DRIVING THIS STRETCH OF SHEPHERD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME 
Not for a couple more shrink-swell cycles, at least. A reader heralds the coming cataclysm: “Shepherd between Memorial and I-10 has begun to experience a transfiguration ranking with the most sublime heavenly experiences in the history of mankind: Milling trucks have been scraping the ragged, churned old asphalt in preparation for a new road, a new land, a new Jerusalem! Yes — fresh, smooth, new pavement on Shepherd Drive! Hallelujah!” Photo: Rachel Dvoretzky
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A smaller, though no less awe-inspiring miracle: The recent resurfacing of the notorious West Gray-McDuffie intersection.
Be careful what you wish for. Now with a smoother surface, motorists will feel that it is safer to drive at an increased speed en-route or egressing from to their favorite douche-bag friendly watering hole. This will increase the likelihood of accidents and traffic.
That won’t be a problem. Just use the drunks as speed bumps.
This is great and not-so-great. It already takes 10 minutes to wait for a hole in the traffic to cross each shepherd and durham when we walk the doggies. however, I am happy that more investment is happening in our little hood. WestEnd!
South Main between Braeswood and Pressler is a very unpleasant roller coaster minefield. The Starbuck’s on South Main is always out of coffee lid plugs, an essential for the morning commute up South Main.
I surely do hope they fill that hole on Shepherd in front of the Valero at I-10. I fall of in that every time I turn right on I-10 right there. BAM!
I wish they would find a way to resurface McDuffie all the way to Richmond and then work start on Colquitt which is probably one of the worst streets.
Ugh, so that’s what’s happening. Next, I need them to work on the rest of Shepherd, especially between Westheimer and Braeswood, then get started on W. Alabama, and, while they’re at it, Montrose, too.
I remember the last time they flattened Shepard. It lasted almost a year.
Who is benefiting from paving with asphalt instead of cement? Has someone’s brother/friend got a contract to keep doing a half-a$$ed job so they can keep getting paid for it?
Now what about Shepherd between San Felipe and Westheimer (especially southbound in front of St. Ann’s? When will they resurface that?
@Sondra, paving with asphalt takes days, and can be done with relatively minimal interruption to traffic. Paving with concrete requires digging up the street, takes months, and costs a lot more while making traffic impossible.
I don’t necessarily recall that stretch, but no way it was as bad as Shepherd between Richmond and 59
Driscoll between W Alabama and Richmond has to be the worst street in Houston….and that’s saying a lot. Apparently, around here patching just simply involves throwing down some gravel
W Alabama is getting pretty ridiculous, just a few years after it was repaved. What a great investment that was. The recent patches they’ve made there seem more to smooth out the random humps and “ramps” than to patch actual potholes
Maybe if they re-pave W. Alabama they will put it back the way it was suppose to be after the spur was finished and get rid of the alternating 2 lanes morning and evening so the retards can drive safely and put back the bike lanes … funny how they forget to do what they promised.
When I first moved to Houston it blew my mind how such a busy commercial street like Shep. could be in such terrible shape.
I’d be surprised if there is a higher ratio of traffic to bad road condition stretch in the civilized world.
Define Civilized.
Alabama has fallen off the deep end more than any other major thoroughfare i’ve seen this summer. i know i require 2 lanes minimum to drive down it by myself.
I agree with Alex. Montrose needs it, big time. From the museums to I-10. The street is splitting in half and falling into the ground in front of the useless grocery store that I will not name because I hate them so much.
Finally!!! I was super excited when I saw this last weekend. This stretch of Shepherd was in my opinion the number one worst road surface in Houston. Probably followed by the right lane on southbound Shepherd between Dallas and 59.
Joel:
I’ve taken a different tac as it pertains to West Alabama. Just think of it like an obstacle course. You’re the race car driver. The assorted holes and road hills are your opposition. It’s a video game. If you get from A to B with your suspension in tact, YOU WIN!!!
that certainly sounds about right, but i actually try to take the opposite method: slow to a crawl and swerve as much as possible to hopefully scare other drivers into calling 311 to report it. surprisingly, it’s not much fun to catch air in a Golf.
i drive on all the roads mentioned in the comments regularly and alabama quickly became the worst in the last few months. shepherd has been holding steady north of I10 (was always bad of course) and holding up south of memorial with the exception of the right lane going southbound. montrose at the museums has fallen apart but that’s been ongoing for a long time and the rest of montrose is generallly in quite good shape.
at least you know that Alabama will have to be fixed by the time they start tearing up richmond for the rail.
always find it disconcerning when you see parts of newly patched roads (see shepherd northbound at vermont) and know there’s other spots that are much more deserving of a new top layer.
I concur with Ron. I have lived in several cities and traveled in most major cities in the U.S., and I have never encountered moon-crater streets as bad as Houston’s inner loop streets. Not sure about the asphalt, but asphalt is usually a little more quiet to drive on, however concrete usually lasts much longer. Either way, a resurfacing project is welcome. NOW, if they would work overnight instead of during commuting hours, that would be stellar!