10 Comment

• Scarlet Fever April 21, 2017 at 8:50 am

  Re: Today’s Apartment Renters Want Smart Appliances, Package Dropoff Services
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  I may be old-fashioned but all I want is reasonable rent, quiet neighbors, and a safe living space. You can keep your fancy package delivery – I just have it all delivered to the receptionist at our office.
• joel April 21, 2017 at 9:35 am

  The noise reduction on I-10 has ruined it. Can literally feel your car squirreling around with the slightly inconsistent grooves. Dumb idea, but at least now we can use it as an excuse to go 75 all the time because it’s quieter.
• GoogleMaster April 21, 2017 at 10:14 am

  @joel, so it’s not just me. I drive only the Katy Freeway only once a week, but it gives me the heeby-jeebies since they grooved it. I drive a small car, and I’m thrown left to right almost into the next lane sometimes. It *is* much quieter, however.
  .
  @Scarlet Fever, to me, the secure package delivery thing seemed like about the only one of those amenities I would pay a few bucks extra for, if I were unfortunate enough to live in one of those beehives. I’ve heard too many horror stories of the UPS/Fedex/USPS package delivery people just dropping packages in front of people’s doors, plus stories of people “shopping” for packages in the hallways. Not everybody works at a place where they’re okay with accepting your personal mail and have the capacity to do so for the entire company.
• limestone April 21, 2017 at 10:30 am

  Agreed, Scarlet. I’m old fashioned as well. They could probably knock $25 bucks a month off mine and everyone else’s rent if they would stop changing out the planting beds every month.
• Heightsresident April 21, 2017 at 10:46 am

  @ Joel

  Perhaps the problem is with the alignment of your car? Mine has never squirreled around from the grooves. The reduced tire noise inside the car is certainly a nice byproduct- nevermind the benefit to the nearby community. I think it’s the greatest thing they’ve ever done to I-10. I just wish they could extend the grooves to the rest of 610 North to 45.
• j April 21, 2017 at 10:55 am

  Joel, I rode a motorcycle on it last week and I clinched the ol’ bum more than a few times. It’s smooth though.
• Mr T April 21, 2017 at 2:09 pm

  Re: Katy Freeway – The grooves definitely cause my car to track badly – it doesn’t have an alignment problem, but it is a sports car with a more aggressive alignment than a standard passenger car. My wife’s SUV has no issues with it.

  That said, the polished inside of the grooves reflect so much sunlight that I’d be hard pressed to think they could have intentionally designed something that could do it better. Any time the sun is at an angle, the road is nothing but a giant glare and you can’t see any of the lane markings at all, so it turns into a free-for-all at 70 MPH. I can only guess how well this works with the newer automated/autonomous driving systems that attempt to maintain a lane for you.
• Grant April 21, 2017 at 4:34 pm

  I’ve had zero issues with the grooved pavement in my VW GTI or my wife’s Mercedes SUV. I love that they manage to make the former nearly as quiet inside as the latter at 70 mph.
• NorEnd April 22, 2017 at 9:25 pm

  Are the grooves similar to those on the West loop North of 290? I just noticed these in the rain last Tuesday and nearly lost control…in the work car of course. I have not been on I-10 yet to see if the conditions are similar.
• MemorialBill April 23, 2017 at 10:03 pm

  Both I-10 and the West Loop North are now dangerous to drive in wet conditions, or when there is a glare. When these sections of road are wet, you can barely see the lane markers. Now that the roadway is quite, something really needs to be done to address these safety concerns.