Massive I-45 project will remake Houston freeway spine (San Antonio, The Woodlands: day cares, homes)

[elnina]

This is the defining project in the city of Houston for the next 20 years. Doing it properly means minimizing impacts and, where there are impacts, mitigating them properly.

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...y-13999092.php

[bu2]

From the linked article:

"...In an analysis of the project, TxDOT and HNTB — the engineering firm hired to oversee design of the new freeway — estimated the new freeway would increase average speeds at peak commuting times by 24 mph, an unprecedented increase...."

[Redlionjr]

Very interesting but I’m somewhat in different or in between with this project. On one hand I do believe this will improve I-45 which desperately needs a facelift on the other hand I don’t see how they can make something this big and it not have an impact on certain neighborhoods that are considered less desirable. I think time and time again history has shown whenever you have a project this massive it will effect black and brown neighborhoods. But if it makes downtown look more attractive than the majority could care less. Either way I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’s long overdue for a change to I-45

[elnina]

Originally Posted by Redlionjr

Very interesting but I’m somewhat in different or in between with this project. On one hand I do believe this will improve I-45 which desperately needs a facelift on the other hand I don’t see how they can make something this big and it not have an impact on certain neighborhoods that are considered less desirable. I think time and time again history has shown whenever you have a project this massive it will effect black and brown neighborhoods. But if it makes downtown look more attractive than the majority could care less. Either way I guess we’ll have to wait and see. It’s long overdue for a change to I-45

Did you read the article? Sure it could cause a big impact on certain neighborhoods:
"Impacts expected from the widening of I-45 from downtown north to the Sam Houston Tollway — including a $3 billion remake of the downtown freeway system that buries a portion of the freeways and tears down the Pierce Elevated — run the gamut of environmental and social ills: air quality and flooding concerns for schools, day cares and low-income communities; removal of public housing developments in a city already hurting for affordable homes; concrete pillars and ramps rising above pristine park space along area bayous; uprooting 300 businesses employing 24,000 people and 1,400 homes."

[hbcu]

As usual use the state to do what local folks want to do but won’t do.

Going back to native Americans and Hispanics and then black neighborhoods, Minorities have been displaced and lost so much land in our lifetimes we should run everything in the next lifetime as a gift

[westhou]

If this project can eliminate the flooding along the feeder road at Parker it will be worth it.

[DRob4JC]

The article says that some say more lanes will make for faster travel. Opponents say more cars will fill up the lanes and the same problems will occur.

So I-10 Katy Frwy just went through a massive overhaul where it's now the widest freeway in the nation (i think). What's the data on that? Has it helped speed up commute times, or is it still the same as it was before? That would probably clue them in to how I-45 traffic would respond if it was overhauled.

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by DRob4JC

The article says that some say more lanes will make for faster travel. Opponents say more cars will fill up the lanes and the same problems will occur.

So I-10 Katy Frwy just went through a massive overhaul where it's now the widest freeway in the nation (i think). What's the data on that? Has it helped speed up commute times, or is it still the same as it was before? That would probably clue them in to how I-45 traffic would respond if it was overhauled.

I mean traffic improved but Katy grew by 150,000 people and Fulshear, Brookshire, Northern Katy, Cypress and Richmond started adding thousands upon thousands of residents, so the change will be negligible within a decade. My question is why aren’t they building more housing in the core rather than sending more people to Conroe I guess the highway has many good goals but it all seems to be leading to the slogan, “Huntsville or Nothing” by 2040. Conroe is already turning The Woodlands into an “inner suburb”, this highway will certainly help Montgomery County grow gangbusters like Fort Bend. But many parts of Houston that this highway is going through are just straight up empty and could be redeveloped and likely less expensive than it is to build and maintain paving over the rest of Montgomery County with low density suburbia to the point where The Woodlands gets a name change to North Downtown Houston and The Sam Houston Forest is reduced to a larger George Bush Park.

[elnina]

Originally Posted by DRob4JC

The article says that some say more lanes will make for faster travel. Opponents say more cars will fill up the lanes and the same problems will occur.

So I-10 Katy Frwy just went through a massive overhaul where it's now the widest freeway in the nation (i think). What's the data on that? Has it helped speed up commute times, or is it still the same as it was before? That would probably clue them in to how I-45 traffic would respond if it was overhauled.

But can you imagine driving I10 Katy Hwy with just, say, 2 lanes each way? That's how the San Antonio entrance looks like. TWO lanes each way!
When constructed during the 1960s, the I-10 Katy from Houston, was built with six to eight lanes wide barring side lanes, being modest by Houston standards because existing traffic demand to the farming area of West Houston was relatively low.
It seems that there is no improvement, because it's still congested and at times resemble parking lot, but it accommodate many more cars due to Energy Corridor and Katy expansion.
Houston is a car dependent city. Until we find a possible, acceptable relief in public transportation we need to expand the existing highways to keep traffic flowing.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by DRob4JC

The article says that some say more lanes will make for faster travel. Opponents say more cars will fill up the lanes and the same problems will occur.

So I-10 Katy Frwy just went through a massive overhaul where it's now the widest freeway in the nation (i think). What's the data on that? Has it helped speed up commute times, or is it still the same as it was before? That would probably clue them in to how I-45 traffic would respond if it was overhauled.

The Katy Freeway carries about twice as many cars as it did before the widening, and is probably safer and requires less maintenance than it did previously. Outside of core commute hours, it seems to move far better than it did before.

Originally Posted by NigerianNightmare

I mean traffic improved but Katy grew by 150,000 people and Fulshear, Brookshire, Northern Katy, Cypress and Richmond started adding thousands upon thousands of residents, so the change will be negligible within a decade. My question is why aren’t they building more housing in the core rather than sending more people to Conroe I guess the highway has many good goals but it all seems to be leading to the slogan, “Huntsville or Nothing” by 2040. Conroe is already turning The Woodlands into an “inner suburb”, this highway will certainly help Montgomery County grow gangbusters like Fort Bend. But many parts of Houston that this highway is going through are just straight up empty and could be redeveloped and likely less expensive than it is to build and maintain paving over the rest of Montgomery County with low density suburbia to the point where The Woodlands gets a name change to North Downtown Houston and The Sam Houston Forest is reduced to a larger George Bush Park.

Those so called "straight up empty" areas aren't big enough to support the master planned communities people flock to, and are in school districts no one would willingly locate in. Some of the owners aren't willing to sell, and there are environmental issues with others. Feel free to draw a map with the areas you think are "empty" and then detail your plans for forcing development to those areas.