Why does either side of highway 288 look so empty?

my uncle was one of the first to move to the pearland suburbs. pearland's about 100 but the suburb boom of the nineties began in silver lake, my uncle move there in eighty seven.

unfortunately, 288 goes through a black part of town, sunnyside/southpark. 288 wasn't even there when my uncle moved. the black part of town represented so much of urban decay. former white suburb, blacks move in, whites move out, drugs move in, neighborhood goes down even though there are a lot of middle class blacks there.

 

I love 288. Just open road, and it takes you right to the heart of downtown.

 

don't worry, a strip mall with a Chipotle and gamestop will pop up soon enough

 

btw, i'm referencing the east side of 288. back in the day, the west side going south ended after astroworld. astroworld was built on a swamp. then there were oil rigs out there, some still there. the old school rigs with the pumps

 

dont forget the MCDonalds and Bank of America

 

alot of memories growing up in South Park...Herschelwood, St.Lo, Jutland....maan those were the days...lol

 

The biggest problem with development out 288 is drainage. The land is basically flat (less than 1 foot of elevation change per 1000 feet). You have to dig a retention lake for every bit of runoff you create (roofs and roads). And you have to retain it on site for a long time since it won't run down to the bay very quickly. So that means a lot of storage area per developed lot.