What's the deal with Houston roads? (Shepherd: HOA, landscaping, calculated)

[DSL_PWR]

Originally Posted by haudi

I was on ABC 13 a few years back talking about the awful state of Richmond and the damage it did to my car because of the potholes and road separation. Unfortunately they framed the story to make it sound like I was a spoiled Audi owner complaining about a first world problem. Go media!

LMAO!!

I know the feeling.

Those roads are hard on the 20"s.

[texsn95]

Has anyone driven Patterson lately between Hwy 6 and Eldridge? What a ****ing disgrace of a road.

[LocalPlanner]

Originally Posted by texsn95

Has anyone driven Patterson lately between Hwy 6 and Eldridge? What a ****ing disgrace of a road.

It's bad, but given that it runs in the floodplain and closes after periods of extended rainfall, I'm not sure it should be a high priority for patching. If anything, it should be rebuilt above flood level.

[usc619]

Originally Posted by Mr.Awesome

I think the moral of the story is that new/expensive cars are a terrible investment, especially in Houston. Between terrible roads, and FSGI's due to uninsured drivers, and drunk driving, Houston is the perfect storm for destroying your car.

For whatever reason, our city seems to deem road standards acceptable if they are comparable to the Lunar surface. I patrol in southeast Houston, and I and other co workers have had flats, busted oil pans, and worse due to the incredibly bad condition of local roads. I'm not a transportation expert, so I don't know if there is some special terrain condition that makes Houston roads deteriorate faster, or perhaps there are just too many roads for the public works dept to keeps up with, but good lord roads suck here.

I see a lot of people talking about people not owning up to door dings, which are the low end of the spectrum of FSGI (failure to stop and give information) accidents. On average, just in my area on nights, we have 5-10 a week, and that's when the roads aren't even that crowded.

A significant percentage of drivers are uninsured/unlicensed. While my numbers are purely anecdotal, I'd conservatively estimate 30% of drivers are uninsured. I'd base this on the many accident scenes I've arrived on, only to find that the at fault driver has not only performed some action completely contrary to good sense which caused the accident, but also has no insurance. People who aren't carrying insurance for their vehicle, and aren't good drivers tend to try to avoid sticking around if they'll have to pay for the mayhem they just caused.

On top of uninsured drivers, we also just happen to lead the nation in drunk driving related deaths. In other words, a lot of the people on the road with you, especially at night, are lit the eff up. We all know Houston drivers aren't that great even when sober, so it stands to reason their skills don't get better when intoxicated. It would seem that when a drunk driver causes an accident, minor or major, the shock of it seems to rouse them from their stupor enough to say "oh crap I just hit someone, and I'm drunk, I'd better get out of here"!

All these major causes of car damage are not even considering previously mentioned problems like rocks hitting windshields, or other freeway debris. I have passed couches sitting in the main lanes of the freeway. Couches. How does that even happen?

Or the fact that there are just a lot of people living in Houston, and so the percentage of bad drivers will naturally increase. Those that aren't bad drivers are made bad/worse by the fact that they are all on their cell phones.

So yeah, car owners are basically screwed in Houston...l.

^^^This^^^ from one of our very own LEO

[jfre81]

One time I hit a pothole on Greenbriar near Rice that actually put my front wheels back in proper alignment. Car had been pulling to the right if I took my hands off the steering wheel.

Originally Posted by LegoBatman

I think part of the issue is that the city is frequently using a "fast, cheap" method to fix the potholes which doesn't always last. There are a number of potholes near by neighborhood which get patched (sometimes becoming a raised bump instead of a hole) and then are back again a few weeks later. They keep showing up in the same spots over and over again. I now know where all of the recurring potholes and other uneven parts of the road are on my daily commute and just change lanes accordingly to avoid them.

Yep, pretty much. Lots of corner cutting. The patches break up as soon as you get a good rain. Add to having poor soil quality underneath the roads and the cracks and holes keep showing up.

I understand the freeways are in good shape, but those aren't maintained by the city or county.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by txdemo

If I see a pothole that bothers me I call 311 and the City has always fixed it within 3 to 5 days. Every single time. I think a lot of folks complain about potholes but never pick up the phone to call them in.

If you could text them in I bet the reporting rate would increase 10x. You could even attach a pic of it so the city could prioritize.

[Svensk08]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

If you could text them in I bet the reporting rate would increase 10x. You could even attach a pic of it so the city could prioritize.

Apparently you can do that! Reps from Houston311 gave a presentation at the Eastwood Civic Association meeting last week and mentioned a brand new app for all mobile phones that lets you snap a photo and send it -- plus info -- directly to 311. I haven't tried it yet.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by Svensk08

Apparently you can do that! Reps from Houston311 gave a presentation at the Eastwood Civic Association meeting last week and mentioned a brand new app for all mobile phones that lets you snap a photo and send it -- plus info -- directly to 311. I haven't tried it yet.

Awesome! Now they just need to publicize it.

[Oildog]

We are a hub for intermodal transport. Lots of trucks on the freeways and access roads. All the food distribution trucks as well.

[htownnoob]

Originally Posted by Oildog

We are a hub for intermodal transport. Lots of trucks on the freeways and access roads. All the food distribution trucks as well.

I don't see many of those trucks on Westheimer or Richmond between Shepherd and Fountainview.

Fannin between 610 and OST?