Which Freeways Need to be Beautified? (Houston, Dallas: property taxes, living in, airports)

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by airdrawndagger

Nearly a decade since this thread was started and 45 (N or S, doesn’t matter) is still clearly the ugliest highway in the city. Embarrassing is right

Typical Texas political tactic of
"let it fail to the point that people will support anything we propose to fix it"
If you want a better example of that, just look at the Astrodome.


All you have to do is look at the North Loop and I-45 interchange
you basically step into a time machine back to the 1950s when you drive there.
I bet nobody has done any work on that interchange in the last 30 years.

[airdrawndagger]

Originally Posted by Weatherguy

Interesting thread. I'm a huge Houston fan, and I think once you get off the freeways, you can find a city that is really beautiful in many areas.

My take on the freeways:

I-45 and Eastex Freeway: Big embarrassment considering these routes are seen by first time visitors. I've heard many comments from those visitors over the years. Fortunately, most seem to be forgiving once they encounter the nice areas of the city (by the way, the drive into Austin from our airport is really, really ugly, too).

I-10 east: haven't been on this freeway in years. But it was really bad looking last time I drove it.

225: doesn't bother me even though it is solid heavy industry. I see industry as beautiful in a strange way, because it's largely what makes Houston what it is economically.

610 through Uptown: spectacular. Can't keep my eyes off the tall buildings and Memorial Park.

59 through Greenway plaza: pretty nice, not stunning.

290: almost as bad as I-45.

I-10 west: very cluttered but dominated by development that is well maintained, so it's Ok with me. The freeway itself is great, with all the lanes.

Over the past ten years since this post was made, the stretch of 10 between 610 and BW8 has slowly but surely been adding somewhat attractive mid-rise commercial buildings. Still a bit cluttered in places, but there are much worse highways in the city

ETA: 290 is superior to 45 simply because the road quality of 290 has improved considerably since construction finally ended

[Double L]

Highways are just so difficult to beautify in the first place and Texas does so little to beautify them. Soundwalls are something that would go so far for more Texas cities.

[Thoreau424]

I drive on the freeways to get from Point A to B, not rubberneck towards the side of the road at "beautification". There's no time for that, and it would be a driving hazard.

There are other matters much more important than this. Come on...

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by Thoreau424

I drive on the freeways to get from Point A to B, not rubberneck towards the side of the road at "beautification". There's no time for that, and it would be a driving hazard.

There are other matters much more important than this. Come on...

1. Aesthetics are a part of quality of life.

2. It matters in terms of how Houston is perceived to visitors. You may not care about that, but our economy depends a lot on it, both in business (companies sense of whether they can attract talent to a city that is visually unappealing, for example) and tourism.

[TowerKing]

Houston should do what Los Angeles did in the 30s.
Add palm tree lined streets. The thin long ones.

[Double L]

Originally Posted by TowerKing

Houston should do what Los Angeles did in the 30s.
Add palm tree lined streets. The thin long ones.

Personally I think live oaks works better for us. We are inland from the coast more and are in the south.

[3shipguy]

Originally Posted by Double L

Personally I think live oaks works better for us. We are inland from the coast more and are in the south.

Yes, let's just add more yellow pollen. I don't think we have enough. LOL

[Double L]

Live oaks also provide more greenery to the streetscape than palm trees. I think palm trees work better in a coastal neighborhood near water that creates more of a breeze.

[TowerKing]

Palm trees with oaks would give houston a unique look. I'm palm tree team.