- Midway Buys Vacant 14 Acres Along Memorial Dr. To Develop Memorial Green Mixed-Use Project [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- Toll Brothers Adds Taylor Morrison as a Home Builder at Its Woodson’s Reserve Master-Planned Community in North Houston [Prime Property]
- Ramos Utility Works Developing 36-Unit Townhome Community at 3675 West T.C. Jester [The Leader]
- Canopy and Shade Owner Opening Woodbar Next to the Restaurant at at 3939 Montrose Today [Food Chronicles; previously on Swamplot]
- Restaurant Group Culinary Vanguard Opening Commonwealth in Former TQLA Space at 4601 Washington Ave. By Year’s End [Eater Houston]
- Protestors Stand in Street To Stop Work on Freedmen’s Town Brick Roads [KHOU]
- What Garrison King’s Vision for a Subway in Houston Back in 1949 Looked Like [Houston Chronicle]
- United Way of Greater Houston Opens ‘Tiny Library’ in Spring, About 50 Planned Across City [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
Photo of Southwest Freeway: Russell Hancock via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
While the picture is nice, is it really safe to fly a drone over a freeway?
I grew up in a town with miles and miles of streets paved with bricks. Why bricks, you ask? So the road surface could easily be moved, and repairs to underground utilities made! Replace the bricks, and you are as good as new without the expense of new paving. The honored gentlemen who paved these Houston streets in brick many, many years ago must be looking down and thinking “What’s the problem here? Don’t you know why we used brick in the first place? These youngsters!”
If the bricks are being replaced, what’s the big deal? There seems to be a surge in pointless protests recently (Wheatley Highschool, Post Office, etc.) I think Quanel X-lax is grasping at straws at this point trying to remain relevant and not just a cartoon character of the evening news.
The residents of Freedmen’s Town paved the roads with no help from the city. In many cultures, past and present, a crossroads was a special place and the positioning and pattern of the brick likely has significance. I believe the city has said it will replace the brick, but will not respect the original placement.
Dag: I hope so. I fly around Montrose all the time, and am over the 59 spur. I fly around our Tierwester property and am over 619 freeway.
.
There are a few rules about staying under 400feet and distance from airport, but other than that, flying remote aircraft is totally legal, as it should be.
*610 freeway.
Cody:
So what would you do if your aircraft lost power and landed in the freeway causing accidents? Pretend it wasn’t yours and get on with your life?
The arrogance of quadcopter drivers is really amazing. Just because you can fly it somewhere doesn’t mean you should.
Dag- What if it didn’t lose power and we all get some cool new pics from a different perspective?
Bob: I can only hope the city creates an ordinance after the first one of these causes a serious accident. Get the proper permits, shut down the freeway, then take pictures.
The quadcopter community’s motto is basically “I can fly anywhere I want, even on your property, and even if it’s not safe’. Look at quadcopter forums and look at the number of malfunctioning units that just simply fly away and they never find them. Seems like a safe hobby to do above cars going 80mph. Seeing as you can’t even protest on one of these overpasses without notifying the HPD you shouldn’t be able to fly an RC aircraft over it.
I’m not saying the pictures don’t look great, they do, but is it worth the public’s safety to take them? Just because it isn’t illegal doesn’t mean you should throw caution to the wind.