollway (OK the Fort Bend Tollway in that section) and 99, because Katyites were so sick of sitting in traffic to get to the Energy Corridor and Westchase in the inner city. I'm sure that project is on hold at the moment, but it's also something likely to occur in the future.

So, instead of having to sit on the Katy Freeway or Westpark to get to Eldridge or the Sam Houston every morning, you can have a shorter commute within the greater Katy area, at the expense of much worse local office-generated traffic on 99 and the Fort Bend Tollway, just like we have in the Energy Corridor today! Enjoy!

[bu2]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

If you thought the Katy expansion would make congestion just go away as we grew, then yes you were an idiot. For those pointing out that the Katy area grew enormously in population and therefore that's why this article is stupid, you are correct about the growth, but you're also missing the point that the increased capacity helped lure the growth because developers (and buyers/tenants) thought, "Wow, more lanes so let's build out there so folks don't have any traffic issues!" Anyone with half a brain could see how that would turn out. (The concept is "induced demand.") Plus of course increased throughput on one section of highway means that new bottlenecks will form elsewhere as a higher flow of traffic suddenly hits areas that were more accommodating to the constrained flow before. (See: the West Loop southbound exit from the Katy in the mornings - didn't have the backup before the widening; also, the congestion inbound inside the Loop, which hardly ever happened before.)

That said, it's also wrong to call the improvements a waste. A couple extra lanes is still moving more cars in a given amount of time, even if they're moving at 10 mph.

Most of the development was on the drawing board before the expansion. Cinco Ranch was being developed and Developers were gobbling up land north of I-10. With the good schools and available land, this would have all happened regardless of the freeway expansion. The fastest growing areas have been Katy and Northwest Harris County and Pearland. And there hasn't been any ground broken on 288 improvements and all this happened well before they found funding for 290. Yet Pearland and NW Harris County still have been growing like crazy.

Not that there isn't induced demand, but its pretty irrelevant in this case. A better example will be what happens along the Grand Parkway over the next 20 years where there is an entirely new road.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by DSL_PWR

been driving the katy freeway for over 2 years now. 30 mins in and 30 mins out. timing is key.

I prefer to live in a house ~4x the size for half the money on 100x the land with much less paid each year in taxes...

The much less in taxes isnt guranteed. It depends with homestead the effective rate in houston can get down to 2% or below effective.

[elnina]

I agree that the traffic is bad, and get worse - mostly because any improvements are constrained by funding, which federal and state lawmakers have been slow to deliver. Federal officials remain at an impasse about a long-term transportation bill, and many have shown reluctance to increase federal highway spending. Texas voters last year approved $1.7 billion for state highways, leaving about $3.3 billion in additional money needed

Past research found that the city's population swells by over 30% daily, as about 600,000 people drive into the city for work every day. Almost half of city workers spend more than an hour commuting each day.

Study finds Houston traffic congestion worsening - Houston Chronicle

Check out the 15 top recommended upgrade projects to Houston highways:
http://www.tripnet.org/docs/TX_Houst...cle_041715.pdf
These projects and many others will remain standing on the drawing board unless Texas can provide added transportation funding at the state and local levels.

[bilz987]

Originally Posted by afterdark80

If you want a shorter commute, buy a smaller house closer in town, instead of a home twice the size in Katy for the same $$.
Its a trade off, it always has been.

This is cost prohibitive for most people with school-aged kids. If you want a house in the city with good schools, you will have to spend at least 600k, which will maybe get you a teardown. Even townhomes zoned to good schools are going for over 600K. Outside of those areas, you will likely need to pay for private at some point.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by bu2

Most of the development was on the drawing board before the expansion. Cinco Ranch was being developed and Developers were gobbling up land north of I-10. With the good schools and available land, this would have all happened regardless of the freeway expansion. The fastest growing areas have been Katy and Northwest Harris County and Pearland. And there hasn't been any ground broken on 288 improvements and all this happened well before they found funding for 290. Yet Pearland and NW Harris County still have been growing like crazy.

Not that there isn't induced demand, but its pretty irrelevant in this case. A better example will be what happens along the Grand Parkway over the next 20 years where there is an entirely new road.

There was a fair amount planned, yes. And I agree that there would have been a lot of growth anyway because of the obsession with South Katy schools (there's other available land around left fallow because it's not in a "favored" school zone).

But the expansion definitely did encourage commercial / office developers to go forward with projects along the Katy corridor rather than invest their funds in some other part of town - and the fact that the upstream oil business expanded soon after the freeway's completion sealed the deals.

In any case, we all knew the writing was on the wall, why are people complaining? Because it wasn't double-decked?

[afterdark80]

Again, as you demonstrate here, there is always tradeoff.
If it only took 20 minutes to get downtown from Katy at peak rush hour, real estate in Katy would be much more cost prohibitive.

Originally Posted by bilz987

This is cost prohibitive for most people with school-aged kids. If you want a house in the city with good schools, you will have to spend at least 600k, which will maybe get you a teardown. Even townhomes zoned to good schools are going for over 600K. Outside of those areas, you will likely need to pay for private at some point.