A friend of mine that has lived in both New York City and Houston said everybody hates Houston until they live there, and everybody loves New York until they live there.
That's more of a Texas thing. It would be awesome if they ever actually build that "proposed" bullet train triangle. Houston-College station-Dallas-Austin-San Antonio-Houston
Geography/topography. Houston needs some mountains and a more rugged coastline (than exists nearby). Monorail system. Maybe some of those cool apartment complexes like the Jetsons lived in on top of those giant poles.
I'd clean up the Third and Fifth Wards. That property is some of the most valuable in Houston, and yet it will be decades before it takes off. Gentrification of that area is also crucial if the University of Houston is ever going to be taken seriously on a state and national level. It's a shame that Houston-area parents are sending their kids to schools like Sam Houston because UH is too ghetto.
Again -- besides looking neater, why would this be better than park and ride buses? I don't see the point in spending billions for a rail that uses the exact same route(s) as buses currently use for a LOT less money.
I would wish Katrina would had NEVER happen! If we had a rail system everywhere lets say from Downtown to Galleria and then up to Willowbrook mall area or Sugarland .... wont that be a free ride for ghetto people to roam all over all city? I know alot of them probably riding the metro rail and not paying, just to ride around. Imagine all the people from the east side of town coming to the west side of town. The city is growing but part of it is getting to ghettofied. Can't complain about the highway system here .. seems like probably the best in the US.
1) i would removed the billboards and plant trees in their place. it's not the perfect solution, but it would go a long way towards helping beautify the city. 2) (and this is already underway as of a couple of weeks ago) expand light rail. sure it's great now if you are downtown or surrounding areas, but what are the rest of us supposed to do that are farther away? the bus is so 1950s 3) i'd put more buildings on a historic list to remove the fear of being razed and built over. if this isn't implemented, much of the history of the city will be lost. this is a common response i get when i criticize the separated lanes. but when i look at who is responding to me, it is all people who haven't spent time driving in traffic in other major cities. houston is the only major city that i've driven in that has these separated lanes. i can certainly understand the need for having exits to the park-and-rides but there should also be exits for the general flow of traffic. i like that they're addressing this with the i-10 expansion. as of now though, i must say: congratulations houston, you're different than most other cities regarding hov lanes... even if it's impractical.
Next door to you, of course! I don't know where low income families (and other assorted characters) will move to. But I do know that it's only a matter of time before that area gets developed and the sooner the better. You can't tell me that there's not demand for housing close to downtown when you've got 3 story condos going up everywhere in formerly depressed areas like Montrose and Washington Ave.
I never got the reason why Houston made their HOV separated with barriers. On one hand, it takes up more space where extra regular lanes could have been built with just a Diamond Lane type of HOV. Also, are the exits practical? I don't think I've ever used it so don't know. HPD missing out on more revenue generating tickets for people abusing an easier access Diamond Lane. On the other hand, less prone for accidents or messy traffic with HOV cars not trying to dart in and out of HOV lane.
My guess would be that it is to prevent two cars going the opposite direction from hitting each other.
