Freeways and Toll Roads

Freeways and Toll Roads, Midtown, Retail, Transportation

6 Comments

Car dealership vandalized in midtown [abc13]

77002, Auto Dealerships, Downtown, Freeways, Midtown, Pierce Elevated, Retail, Transportation

Buying and Selling

11/25/09 9:25am

Why Houston Needs More Ring Roads

Commercial Real Estate, Freeways and Toll Roads, Office Buildings, Westchase

No Comments

H. Dan Miller, senior managing director of the Houston office of Holliday Fenoglio Fowler, commenting on the sale he recently brokered of the fully leased 30,000-sq.-ft. office building and bank drive-thru on an L-shaped property at 10411 Westheimer in Westchase, which received 18 offers within a week:

You had an irreplaceable location at the corner of Westheimer and Beltway 8 and three streets of frontage. I wish I had 10 of these types of buildings.

30,000-SF Office Attracts 18 Offers [Globe St.]
10411 Westheimer Executive Summary (PDF) [Holliday Fenoglio Fowler]

Photo: Holliday Fenoglio Fowler

77042, Buying and Selling, Commercial Real Estate, Freeways and Toll Roads, Office Buildings, Sprawl, Westchase

Freeways and Toll Roads

10/28/09 11:16am

Latest Entry in the International Houston Bicycle Video Competition

Transportation

Clip: Houston Ã VÃ©lo [Vimeo]

Video: Aubin Malassagne; music: Le Comte de Fourques

Bicycles, Freeways and Toll Roads, Transportation, Videos

10/27/09 6:17pm

Comment of the Day: The Phantom Tollbooths of I-10

Fraud, Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink

COMMENT OF THE DAY: THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTHS OF I-10 “Ahe yes, the technology of the HOT lane. I had the opportunity to reverse communte I10 last week all week and every day I was the only car to correctly stay in the toll lane as I went past the toll gate rather than seamlessly merging into the high occupancy lane [and then] merging back out after skipping the toll. It looked like a peloton of single occupant cars as we sped along. Do they actuially intend to enforce the high occupancy part of this system somehow at some point[?]” [Jimbo, commenting on Paying Tolls on I-45, 290, and 59]

Comments, Fraud, Freeways and Toll Roads, HOV Lanes

Freeways and Toll Roads

10/26/09 3:16pm

Paying Tolls on I-45, 290, and 59

Quicklink, Transportation

10 Comments

PAYING TOLLS ON I-45, 290, AND 59 “At its October meeting, the Metro board gave the go-ahead for the future conversion of highway HOV lanes to so-called â€œHOTâ€ lanes (high-occupancy toll) like the ones operating on the Katy Freeway. A HOT lane has electronic scanning equipment that allows a solo driver to pay a toll to use a segregated carpool lane during rush hours. . . . The conversion of HOV lanes will occur on five freeway segments in the Metro service area: I-45 North and South, U.S. 290, and U.S. 59 north and south. Board documents indicate the cost of installing toll readers and automated gates would be about $48 million. Operating and maintaining the system for five years would cost an additional $42 million. Four-fifths of the total will come from federal grants. Metro will release more information when the final contract is signed, [Metro spokeswoman Raequel] Roberts said. But she said the HOV conversions could be completed in about two years.” [Houston Chronicle, via BlogHouston]

Freeways and Toll Roads, HOV Lanes, Metro, Transportation

Bridgeland

10/09/09 3:05pm

Little Grand Parkway on the Prairie Not So Shovel-Ready After All

Freeways and Toll Roads, Katy Prairie, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Transportation

8 Comments

LITTLE GRAND PARKWAY ON THE PRAIRIE NOT SO SHOVEL-READY AFTER ALL Those pesky federal regulators, ruining all the fun: It’s now looking like the 15-mile-long Upper Katy Prairie paving project known as the Grand Parkway Segment E won’t be getting the bucket of cash Harris County Commissioners Court wanted. County officials will instead request that the $181 million in federal stimulus funds earlier allocated to the way-out-northwest loop road be distributed to other projects: “The recommendation to withdraw the project from the Texas Department of Transportation’s list of stimulus projects was made by Art Storey, who heads Harris County’s Public Infrastructure Department. Storey declined to comment on his recommendation until it is considered at Harris County Commissioner Court’s meeting next Tuesday. ‘Staff and consultants have worked diligently and successfully to be on schedule to meet the deadlines to enable Segment E construction to qualify for and receive the stimulus funding, but the federal permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot be completely processed by the required mid-February date,’ Storey said in a letter to the court. ‘In fact, because of conflicts over environmental impacts and mitigation, that permit might never be issued.’” [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]

77433, 77449, 77477, 77493, Freeways and Toll Roads, Grand Parkway, Katy Prairie, Proposed Developments, Sprawl, Transportation

08/03/09 4:00pm

Comment of the Day: Another Grand Parkway Revenue Study

Financing, Freeways and Toll Roads, Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Sprawl

COMMENT OF THE DAY: ANOTHER GRAND PARKWAY REVENUE STUDY “I think itâ€™s time to feature just which entities have acquired land adjacent to this boondoggle. List which individuals hold controlling interest and then we can discuss interesting sidelights like contributions to various elected officials.” [devans, commenting on Investing in the Grand Parkway]

Comments, Financing, Freeways and Toll Roads, Grand Parkway, Proposed Developments, Sprawl

Financing

07/29/09 11:29am

Investing in the Grand Parkway

Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink, Sprawl

13 Comments

INVESTING IN THE GRAND PARKWAY Commuters struggling to cross the Katy Prairie on congested House Hahl Rd. will be happy to learn that traffic relief is on the way: Harris County’s commissioners voted yesterday to apply for $181 million in federal stimulus money for the Segment E marshland cut-through of the Grand Parkway, which will connect major employment and shopping centers in Katy and Cypress. $20 million in engineering and other contracts for the project were awarded a few months ago, but the commissioners yesterday approved a “comprehensive traffic and revenue study” for the segment. The study, which won’t be complete before construction begins in February, will help support claims that the road will be able to pay for itself, with tolls. [Houston Chronicle; more from Houston Tomorrow, both via Off the Kuff]

Cypress, Financing, Freeways and Toll Roads, Grand Parkway, Katy, Sprawl

07/23/09 11:06pm

Comment of the Day: Memorial Highway

Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Quicklink, Traffic, Transportation

COMMENT OF THE DAY: MEMORIAL HIGHWAY “I really like the memorials constructed at ‘death-sites’ along roadways: They honor the deceased and alert us to risks, causing us to reflect on how easy it is to die in traffic accidents. I first saw this memorial custom on Grand Cayman Island where signs were erected at the sites of traffic fatalities. Years ago there were only a few, and, the twisted, rusty car wreckages were left in-situ as well. It was vivid and effective: Like performance-art really; Printed in white on the circular, black signs: ‘Accident Black Spot.’” [movocelot, commenting on Comment of the Day: What To Expect on That First Night in Your New Funeral Home]

Comments, Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Traffic

07/17/09 3:07pm

Comment of the Day: Freeway Traffic Backups Bring the Customers

Freeways and Toll Roads, Quicklink, Retail, Signage, Strip Centers, Traffic, Upper Kirby

No Comments

COMMENT OF THE DAY: FREEWAY TRAFFIC BACKUPS BRING THE CUSTOMERS “I visited the store the first weekend it was open, and overheard the general manager talking about how much more foot traffic the store is getting. He stated the obvious, which Iâ€™m surprised no one has commented on yetâ€“think of the hundreds of thousands of people who are stuck in traffic every day on the elevated portion of 59 across from the store. The storeâ€™s sign is eye-level to those commuters (whereas itâ€™s actually harder to see the stores on ground level), and you gotta think at least some of them are going to be interested in the storeâ€™s wares. Compare that to a low-profile location on Portwest that probably gets 1/10000th the traffic of 59. This is a rare case where being on the second floor of a strip center actually helps a company in Houston.” [Triprotic, commenting on The Finest Strip-Center Recital Hall in Houston]

77098, Comments, Freeways, Retail, Signage, Strip Centers, Traffic, Upper Kirby

Flooding

06/12/09 10:35am

A Stretch of the Tollway That Sucks, Quietly

Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Quicklink

No Comments

A STRETCH OF THE TOLLWAY THAT SUCKS, QUIETLY The Harris County Toll Road Authority is hoping its first expanse of Permeable Friction Course asphalt will reduce accidents caused by hydroplaning: “Taking a pitcher, [HCTRA engineer Quinton] Alberto poured water on a one-foot square block of PFC asphalt sitting in a plastic tray. Instead of running off as it would on concrete or regular asphalt, the water was absorbed — almost instantly. The water then trickled to the bottom and out the sides. It works because the PFC asphalt is full of tiny holes and air pockets that allow rainwater to drain through it. On RM 1431 in Austin, TxDOT says the PFC asphalt is a big reason why there has been a dramatic decrease in wet-weather accidents. Before laying down the new pavement, wet weather accidents accounted for nearly 60 percent of all crashes. After the PFC, they accounted for less than 10 percent. In Harris County, the Toll Road Authority is using PFC for the first time, spending $4 million to pave a five-mile section of Beltway 8 between US 290 and SH 249. The authority picked the section because it said in just the last two years, there have been over a hundred injury accidents there, many in wet weather.” [11 News]

77040, 77064, Flooding, Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Paving, Public Safety

Bankruptcies

05/22/09 11:46am

Buying a Bridgeland

Bridgeland, Buying and Selling, Freeways and Toll Roads, Master-Planned Communities, Quicklink, Sprawl

5 Comments

BUYING A BRIDGELAND The Caldwell Cos., possibly financed by Japan’s Sumitomo Corp., is in the process of buying all 11,400 acres of Bridgeland from bankrupt General Growth Properties for $90 to $95 million. “Caldwell notes the master-planned community will have the fourth-largest lake in Houston upon completion. The firm has spent three years moving more than 2 million [cubic] yards of dirt to create the body of water thatâ€™s large enough for boating and skiing, he says. The first part of the lake opened two weeks ago. . . . The master-planned community stretches between Katy-Hockley Road and Fry Road, south of U.S. Highway 290. The Grand Parkway will run right through the property. Construction on the roadway will begin in March 2010 with $180 million of federal stimulus money, according to The Grand Parkway Association.” [Houston Business Journal; previously in Swamplot]

77433, Bankruptcies, Bridgeland, Buying and Selling, Grand Parkway, Land Development, Master-Planned Communities, Sprawl

Freeways and Toll Roads

05/14/09 12:30pm

Ring Roads of the World: Houston Wins!

Houston Data, Sprawl

28 Comments

From the website of New York graphic-design office Thumb:

This poster is designed as a sort of calling card for Rice School of Architecture, located in Houston. We collected ring roads from 27 international cities and layered them all at the same scale. As it turned out, Houston has the largest system of those we surveyed. (Beijing was second)

Ring Roads of the World [Thumb]

Poster: Thumb

Freeways and Toll Roads, Grand Parkway, Houston Data, Rice-University, Sprawl

05/13/09 4:08pm

Comment of the Day: Inner Loop Traffic Scare