Drilling for Oil in Cross Creek Ranch; Parking at the River Oaks District; The Tombstone Out Back

Atropos Key Sculpture at Miller Outdoor Theater, Hermann Park, Houston

Photo of Atropos Key by Hannah Holiday Stewart at Miller Outdoor Theater, Hermann Park: Jan Buchholtz via Swamplot Flickr Pool

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  • …… parks car at River Oaks District, shops at Tar Jay.

  • The parking garage features a spiral ramp instead of the typical sloped ramps to make it easier for female shoppers wearing heels to walk to their car.
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    Can someone explain? Aren’t spiral ramps sloped too? How does a spiral make it easier on heels-wearers?

  • @GoogleMaster
    I agree that it’s not clear in the article. The difference is that with a typical garage the parking floors themselves are ramped but with the garage at River Oaks District the parking floors will be flat but accessed by a spiral ramp (parking and ramp are separated).

  • regarding the spiral vs. sloped ramp, does this imply that using a spiral means nobody will be parking on a sloped surface where a sloped ramp implies people will be having to park on the slope? I’ve noticed this difference between older and newer parking garages and very much prefer the older spiral designs.

  • There are oil wells all over virtually every Houston suburb and many in-town neighborhoods. This is nothing new.

  • @GoogleMaster: Maybe they mean there are spiral ramps with no parking on them instead of sloped parking areas. That way female shoppers wearing heels (high, presumably) won’t have to walk on the sloped parts, just level parts.
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    Either that or female shoppers are issued special pairs of heels of unequal heights when ascending the spiral ramp (and an opposite height difference when descending) much like the legendary mountain goats.

  • “Traffic will be directed north, away from Westheimer and toward Bettis Road, where drivers can access San Felipe Street and the west 610 Loop. Those roads are less congested and will alleviate traffic concerns within River Oaks District, Watson said.”

    First of all, Bettis is a very short residential street that’s not directly accessible from Westheimer. The only street from Bettis to San Felipe that has a traffic light is Briarglen. Good luck trying to make a left turn onto San Felipe from Mid Lane or Bancroft during rush hour. Secondly, traffic on San Felipe is not “less congested.” It often takes me 10 frickin’ minutes to get through the light at San Felipe and Weslayan to the RR tracks during afternoon rush hour. So thanks in advance, RO District, for pushing your traffic problem into my neighborhood.

  • I think they’ll be like the older garages at Bush that spiral up and down with exits and entrances to each level floor.

  • Spiral ramps aren’t sloped. A spiral ramp refers to the section that is strictly for vehicles moving up/down between floors. The rest of the garage will be flat. Think IAH parking garages. A sloped parking garage is the version with the long ramp that extends the length of the garage that is quite common in newer apartment complexes.