Category Archives: Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Another story about driverless trucks on I-45

The driverless trucks start coming and they don’t stop coming. Waymo will partner in coming weeks with manufacturer Daimler Truck to put self-driving 18-wheelers on the road, further expanding the technology company’s autonomous testing between Dallas and Houston. The big … Continue reading

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White Oak bike trail extension: Getting close to done

It’s been a bit more than a month since the last update, and as you can see a lot has gotten done. As you can see, the trail itself is about 90% done, with only the far west end still … Continue reading

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Yes, let’s build more bike trail bridges

It’s all about connectivity. Stopping for a water break on the normal blistering-hot Houston day, bicyclist Reagan Smithers, 33, can see the tops of the trees along her street from the White Oak Bayou Trail. As the grackle flies – … Continue reading

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DeLorean reboot company hit with intellectual property lawsuit

Here’s a plot twist I didn’t see coming. Mere months after the city and county coughed up nearly $1.1 million in incentives to attract the revamped DeLorean Motor Co., the venture has been hit with a lawsuit alleging its founders … Continue reading

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Metro gets electric bus money

Good. Metro’s plan to gradually get rid of gasoline-powered buses took a step forward this week, when federal officials awarded the transit agency nearly $21.6 million to replace 20 diesel buses with electric ones, and the equipment needed to keep … Continue reading

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Elevating I-10

My antennae are up about this. A state proposal to elevate Interstate 10 near White Oak Bayou is raising concerns among neighbors, who worry about the effects a higher freeway would have on noise and drainage. The $347 million project, … Continue reading

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More on the planning for the University BRT line

Yes, Metro has to make some predictions about where transit will be needed. Building a line that goes through some of the densest parts of town probably helps with that. Metropolitan Transit Authority officials told voters in 2019 “we have … Continue reading

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TxDOT sued over its enviromental impact assessments

Very interesting. After college, Michael Moritz got a job in Houston analyzing fatal car crashes. Moritz, a 27-year-old native of San Antonio, stood on Interstate Highway 45, one of the most dangerous stretches of highway in the country, and documented … Continue reading

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If the only choices are “take it or leave it”, well…

Leave it doesn’t sound so bad given the alternative. One year ago, opponents of the state’s plan to rebuild Interstate 45 in Houston criticized the “take it or leave it” option state officials offered regarding amending plans for the mega-project. Tuesday, as … Continue reading

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White Oak Bike Trail extension: Look! Concrete!

A few days after the Fourth of July, I saw this on the White Oak Bike Trail extension: See here for the previous update. That’s the view from where the current trail had ended. I actually saw this bit of … Continue reading

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Time to meet the University Line BRT plans

A big step forward, but there are many miles yet to go. The biggest of Metro’s big bus offerings is about to turn from lines on a map to a full-fledged discussion for Houston residents, as transit officials prepare for … Continue reading

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White Oak Bike Trail extension: Over the culvert we go

We have a bridge from one side of the construction to the other: You can see the outline of the overpass in my previous photos; you can also see how quickly an expanse of blank concrete can get graffitied. I … Continue reading

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That’s an awful lot of tunnels

I’d say the over/under for the number of these that actually gets built is 1, and I’d bet the under. On Monday, May 30, Bloomberg reported that it had obtained documents that showed Elon Musk’s Boring Company had pitched eight plans for … Continue reading

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Supreme Court confirms that Texas Central is a railroad

Hope it’s not too little, too late. The Texas Supreme Court on Friday gave the go-ahead to beleaguered plan to build a bullet train connecting Houston and Dallas, ruling that companies behind the project have the power to acquire private … Continue reading

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Is there one last twist in the West 11th Street saga?

This was posted as an update to the change.org petition in support of the West 11th Street project: The opposition to making 11th street safer is asking TXDOT to stop the project-we need your help! The group that has organized … Continue reading

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Our electric car charging stations future

Lots more are coming. Texas is planning to add enough electric vehicle charging stations throughout the state to support 1 million electric vehicles with dozens of new stations to allow for easier long-distance travel. In a draft plan released this … Continue reading

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Is Texas Central in trouble?

This story sure questions its stability. The departure of Texas Central Railway’s CEO has critics of the proposed bullet train between Houston and Dallas optimistic the controversial project has reached its last stop, far short of ever starting construction. “Texas … Continue reading

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West 11th Street will proceed as planned

Good. Plans to narrow 11th Street in the Heights, which have divided residents wider than the four-lane road some are trying to maintain, will proceed, Mayor Sylvester Turner said Tuesday. “This change isn’t easy and won’t satisfy everyone,” Turner said … Continue reading

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OK, now I know what the White Oak Bike Trail extension will look like

In my last post about the construction of the White Oak Bike Trail extension, I said that I couldn’t quite envision what the finished product would look like. That was partly because there were three things that looked like they … Continue reading

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CURBS Houston

In my last post about the West 11th Street project, I’ve noted that opposition to the project has been featured in news stories about it, but I have not seen any mention of organized support from the neighborhood – BikeHouston … Continue reading

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I don’t really know what the White Oak Bike Trail extension is going to look like

There’s not a whole lot of change since the last update a month ago, at least in terms of how things look and what the final shape of the update might be. There are two particular areas of question for … Continue reading

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The limits of Vision Zero

A long read about a tough problem. Los Angeles was not the first U.S. city to sign on to Vision Zero: Chicago (2012), New York City (2014) and San Francisco (2014) had already adopted the Scandinavian-born safety movement. But L.A. moved quickly, revamping 18 corridors — including the Hollywood and … Continue reading

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The MKT Bridge has reopened

This pleasant surprise came out on Thursday evening. A vital and long-unused bridge in a buzzing Houston neighborhood is set to reopen. The M-K-T Bridge, located in The Heights near White Oak Bayou, will be accessible to users on Friday, … Continue reading

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Are road signs that warn about highway fatalities a danger?

Could be. Driving along Texas highways, drivers will likely see electric signs that provide real-time traffic alerts, weather information or unique public safety announcements. While these signs are designed to increase public safety, new evidence suggests that one type does more harm than good. A recent … Continue reading

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Is that San Antonio airport tunnel really going to happen?

Reality check: In March, the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority unanimously approved a feasibility study for a proposal from billionaire Elon Musk’s Boring Co. to build subterranean “public transit” from the San Antonio International Airport to downtown. At the meeting, RMA … Continue reading

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Yes, you can use toll road funds for non-road projects

Who knew? Surplus revenues from Harris County’s toll road system for years have paid for improvements to nearby roads and infused funds into street rebuilds around the county. Now, the Harris County Toll Road Authority is about to go off-road. … Continue reading

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Legal pot may mean less driving while stoned

So says one study. A new study has determined that people in states where cannabis is legal are less likely to drive while stoned than people in states where weed remains criminalized. The study, published this month in the journal … Continue reading

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The White Oak Bike Trail extension starts to come into focus

When last we visited the White Oak Bike Trail extension construction, we were puzzling over what the deal was with whatever they were doing next to the trail itself. I couldn’t tell where it was going or why it was … Continue reading

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Texas misses the train

Greg Abbott’s border hostage-taking has a cost. The Mexican government said it intends to shift long-range plans to build a trade railway connection worth billions of dollars from Texas to New Mexico in the wake of Gov. Greg Abbott’s stepped-up … Continue reading

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In Houston, the trucks drive you

Yet another driverless truck story. Autonomous freight trucking company Embark will make Houston the hub for its new Texas operations and launch an autonomous trucking route along Interstate 10 to San Antonio. The San Francisco-based company this month said it … Continue reading

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Now you really need to avoid the 59/610 interchange

Welcome to hell. Starting this weekend, Texas’ worst bottleneck is going to be an even bigger pain for drivers as the rebuild of the Interstate 69 and Loop 610 interchange turns a corner and takes out a key connector ramp. … Continue reading

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The next street safety project my neighborhood will be fighting about

My wife came back from this month’s civic association meeting and handed me a flyer for this, along with more or less the exact words I’ve used in the title of this post. North Main Street runs north from I-10 … Continue reading

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Our deadly roads

It was a bad year last year. Last year was the second deadliest on record for vehicle fatalities on Texas roads, reflecting a lethal trend here and throughout the nation, especially in large urban areas. In 2021, 4,480 people died … Continue reading

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Mask mandate lifted for planes and trains

And other forms of mass transportation. The Biden administration will no longer enforce a U.S. mask mandate on public transportation, after a federal judge in Florida on Monday ruled that the 14-month-old directive was unlawful, overturning a key White House … Continue reading

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