COMMENT OF THE DAY: HOW THOSE NEW FIFTH WARD DRIVEWAYS CAME TO REACH ALL THE WAY INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET 
“Here’s how you get to this point.
(i) Neighborhood gets built with gravel streets, ditch drainage.
(ii) City goes in and widens most of the streets in the neighborhood in the 1960s. 40′ asphalt, curb and gutter. Baron St. misses out on the neighborhood-wide repave because it has a railroad track in the middle.
(iii) Railroad track gets abandoned, trackbed gets paved over, no one ever improves Baron.
(iv) Townhome developer comes in and wants to put in a driveway. Houston Infrastructure Design Manual says any culvert in City right-of-way has to be 24″ minimum. Developer’s engineer knows if he touches that old 60s curb inlet he’ll have to replace it to current spec, better to match the flowline and save eight or ten large. Culverts go in and look huge because 24″ on top of the existing flowline is above the crown of the road.
(v) Swamplot readers are confused because the 60s-era curb and gutter doesn’t match the existing right-of-way.” [Purple CIty, commenting on Here’s One Way To Get Extra Long Driveways for Your Fifth Ward Townhome] Photo: Swamplot inbox
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I am onboard with this explanation
I am still confused about the original posting.
Was someone expecting driveways to end at the city R.O.W. leaving the eight foot of muddy ditch for people to drive over.
Was it supposed to be some kind of marketing gimmick?
“Townhomes for JEEP loversâ€
A look at Google Earth photos going back to the 1940s might help to support some of this. And older maps of Houston (1895 and 1913, for instance) do show the RR line going out Baron.
Good explanation and also typical of what I expect in Houston. Always trying to get private interests to upgrade public infrastructure without a clear way to require it.
Ha! Soo, this is what is classified a World Class, 4th largest City in M’urica?! No sidewalk, poor alignment, no curbed street? Classic H-town!
However, according to my last attendance at a community town hall meeting regarding the $10M replacing of Allen Parkway; “We have underfunded public infrastructure for 30yrs. Until we get a handle on the debt, this is our best worst case option”… Yadayada yadayada.
CLASSIC, just classic!
Yes but it’s in 5th ward so who cares?