World-Class Mess
The New York Times has picked up the story that nobody in Houston seems to know or care about -- the impending 59/527 Spur shutdown (link from Rob Booth):
Jen Marie Rau should love it when work crews tear up the city's streets and its spaghetti tangle of freeways, sending motorists into a dither: her family business, Key Maps, has been charting greater Houston's highways and byways since 1957.True enough. The NY Times then goes on to take a (cheap) shot at the Bush Administration for its management of a provision in a highway bill that has nothing at all to do with this particular mess (because that's what the NY Times does).But Ms. Rau is helping lead a neighborhood coalition fuming over roadwork that will choke off a downtown spur and could funnel an additional 80,000 cars a day through historic Houston neighborhoods.
Work has been put off until after the Super Bowl here on Feb. 1, but then, she said, "all will be gridlock."
Callie has actually been following this issue for quite some time, and I've posted occasionally on it (most recently on TXDOT's lies about the project).
And now, it's made a national newspaper.
Still, I suspect quite a few motorists are going to be surprised (and angry) when they're trying to get out of downtown, stuck on the residential bottlenecks in my neighborhood, wondering just who the hell is responsible for the mess:
Outside the immediate area, the reaction has been muted, at least so far. "We're still convinced that a stunning number of people have no idea what's coming," said Robin A. Holzer of the West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition, which brought the lawsuit over the spur.
Bill White, to his credit, actually sounds more sensible than anyone in municipal government so far:
But relief for the protesters may yet come. Bill White, the mayor-elect, who won a runoff on Dec. 6, said he would review the road plans. "We want to build in two steps," Mr. White said recently, "so we will not divert traffic through residential areas."Unfortunately, there's just not much the new mayor can do. TXDOT is going to move on this project, and has effectively told the city to deal with it (hence the retarded reversible lanes city workers have nearly finished building on West Alabama). I'll be impressed if Mr. White can get them to reconsider.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 12/30/03 23:36 | Houston | Technorati
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Most Houstonians are still unaware that after the Super Bowl, US 59 will be effectively shut down around the Spur 527 (downtown exit) area.
There is no real plan to deal with the overflow traffic,...
[Linked on 01/21/04 by PubliusTX Weblog]
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