Federal officials halt development on TxDOT's $7 billion rebuild of I-45 (Houston: neighborhood, maintenance)

[jerbear30]

Originally Posted by oceangaia

As if light rail won't involve disruptions to business due to construction. Talk to the (former) business owners that were bankrupted by the Main St / Fannin line. Light rail won't relieve 45 traffic by any significant amount. It will cost billions and won't increase capacity much if at all.

We'll see where we are 100 years from now. Maybe we'll be up to 30 lanes of freeway by then, but I don't think so. I think it will go another way.

[oceangaia]

Originally Posted by jerbear30

We'll see where we are 100 years from now. Maybe we'll be up to 30 lanes of freeway by then, but I don't think so. I think it will go another way.

Yes it will, and is already happening - decentralized employment centers.

[KerrTown]

Originally Posted by WRM20

The Pierce Elevated already exists and takes up relatively minimal space. The plan to remove the Pierce involves removing a couple of streets worth of buildings East of Downtown to bury a combined 59/45 right of way. The removed streets contain apartments, restaurants, clubs, and other businesses. The new RoW will probably destroy all of the businesses on Live Oak. Further South, the number of crossings over the new trench will be limited, making East/West travel on surface streets difficult.

Lots of folks think removing the Pierce will provide a seamless transition between Downtown and Midtown, making thousands flock to the area to live. I don't think that's going to happen, because there would already be lots of development in the area. But there's no demand for all that space, heck, they can't even find something to do with the old Holiday/Days Inn building that's been an eyesore for a few decades.





I will be surprised if the trenched portion of the combined freeways gets covered at all, much less with parks and such. I just don't see the funding being available, or any real interest from anyone other than a small group who want cool stuff without paying for it.

The portion between BW-8 and IH-610 needs to be redone. The frontage roads near Gallery Furniture always flood during a severe Thunderstorm. It should not be delayed because of the problems with the Downtown portion.

Also rerouting I-45 removes a scenic route used to sell Houston to outsiders (not much scenery in Texas to begin with!) and the shifting traffic increases the pollution in the heavily Hispanic East End and creates a terrorist's dream bottleneck.

Removing the demarcation line between commercial office DT and residential Midtown also helps make the inner-city sprawl problem worse by encouraging office development and suburban style retail outside of DT in an unzoned city.

Also I noticed that taking I-10/69 to UH instead of I-45 directly from the Katy Freeway increased my commute by 3 miles (one-way). That's a lot of emissions generated to appease white hipsters in Midtown and Allen Parkway.

There is an existing rail line along the Hardy that can be used by The Woodlands Express for commuter rail if the TxDot engineers are concerned about the traffic capacity mismatch. But being addicted to the money generated by road building, so naturally they will oppose alternate transport methods for the rush hour crush.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by KerrTown

There is an existing rail line along the Hardy that can be used by The Woodlands Express for commuter rail if the TxDot engineers are concerned about the traffic capacity mismatch. But being addicted to the money generated by road building, so naturally they will oppose alternate transport methods for the rush hour crush.

The rail line along the Hardy is owned by UP, I believe. They aren't going to give up any of it for passenger rail.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

I moved to Houston as a teenager in 1980, all freeways have always been under construction. It will not ever end. Rail should have been installed back then, it is never going to get cheaper. I mean REAL rail, not this light rail we have now. Something to serve all of the greater Houston area, it would make getting around Houston so much more enjoyable... that and zoning laws.

[As Above So Below...]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

This affects 1000 residences so maybe 3 or 4 thousand people tops in a city of 2.3 million that is a minute number for a project that will bring the freeway system in Houston into the 21st century.

The residence will get top dollar for their property and the businesses will relocate one block to the east.

Maybe the local officials think they will get a better deal from Biden's infrastructure plan and if that is the case and they execute it right then all bets are off and I will applaud them for their cunning. But on the face of it ,this delay sucks.

Thats all well and good...until its you thats affected.

Id actually be for this if we were building public transportation in that area but all were doing is making it easier for people who live in suburbia to get to the city. No thanks. Thats not worth displacing those people.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by As Above So Below...

Thats all well and good...until its you thats affected.

Id actually be for this if we were building public transportation in that area but all were doing is making it easier for people who live in suburbia to get to the city. No thanks. Thats not worth displacing those people.

People who live in Houston use these freeways as well, and I don't see how Houston who wants to be the anchor of a vast regional megalopolis can then sddenly cop this attitude toward the other reaches of the Metro.

On top of that the interstate hyways , which Houston wants and cherishes, are not just for local use anyway. If people from Huntsville or Oklahoma City need a better way to get to Galveston this must be taken into consideration as well.

BTW those "suburban" communters are helping keep Downtown Houston relavent.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

It’s not about the people who are being displaced. That’s only part of it. This project does little more than modernize a freeway. Big investment for small QOL improvements. As mentioned, we’re public transport to be included in the project that would be a different story.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by ParaguaneroSwag

It’s not about the people who are being displaced. That’s only part of it. This project does little more than modernize a freeway. Big investment for small QOL improvements. As mentioned, we’re public transport to be included in the project that would be a different story.

The virtue signaling for mass transit is being misplaced with this opposition to the project. Like I said before these are Federal and state funds being spent here not local Metro funds. If Houston balks on this,this money will go somewhere else for what will probably be less productive projects. You don't think we will get a tax cut if this project is killed do you ? 7 billion being spent in Houston for any improvment in QOL is better than it being spent somewhere else and realizing no improvment in QOL.

[DabOnEm]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

The virtue signaling for mass transit is being misplaced with this opposition to the project. Like I said before these are Federal and state funds being spent here not local Metro funds. If Houston balks on this,this money will go somewhere else for what will probably be less productive projects. You don't think we will get a tax cut if this project is killed do you ? 7 billion being spent in Houston for any improvment in QOL is better than it being spent somewhere else and realizing no improvment in QOL.

Exactly. There is already a N-S light rail line nearby that could be beefed up as a secondary corridor to the freeway. In fact, it is usually better to separate both modes and you'll more likely get a walkable area along the rail line versus if it was combined with a freeway. The short-shortsightedness behind those who want to stop this project is incredible. It's going to be like 2007(ish) when afton oaks threw a fit along with John Culberson and they took all the rail funds from Houston and gave it to DART in Dallas so they could double their system.

It'd be better to beef up the rail line up to IAH versus halting freeway construction which would lead to other benefits in the metro (deck parks, better connectivity, etc.). This is not just a suburban mover, and the beautification they'd no doubt add at the end of construction would be better than the eyesore views that's there now (that's for those who call Houston freeways ugly).