American Cities of the Future 2015/16 Winners. Houston ranks 3rd (Galveston: tax, living)

[Matadora]

Originally Posted by keepingquiet

Its only going to get worse until houston tackles public transport

It's already worse than ever..."Houston, We've Had a Problem" for much too long.

[HookTheBrotherUp]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

Houston takes off
Located on the eastern coast of Texas, the US’s second most populous state, Houston, has risen up the ranking to third place. Placing second in the Business Friendliness category for major cities, Houston is home to 14 companies on the FT Global 500 list and boasts business start up times of less than six days. There were 48 expansion projects in Houston in the five years to December 2014, showing the city’s enduring credibility with investors.
The US ranks highly in the strength of investor protection, corruption perception and economic freedom indices, adding to Houston’s allure. An accessible city for investors, its local George Bush International airport provides global connections to 67 locations and it boasts seven ports connecting to shipping routes in the Gulf of Mexico – helping it rank third in the Connectivity category for major cities.

American Cities of the Future 2015/16 Winners - Locations - fDiIntelligence.com

Thanks for sharing. Now, was the article written before the dire predictions regarding drought? Maybe Houston becomes second in the coming years?

[FatherofTwinGirls]

When relocating to Houston in 2011; I was aware of the traffic issue, but Good gracious Houston's city planning department should be lined up and shot; all of them dating back to beginning of time.

I just don't get it; up to 2hrs of traffic to get home from work (26miles) and that was me paying to be in traffic for 2hrs using the tolls. Had to put a stop to that; still takes me 2hrs to get home, but at least I'm not getting screwed twice.

Sadly, there simply isn't a fix for Houston's traffic problem....

[gwarnecke]

Originally Posted by keepingquiet

Its only going to get worse until houston tackles public transport

Ha...nearly every major city without draconian disincentives to car use (ie London congestion charge) has terrible traffic, no matter how excellent the public transport. Come to think of it...even London has terrible traffic.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by FatherofTwinGirls

When relocating to Houston in 2011; I was aware of the traffic issue, but Good gracious Houston's city planning department should be lined up and shot; all of them dating back to beginning of time.

I just don't get it; up to 2hrs of traffic to get home from work (26miles) and that was me paying to be in traffic for 2hrs using the tolls. Had to put a stop to that; still takes me 2hrs to get home, but at least I'm not getting screwed twice.

Sadly, there simply isn't a fix for Houston's traffic problem....

Problem with blaming the City of Houston is that traffic is a regional problem. People make the choices to live in the suburbs and commute into the city by themselves. They want a comprehensive mass transit system, that other tax payers will pay for, so that those other people will use it and leave the roadways to them...... If not me then who ?

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

Ha...nearly every major city without draconian disincentives to car use (ie London congestion charge) has terrible traffic, no matter how excellent the public transport. Come to think of it...even London has terrible traffic.

see post above ^^^^^^

[Htown2013]

Originally Posted by FatherofTwinGirls

When relocating to Houston in 2011; I was aware of the traffic issue, but Good gracious Houston's city planning department should be lined up and shot; all of them dating back to beginning of time.

I just don't get it; up to 2hrs of traffic to get home from work (26miles) and that was me paying to be in traffic for 2hrs using the tolls. Had to put a stop to that; still takes me 2hrs to get home, but at least I'm not getting screwed twice.

Sadly, there simply isn't a fix for Houston's traffic problem....

2 hrs for a 26 mile commute?? What is your specific commute? How bad is your morning commute?

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by FatherofTwinGirls

When relocating to Houston in 2011; I was aware of the traffic issue, but Good gracious Houston's city planning department should be lined up and shot; all of them dating back to beginning of time.

I just don't get it; up to 2hrs of traffic to get home from work (26miles) and that was me paying to be in traffic for 2hrs using the tolls. Had to put a stop to that; still takes me 2hrs to get home, but at least I'm not getting screwed twice.

Sadly, there simply isn't a fix for Houston's traffic problem....

I'm gonna make a wild guess... you live in The Woodlands

[NigerianNightmare]

Originally Posted by Dopo

I'm gonna make a wild guess... you live in The Woodlands

That isn't even wild Only someone in The Woodlands would have that commute. Come on guys at least it's not Africa, where I was born and raised on the way to America we missed our plain even though the city of Port Harcourt is geographically the size of Sugar Land and it's surrounding neighborhoods and cities.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/4.98...a=!4m2!4m1!3e0
It took 5 hours to get from the area mapped out to the Airport. We missed our flight, b ut we were lucky the pilots who were supposed to fly the plane arrived slightly less than an hour before us as they were stuck in traffic also take it mind we left 3 hours early for a normal as the map say half and hour to 1 hour journey.
Port Harcourt only has 1.2-1.5 million in the city proper and probably up to 5-20 million uses this as their "International airport" as their are no other large airports that fly internationally within 100 miles of that one. but only about 1 million to half a million can afford to buy an international ticket and only 50-100,000 would need to buy an international ticket. Yet somehow in a third world country the sheer number of cars in the rural area where the airport is located had the road backed up all the way into the city. The funny thing is my Dad know has a 1 hour 30 minute commute from Katy to the Woodlands because he got moved from the Energy Corridor and he doesn't even talk about it because he knows what real traffic is.
Not trying to paint Nigeria or Africa as a terrible place but my mom knows several people who have died in traffic because they suffered complications in their car and couldn't go to the hospital, had a heat stroke when the car was to hot and died. The worst one is when traffic is so slow that People sell food to you in the middle of the Highway (they do that when traffic is fast also), Or you get robbed on the Highway by armed robbers going car to car cause traffic is at a stand still. My mom's friend even had to abandon her car in traffic and puick it up the next day and she was driving less than a mile down the road to get gas at the store traffic was backed up unto her own residential street.
So me I am happy for Houston although I agree our rail system gets it's butt handed to by Montpellier France a metro area of a half million people???
Sorry for the rant, and the truth is all these stories are sadly true.

[keepingquiet]

Originally Posted by detachable arm

Word.

BTW I was leaving the medical center at 5:30 pm yesterday and saw the south bound light rail half empty. And a bus passed by completely empty going in the same direction. We are going to need a whole lot more toy trains and a whole lot more participation to reduce congestion. Truth is the city is FUBAR.

What part of the medical center were you leaving? Most of the rail's traffic is between preston station downtown and the medical center transit center at fannin and main. Also every other train is a double train . They don't fill up as fast while the single ones can have you packed like a sardine. I have seen the rail so packed people had to wait for another.

[keepingquiet]

Originally Posted by gwarnecke

Ha...nearly every major city without draconian disincentives to car use (ie London congestion charge) has terrible traffic, no matter how excellent the public transport. Come to think of it...even London has terrible traffic.

So you are saying traffic problems should never be tackled?