The nightmare that is Hwy 290 (Houston: centers, to move, car)

[Trae713]

Originally Posted by texas7

Of course it could just be that all the freeways are like that now - inbound and outbound due to he daily increase in population.

None as bad as the Katy. I-10 probably has the worse traffic both ways than any freeway outside of the West Loop. I reverse commute and in the afternoons it gets backed up from Dairy Ashford all the way to 610 (with a smalk breakup usually happening once traffic exits onto the Beltway, but traffic picks up again just after Gessner). From Silber all the way to Downtown is usually bumper to bumper. I sometimes get off from the tollway at the last exit because there are many times where the freeway starts moving a little faster than the tollway does before the last toll booth. Sometimes I get some entertainment inside 610 when cars try to cross the HOV lane and cops are around. The other day this guy did that and there was a motorcycle cop coming from 610 that saw him and swerved his way over to pull him over.

[Bike4Life]

The Houston Chronicle has mentioned several traffic articles recently and said that suburban traffic is expected to take longer in the coming years. A majority of the voters are resistant for tax incentive road improvements and a continuing resistance for public transit like elevated rails. In the last Texas election, only $1.7 billion was approved for the bare-bone road maintenance and reconstructions. It needed $5 billion to expand.

So, I'll continue to stay close to my home in West Loop where my commute is only 10 to 15 minutes.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by Bike4Life

The Houston Chronicle has mentioned several traffic articles recently and said that suburban traffic is expected to take longer in the coming years. A majority of the voters are resistant for tax incentive road improvements and a continuing resistance for public transit like elevated rails. In the last Texas election, only $1.7 billion was approved for the bare-bone road maintenance and reconstructions. It needed $5 billion to expand.

So, I'll continue to stay close to my home in West Loop where my commute is only 10 to 15 minutes.

With more and more companies putting campuses and offices in the suburbs, I don't think the problem will be getting that much worse.

[joe n.]

Depending on a major company to move to a suburb near you is stupid.

Move where the opportunity is and that driving distance to downtown, galleria and energy corridor within 30 minutes.

Only move to the suburbs if you need to send your kid to middle school/jr. high/high school.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

With more and more companies putting campuses and offices in the suburbs, I don't think the problem will be getting that much worse.

Except that around the denser suburban employment centers (Energy Corridor is a prime example) traffic is horrible. And suburb-to-suburb commutes can be just as bad as suburb-to-city commutes. Ever been stuck on the Beltway in congestion? That's what that traffic is all about, suburb-to-suburb. Unless you don't consider places like Westchase and Energy Corridor as suburbs, of course.

At some point employers will move en masse to the Grand Parkway - or maybe this has already started with Exxon / Southwest Energy, etc. The Grand Parkway will get congested too, just like the Beltway now.

Congestion is an inherent part of the automobile system and is unavoidable over the long term in areas with a lot of commuting, barring appropriate road pricing.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Ever been stuck on the Beltway in congestion?

Yes, I have.

If you live 8 miles from your work, in even heavy suburb to suburb traffic, you're commute time still isn't all that bad.

Do you think it would take longer during rush hour getting downtown or to Clay Rd and 8 if you lived in Jersey Village?

[LocalPlanner]

If you work at a suburban job and also live near it, then obviously the commute will be easier. Same goes if you work in the urban core and also live there (though general urban core congestion is getting worse as it densifies). But the principle of living near where you work, regardless of whether in-town or suburban, automatically limits you to a certain number of employers.

And living in the outermost suburbs is always going to entail an increasingly difficult commute. Just ask the folks who live in Fulshear how easy that commute to the Energy Corridor is these days.

Bottom line, neither centralizing nor decentralizing jobs offers a panacea.

[fnh]

My poor freeway gets no love. Even so, we are increasingly satisfied with our location at 290 and the beltway - where the spoke meets the wheel as it were. At this juncture we are within half an hour to most points in the metro from S/SW to N/NE plus we have the HOV/transit option to 610 or downtown. It wasn't entirely by accident but we are lucky it has worked out so well.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by LocalPlanner

Bottom line, neither centralizing nor decentralizing jobs offers a panacea.

I never claimed it was a panacea, I just believe it keeps the traffic issues from being as bad as they could get.

There is a whole lot less space for potential roads, parking lots, commercial lots and housing inside the loop than outside in the suburbs.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

I never claimed it was a panacea, I just believe it keeps the traffic issues from being as bad as they could get.

There is a whole lot less space for potential roads, parking lots, commercial lots and housing inside the loop than outside in the suburbs.

That is true. To make a more centralized scenario work, you need pretty good mass transit. Our P&R system helps a lot, but it needs to be expanded to other job centers, like Uptown.