So after they finish Hwy 288 construction, I'll have to deal with this near downtown for 3-4 more years. I need to either move from Mo City to the north side or quit working near the airport and get a job in Ft. Bend Co.
I recall this stretch of 45 going through DT being 'fixed' more than once so it didn't have a bounce to the ride but it always ends up bumpy AF.
So, I'm going to give my take because it's going to pretty epic in 20-40 years.. I've learned that plans like major freeway expansion, beltways, bridges are planned years ahead.. 10-30 years usually. They just don't say on a dime "Hey lets expand this, or build this" its been talked about for a while. The 45 expansion/rebuild in downtown is a need because of the epic growth Houston will be going through in the next 30-50 years and TxDot is just building accordingly to make sure Money keeps flowing into Texas. Some fun facts and sneak peaks 1. Yes 610W from 59 to I10 will have a double decker freeway system but did you know TxDot are in talks to do the same for Highway 59 from Beltway 8 all the way to downtown? CRAZY 2. Rail is possible on I10. There is a reason why I10 HOV is so damn wide and why it took a little longer and money to expand I10 to it's gargantuan size today. But they don't see it as a need yet but in 20-30 years they can convert some HOV lanes to Rail. 3. Houston alone and its surrounding neighbors (Katy,Woodland, Sugarland, Pearland, etc.) collect more than 50% of the states road budget 4. TxDot and Houston are working on expanding or installing a rail system that runs parallel with Highway 36 from Freeport all the way to Dallas. They are wanting to attract the new freight shipping business that China can bring after the expansion of the panama canal. Houston is trying to sell that Freeport is the best possible place for that. It would be a huge economic boom for Freeport and the surrounding gulf cities. But there is competition from all the gulf cities. They have been planning this for the past 15-20 years. 5. 290 folks you screwed yourselves big time. TxDot had planned all along to convert the Hempstead hwy into the dedicated HOV Lane that 290 would need to free up traffic. Instead the locals voted against it so TxDot had to use some of the lanes on 290 for HOV.. Don't worry though TxDot can still do it at a later date but at that point the traffic will be 10x worse than it is today. There is a lot more but I'm tired .. lol My sources have been w/ TxDot for over 30 years.
I always wondered if it was built incorrectly because they never we're able to get rid of that roll between the sections.
They were going to start in 2025 but the Governor canceled the project because it involved toll lanes. There is literally no one working on I35 redevelopment right now. The only thing we have are some frontage/overpass improvements on small sections paid from public funds.
Thanks for the insight, but I think this last item is BS (not saying your insight is BS, just the whole voting is BS). Did we ever vote for the Westpark Tollway? Hardy Tollway? I don't ever recall a vote for these, so why should Hempstead Highway get a vote?
They're not that different. If anything, a massive highway is more expensive due to massive amount of trenching necessary. Everything you said would also apply to a subway. Not to say that I don't support this project. But I agree that it'll take forever and be a huge cluster**** during construction. But once it's over it'll be better. Like the big dig in Boston. Yea it's just cut and cover, some subway systems were built like this as well. Many parts of DC it's right underground and they built it the same way they're building this. Agree that it will be an improvement in the area.
Sorry TMac'n, it is true. I know the guy who holds the town hall meetings. He's the guy that get's yelled at and shiet thrown his way. The way he tells me is that the debates are usually one-sided and that TxDot has already decided like you said but sometimes there is enough support the community and community leaders to stop TxDot plans. It Happened on Highway 90 in Stafford, Highway 59 and 6, 45 South and Nasa, etc.... Stuff gets changed around but later the city is b****in so bad about traffic that they ask TxDot please help.. Like WTF you should of listened the first time. lol
This is a huge deal and it's a little strange that it's being framed as simply a way to help parking at Astros games. I mean, I'm a huge Astros fan, obviously, but....just seems weird that MMP parking is the big story here. On another note, it took me over an hour to get from Kingwood to Downtown this morning. The construction on the San Jacinto bridge is really going well! I really love that it's the only way in and out of Kingwood. And that it's only going to take them 6 months to finish.
Keeps the politicians in office/civil engineers hired I mean even a 1/2 way decent train would mean no more indefinite road construction/funding projects If they figured out the flooding for this underground road, why not just go rails... Oh well, MORE Roads/Lanes to change coming soon !! Woooo
What were the plans for hwy 90 and 59 and hwy 6? 45 south and Nasa has been a cluster**** for a decade lol
I am so excited for more roads. yeah! More concrete. More lanes for everyone. I am most excited about the never ending construction. So fascinating to watch. I mean we already have the best roads in the country..like how awesome is Richmond avenue. So smooth. It seems wise that we spend more money on new roads than fix any existing ones. And also rail is stupid. Public transport is for poor people.
The system would have dedicated pumps to pump water out and could actually store water until waters recede.
You know what I love about Kingwood? Houses lose about 2% in value annually. At least they have since 1986. ( I hated Kingwood, so I just spent 10 minutes researching this. Looked at a comparable house to the one we lived in on the same street. Then I looked at the current listing, subtracted out the average cost to update the kitchen and bathrooms, subtracted the HOA costs there, and finally looked up the inflation rate over that same time frame, which averaged around 2.6%.) In the meantime my mom just sold the house they bought when we moved to Bellaire, which had no HOA fees, never had any major updates, other than Kitchen appliances and bathroom sinks (which I'd say was about 10k total) and the purchase price had tripled in the same time period. A 3.9 percent gain, annually. Neither of these took into account property taxes though, but that would be 2.26% based on current levels, meaning the House in Bellaire still netted a gain of 1.64% while the Kingwood abode lost roughly 4.25% every year. On a 200k investment, that is quite a difference.