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It certainly isn't. I think the major problem with Houston is that the drivers act like the surface roads don't exist. Houston has a super grid system that can alleviate highway traffic but they are not utilized to their full potential. An accident on the highways, will get you a serious back up, but their are alternatives (if people would just use them )
As for special events, the immediate area will be crazy, but half a mile over you probably would not know if something is going on.
Anyway, if you are searching for that one special restaurant or that one unique store then you most probably have to drive more than 5 miles,
But if you just need a shopping center, mall, restaurant, park etc, most people are 0 to 5 miles away from those.
There are alot less secondary roads in Houston than other cities. Let's say traffic around the galleria is locked up and I'm trying to get Bellaire. My only secondary road option is Chimney Rock directly or Post Oak to Rice and the lights are not timed to facilitate north south traffic, just east west (Richmond, Woodway, Westheimer). Then if I was trying to bypass and accident on the Katy, I'd have to go up to Westview or all the way down to Westheimer to make any east-west progress inside the beltway. The feeders are what actually keep traffic moving, so no one ever seriously thinks of upgrading the secondary routes. And just because a streets empty doesn't mean its being underutilized. Often it means there's something about the street that does not facilitate through traffic. And alot of that is designed in to neighborhoods in Houston because the people that live there don't want regular through traffic. So that pushes more traffic to the freeways. Most cities, like Atlanta, that are zoned and planned usually have better utilization of secondary roads because they're planned to be that way and ease traffic congestion. Plus, people don't have feeder road system which ecourages drivers to stay close to the freeway. Thus, Atlanta teaches people to use the secondary roads and Houston works to keep people on or near the freeways, despite the grid like pattern people looking at Houston see from an ariel. I can't tell you how many times I look for shortcuts only to discover they don't shorten anything. Also, you want to see an example of the worst designed secondary road (up until a few years ago) just look at FM 1960 from 290-I-45. Its a nightmare to get across even without much traffic.
There are alot less secondary roads in Houston than other cities. Let's say traffic around the galleria is locked up and I'm trying to get Bellaire. My only secondary road option is Chimney Rock directly or Post Oak to Rice and the lights are not timed to facilitate north south traffic, just east west (Richmond, Woodway, Westheimer). Then if I was trying to bypass and accident on the Katy, I'd have to go up to Westview or all the way down to Westheimer to make any east-west progress inside the beltway. The feeders are what actually keep traffic moving, so no one ever seriously thinks of upgrading the secondary routes. And just because a streets empty doesn't mean its being underutilized. Often it means there's something about the street that does not facilitate through traffic. And alot of that is designed in to neighborhoods in Houston because the people that live there don't want regular through traffic. So that pushes more traffic to the freeways. Most cities, like Atlanta, that are zoned and planned usually have better utilization of secondary roads because they're planned to be that way and ease traffic congestion. Plus, people don't have feeder road system which ecourages drivers to stay close to the freeway. Thus, Atlanta teaches people to use the secondary roads and Houston works to keep people on or near the freeways, despite the grid like pattern people looking at Houston see from an ariel. I can't tell you how many times I look for shortcuts only to discover they don't shorten anything. Also, you want to see an example of the worst designed secondary road (up until a few years ago) just look at FM 1960 from 290-I-45. Its a nightmare to get across even without much traffic.
Well it depends on where you are going on Bellaire. If you are on 610 in the Galleria and a Jam develops, there is Post Oak, Sage, Chimney Rock Fountain View, 59, Rice which merges to Sage, Yorktown, New Castle, Bering then loop around the highway to Adler, Rampart. There are many many poorly utilized alternatives.
Also there are few few few roads that are empty in Houston. I don't mean they are not used when I say they are not utilized to their potential. You got my point totally upside down.
You got Houston totally mixed up. Its not that the design pushes people unto highways, People LOVE the highways here, and hate lights. The grid system here is more user friendly than ATL's system, but people just prefer highways.
zoning has nothing to do with it. In fact the lack of zoning permits business in residential areas off of surface streets which should make the residential streets MORE attractive, and yet people still prefer the highways.
As for accidents on Katy, those are easy to get around. very few back ups on katy are caused by accidents.
I don't know how you are experiencing Houston from that point of view? Houston drivers just don't like lights, that is the problem.
There are alot less secondary roads in Houston than other cities. Let's say traffic around the galleria is locked up and I'm trying to get Bellaire. My only secondary road option is Chimney Rock directly or Post Oak to Rice and the lights are not timed to facilitate north south traffic, just east west (Richmond, Woodway, Westheimer). Then if I was trying to bypass and accident on the Katy, I'd have to go up to Westview or all the way down to Westheimer to make any east-west progress inside the beltway. The feeders are what actually keep traffic moving, so no one ever seriously thinks of upgrading the secondary routes. And just because a streets empty doesn't mean its being underutilized. Often it means there's something about the street that does not facilitate through traffic. And alot of that is designed in to neighborhoods in Houston because the people that live there don't want regular through traffic. So that pushes more traffic to the freeways. Most cities, like Atlanta, that are zoned and planned usually have better utilization of secondary roads because they're planned to be that way and ease traffic congestion. Plus, people don't have feeder road system which ecourages drivers to stay close to the freeway. Thus, Atlanta teaches people to use the secondary roads and Houston works to keep people on or near the freeways, despite the grid like pattern people looking at Houston see from an ariel. I can't tell you how many times I look for shortcuts only to discover they don't shorten anything. Also, you want to see an example of the worst designed secondary road (up until a few years ago) just look at FM 1960 from 290-I-45. Its a nightmare to get across even without much traffic.
There are a decent number of options to the major highways in Atlanta, but it seems like there aren't a lot of people who know about them. Maybe it's due to the large number of transplants...I know it took me a few years of living here to feel comfortable with trying different routes off the beaten path.
There are a decent number of options to the major highways in Atlanta, but it seems like there aren't a lot of people who know about them. Maybe it's due to the large number of transplants...I know it took me a few years of living here to feel comfortable with trying different routes off the beaten path.
When I lived in Atlanta (midtown), I frequently took the secondary roads around town. Of course I was always going somewhere inside of I-285 so it made more sense to do so. Whenever I went to buckhead, I rarely if ever used I-85/GA-400. There are alot of main arteries that don't stoplight you to death. If I tried that in Houston, I'd get stuck in traffic way too often to make useful progress.
Well it depends on where you are going on Bellaire. If you are on 610 in the Galleria and a Jam develops, there is Post Oak, Sage, Chimney Rock Fountain View, 59, Rice which merges to Sage, Yorktown, New Castle, Bering then loop around the highway to Adler, Rampart. There are many many poorly utilized alternatives.
Also there are few few few roads that are empty in Houston. I don't mean they are not used when I say they are not utilized to their potential. You got my point totally upside down.
You got Houston totally mixed up. Its not that the design pushes people unto highways, People LOVE the highways here, and hate lights. The grid system here is more user friendly than ATL's system, but people just prefer highways.
zoning has nothing to do with it. In fact the lack of zoning permits business in residential areas off of surface streets which should make the residential streets MORE attractive, and yet people still prefer the highways.
As for accidents on Katy, those are easy to get around. very few back ups on katy are caused by accidents.
I don't know how you are experiencing Houston from that point of view? Houston drivers just don't like lights, that is the problem.
Houston drivers don't like lights because they slow you down and there's many times that i try and beat people on the freeway somewhere by taking main streets and inevitably I fail to do so, meaning that I should have stayed on the freeway. There are some routes that seem to work (Memorial from 610 to downtown is almost always faster than I-10 to the same desitnation), but most cause endless delays sitting, waiting for poorly timed lights to change and then you just end up stuck at light after light. THAT IS WHAT DRIVES PEOPLE TO THE FREEWAYS!! Cut out half the lights in Houston and inner beltway moves alot faster. Then of course neighborhoods start complaining because everyone wants their protected left and they drive to put the lights back up.
And finally, Chimney Rock is the only one of those streets that goes all the way through from I-10 to the Heart of Bellaire. Every other street requires some sort of jog over/feeder road usage. Newcastle doesn't even exist north of 59. They're poorly utilized because you end up getting stuck everywhere. I once tried to get to Holcombe and Buffalo Speedway taking Westpark from the beltway and it was great until I got to Westpark and 610 and then it took me 30 minutes to get to Kirby alone!!! A combination of stoplights and the fact that Westpark is essentially a tertiary road inside of the loop kills any progress.
1.There are plenty of alternatives to the highway here and Atlanta is too hilly to have a decent grid system.
2. It is not the city of Atlanta's fault if people don't want to live near certain areas where they have most of their needs, but there are plenty of area just like the ones in Houston that don't require more then a 5 mile drive and I don't personally know anybody who doesn't live in them.
3. Stop trying to make Houston seem significantly denser by saying Texas builds on smaller lots. The lot sizes here vary and thus you get more of choice, but its not like Houston blowing Atlanta out the water with walkability and especially transit access.
4. Texas has way bigger counties then Georgia so don't even try to use that to compare anything. Bottom line, If you don't or haven't actually live in Atlanta please stay out of our forums and if you moved because you hate it here stay out of our forum since this does not concern you.
Lol, but you are not going from I10 to Bellaire though. You are going from The Galleria so why would the streets need to go all the way to 10?
no, you assumed I was going FROM the galleria, when clearly I said "traffic is locked up AROUND the galleria. I frequently need to get from I-10/610 to Braeswood and 610 area and around rush hour my only real alternative is Post Oak/feeder/Westheimer/Sage/Rice to Braeswood and over or Chimney Rock to Brasewood and over. And the amount of stoplights will drive you crazy to get from each side and frequently show you that you should ahve stayed on the freeway (as slow as it can be in spots). Thus, Houston encourages its drivers to stick to the freeways. I'm sorry if you do not understand that. You must not actually DRIVE around Houston that much.
no, you assumed I was going FROM the galleria, when clearly I said "traffic is locked up AROUND the galleria. I frequently need to get from I-10/610 to Braeswood and 610 area and around rush hour my only real alternative is Post Oak/feeder/Westheimer/Sage/Rice to Braeswood and over or Chimney Rock to Brasewood and over. And the amount of stoplights will drive you crazy to get from each side and frequently show you that you should ahve stayed on the freeway (as slow as it can be in spots). Thus, Houston encourages its drivers to stick to the freeways. I'm sorry if you do not understand that. You must not actually DRIVE around Houston that much.
well that just doesn't make sense hun. Why would anyone purposefully drive to traffic if they are not already in it. Like I said there are alternatives. If you are on I 10 then don't go threw the galleria.
anyway no one goes from I 10 to Bellaire threw Galleria anyway. That is just pure foolishness. That would be like going from Down town to Pearland and deciding to take the surface streets through the med center just to prove a point. That is ridiculous
Okay, enough with the side argument about specific routes in Houston! Nobody else cares about that, so how about taking it private???
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