If I remember correctly, the way texas operates in metro areas is that a ‘community’ has influence on the roads. I can’t remember what they call it, but it’s something like a district road authority. Austin, for example, is not well served by expanding roads indefinitely, but the other cities that are around austin are benefited by expanding austin’s roads so their citizens can commute into austin. The other communities collectively have more of an influence/vote on the authority’s directives, and thus, the roads in austin get increased.
There was a really good video from a youtube channel that talks about why I-35 should be buried underground and shrunk, but it won’t happen because of the government structure around road building.
No shit, do I look like the city planner? I’m saying that people need to look at these large cities with more nuance than “Big City Bad” and realize that things are more complicated than one singular governmental body. In the case of Houston and more specifically this stretch of highway, You have the state government with an overarching control of I-10 through Texas, then this particular stretch of it goes through the cities of Katy and Houston, connecting dozens of other smaller towns and cities with in the metro area.
To look at one single stretch of highway and pretend it is emblematic of the entire state/city is idiotic and shows a bad faith attempt to paint the populace with as wide a brush as possible.
I am only pushing back on this because I am just so damn tired of the constant “Texas Bad” posts comments that are unwilling to engage in a meaningful conversation about the topic and pretend like my state is full of the dumbest most right wing shit heels, while we also have some of the largest left leaning cities in the country.
I am only pushing back on this because I am just so damn tired of the constant “Texas Bad” posts comments that are unwilling to engage in a meaningful conversation about the topic and pretend like my state is full of the dumbest most right wing shit heels, while we also have some of the largest left leaning cities in the country.
Believe it or not, I’m a bike/ped/transit activist in Atlanta. I understand both “how a metropolis works,” and your sentiment, better than you realize.
Having said that, I still stand behind my cynical comment. Let’s not pretend the Houston city government hasn’t been largely complicit with this shit for decades, regardless of how “blue” their constituents are. Frankly, even some of the most bleeding-heart liberals here throughout America get real mad, real fast, the instant anybody makes even the meekest suggestion that maybe they should try getting out of their cars. (Or, very relatedly, suggesting that maybe we should allow more housing density anywhere near their single-family homes, for that matter.) That laziness and NIMBY sense of entitlement (for a lifestyle built on redlining and Ponzi schemes, no less) is emblematic of how even the the “bluest” American cities are run, across the board.
It’s starting to move in that direction, but extremely slowly over the decades. Think more a park & ride (i.e. drive to parking lot then ride a light rail the rest of the way to work) vs. a subway system the whole way. It’s only liberal-ish in relation to the rest of Texas.
Tell me you listen to the propaganda about induced demand without… there are ways to add lanes without making it worse. But they don’t want to pay for it.
Houston: “We’re a blue city and we believe in climate change!”
Also Houston:
Just one more lane bro, one more lane will solve our transit problems bro
Aw gee! Are y-y-you sure, Rick? I mean, it’s congested as fuck either way!
Is Houston in control of that? Or is that TxDOT?
Maintained by TxDOT
If I remember correctly, the way texas operates in metro areas is that a ‘community’ has influence on the roads. I can’t remember what they call it, but it’s something like a district road authority. Austin, for example, is not well served by expanding roads indefinitely, but the other cities that are around austin are benefited by expanding austin’s roads so their citizens can commute into austin. The other communities collectively have more of an influence/vote on the authority’s directives, and thus, the roads in austin get increased.
There was a really good video from a youtube channel that talks about why I-35 should be buried underground and shrunk, but it won’t happen because of the government structure around road building.
Tell me you don’t know how a metropolis works without telling me.
That is an interstate highway running through the city of Katy. The Houston Metro area is made up of over 100 cities and 40 unincorporated towns.
Houston has soent the last 40 years paving over the Katy prairie and are shocked that they keep getting floods and heat waves
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No shit, do I look like the city planner? I’m saying that people need to look at these large cities with more nuance than “Big City Bad” and realize that things are more complicated than one singular governmental body. In the case of Houston and more specifically this stretch of highway, You have the state government with an overarching control of I-10 through Texas, then this particular stretch of it goes through the cities of Katy and Houston, connecting dozens of other smaller towns and cities with in the metro area.
To look at one single stretch of highway and pretend it is emblematic of the entire state/city is idiotic and shows a bad faith attempt to paint the populace with as wide a brush as possible.
I am only pushing back on this because I am just so damn tired of the constant “Texas Bad” posts comments that are unwilling to engage in a meaningful conversation about the topic and pretend like my state is full of the dumbest most right wing shit heels, while we also have some of the largest left leaning cities in the country.
Believe it or not, I’m a bike/ped/transit activist in Atlanta. I understand both “how a metropolis works,” and your sentiment, better than you realize.
Having said that, I still stand behind my cynical comment. Let’s not pretend the Houston city government hasn’t been largely complicit with this shit for decades, regardless of how “blue” their constituents are. Frankly, even some of the most bleeding-heart liberals here throughout America get real mad, real fast, the instant anybody makes even the meekest suggestion that maybe they should try getting out of their cars. (Or, very relatedly, suggesting that maybe we should allow more housing density anywhere near their single-family homes, for that matter.) That laziness and NIMBY sense of entitlement (for a lifestyle built on redlining and Ponzi schemes, no less) is emblematic of how even the the “bluest” American cities are run, across the board.
It’s starting to move in that direction, but extremely slowly over the decades. Think more a park & ride (i.e. drive to parking lot then ride a light rail the rest of the way to work) vs. a subway system the whole way. It’s only liberal-ish in relation to the rest of Texas.
Tell me you listen to the propaganda about induced demand without… there are ways to add lanes without making it worse. But they don’t want to pay for it.