Houston Underground??

I too work downtown and use the tunnels every day. For me, it's a little slower than walking above ground (because the tunnels are kind of indirect and wind around so much...), but it's well worth it to avoid the heat, construction, and crappy drivers.

 

i wouldnt recomend the tunnels for casual shoppers, most of the places close by 3, think of it like an airport...places for you to eat and buy ties but nothing youd want to go to if you want to shop

 

LOL, I though you guys were pulling his leg. Too funny. Why don't you just build a metro system down there if you can tunnel.

 

i think we can have a tunnel for malls...but not one deep enough for a train. water table stuff.

 

we used to go down there at night and skate(board) into to wee hours of morning when i was a "kid." very cool and smooth surface. wow, i'd completely forgotten about the tunnels (i've lived in austin since 91.)

 

That's funny. I used to do that too. We'd go until some security guard chased us off, and then we'd skate down the stairs of some buildings and cut our knees up trying stupid tricks. MAN that was back in the day!

 

We have one in Dallas?

 

yeah I was talking to one of my friends about this earlier this summer.. he had no idea we had one either...

When I was showing him sites one of them referred to it as houstons best kept secret or something along those terms

 

You've got to understand that hardly anybody went to downtown Houston for anything other than court-related stuff or work until a few years ago. Going downtown in Houston usually meant something bad or something you'd rather not do.

 

actually, Montreal's La Ville Souterraine (Underground City) beats out Toronto and if I'm not mistaken, it has the largest underground pedestrian tunnel system in the world (it's like living in Siberia there in the winter).

 

Man, the tunnels are what I miss the most about working downtown! I've got to find a job down there again somehow..

 

but can you tell which building you are directly under while in the NYSS? plus i don't think the subway is as close to the surface as these are

 

I've never been that impressed with the tunnel system. Worked in Downtown for three years. I suppose if you've never been, it might seem exciting, but it isn't.

 

unlike the subways in DC and London (which are way way way underground), the subway in new york is only about 20 steps beneath the street...

 

Yeah... I too had no idea about the tunnels. I'll have to check that out next time I'm in town.

 

I've known about the tunnel system forever. I remember selling girl scout cookies in the lobby of a bank, and there was this huge stairwell that just went into the ground. I didn't get to go in it until I was a senior in HS, when we checked out the courthouses and the federal buildings for a gov't field trip. We ate lunch in some deli, and when we finally came back up, we couldn't find our bus, so we just ran around to some of the stores until the bus found us.

 

Yup. The only building name I can remember is Thanksgiving Tower, but I'm pretty sure all the main buildings downtown are connected, even though after further thought, part of it does go above ground.

 

where's the one in dallas? whats there? is there one in fort worth?

 

Here's a map of the Dallas underground tunnels (hope you're not on a dialup because it's big) :

http://www.taitlifto.net/downtowndallas/dallastunnelmap_big.html