Why is Houston Better Than Dallas? (Galveston, The Woodlands: club, mall, clubs)
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Both Austin & San Antonio have had double deck freeways for decades, but Dallas thinks its something new.
No one here said it was new, but a freeway of this caliber will be a first in Texas. The double deckers in those other cities aren't very large. lol I think it would kill some of you on here to say something positive about Dallas.
No one here said it was new, but a freeway of this caliber will be a first in Texas. The double deckers in those other cities aren't very large. lol I think it would kill some of you on here to say something positive about Dallas.
That's fine, but I still don't see how a huge river of concrete is something to brag about?
If anything it's just ugly.
So what is LBJ & the High 5...pretty?
At least Houston makes it a conscious effort to plant trees of all types along side its freeways now. Houston hides its concrete by planting something that will filter the air & look nice for many years to come at the same time.
The difference is Dallas builds noise canceling walls & paints artsy murals on its concrete to look nice. It serves no other purpose.
I stand by my comments about 45. I support my city just as much as the next guy but there are a lot of things I want more for my city and would like to see done better.
It does not make me feel good to hear people refer to my city as ugly, nasty, and decayed. It does not make me feel good to think my city's urban and transit progress is being left behind other cities because of the backwards politics here that want to hold back transit projects. To think that the place where I live as an unprogressive dump by so many eyes actually makes me feel uncomfortable like i'm sitting in the middle of a landfill or some other disgusting place. But i know that's not really the case...
I-45, the main artery that connects the two airports, the first sight visitors see makes a poor representation on the gems that Houston has to offer. If there are old abandoned car dealerships/apartment buildings, rusty billboards, old strip centers, and crummy businesses lining the main central freeway, something needs to be done and FAST. That's the first and most lasting impression that people have of Houston. True, the gems like the Museum district are here, but they don't stare people in the face like the ugly does. People have to actually get off the freeway and find these areas. The nicer parts of Houston like Uptown and Katy Freeway/EC sit out too far left field to be apart of the first impression.
I can see why the Olympics committee came here and made the comments that they did about our city. We even hear news articles written about our city where taxi cab drivers are encouraged to take different routes from the IAH in to town to avoid the unsightliness. One recent newspaper columist even joked that visitors should just put on their sunglasses between IAH and downtown. It shouldn't be like that, the city's primary freeway cooridor should be better maintained. That's just like going to a prom in your pajamas and telling people to go the other way and not look at me. No, take time and put on some better clothes !!!
I don't think Houston is ugly myself, I just think it does a poor job of sweeping it under the rug. Make no mistake, I love my city. I just get frustrated with it. Out of the cities I visit, none of them allow their main freeway cooridor to look like that?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Trae713
That's a freeway in Denver and Houston has decorated notice reduction walls on some freeways. So again, what are you guys even talking about.
Yes, Houston has decorated noise reduction walls along the Katy Freeway and West Loop South in Bellaire. And yes, they are nice. But guess what? Those are nicer areas. If any freeway could use that the most, it would be the I-45 corridor.
I stand by my comments about 45. I support my city just as much as the next guy but there are a lot of things I want more for my city and would like to see done better.
It does not make me feel good to hear people refer to my city as ugly, nasty, and decayed. It does not make me feel good to think my city's urban and transit progress is being left behind other cities because of the backwards politics here that want to hold back transit projects. To think that the place where I live as an unprogressive dump by so many eyes actually makes me feel uncomfortable like i'm sitting in the middle of a landfill or some other disgusting place. But i know that's not really the case...
I-45, the main artery that connects the two airports, the first sight visitors see makes a poor representation on the gems that Houston has to offer. If there are old abandoned car dealerships/apartment buildings, rusty billboards, old strip centers, and crummy businesses lining the main central freeway, something needs to be done and FAST. That's the first and most lasting impression that people have of Houston. True, the gems like the Museum district are here, but they don't stare people in the face like the ugly does. People have to actually get off the freeway and find these areas. The nicer parts of Houston like Uptown and Katy Freeway/EC sit out too far left field to be apart of the first impression.
I can see why the Olympics committee came here and made the comments that they did about our city. We even hear news articles written about our city where taxi cab drivers are encouraged to take different routes from the IAH in to town to avoid the unsightliness. One recent newspaper columist even joked that visitors should just put on their sunglasses between IAH and downtown. It shouldn't be like that, the city's primary freeway cooridor should be better maintained. That's just like going to a prom in your pajamas and telling people to go the other way and not look at me. No, take time and put on some better clothes !!!
I don't think Houston is ugly myself, I just think it does a poor job of sweeping it under the rug. Make no mistake, I love my city. I just get frustrated with it. Out of the cities I visit, none of them allow their main freeway cooridor to look like that?
Yes, Houston has decorated noise reduction walls along the Katy Freeway and West Loop South in Bellaire. And yes, they are nice. But guess what? Those are nicer areas. If any freeway could use that the most, it would be the I-45 corridor.
Don't beat yourself up over this....In all honesty when I was a young kid first visiting Houston I actually liked driving into Houston. If felt 6 times larger than Dallas. It made me wish that 45 north from Ennis into Dallas was as built out and busy as that strech in Houston. I just wanted Dallas to be big as Houston or at least feel as big....Then I grew up and realized that the grass really aint greener on the Houston side; and that bigger DOES NOT mean better and I started to admire the differences the two cities offered. I love Houston for what it is and would NEVER wish any of its problems on Dallas.
Don't beat yourself up over this....In all honesty when I was a young kid first visiting Houston I actually liked driving into Houston. If felt 6 times larger than Dallas. It made me wish that 45 north from Ennis into Dallas was as built out and busy as that strech in Houston. I just wanted Dallas to be big as Houston or at least feel as big....Then I grew up and realized that the grass really aint greener on the Houston side; and that bigger DOES NOT mean better and I started to admire the differences the two cities offered. I love Houston for what it is and would NEVER wish any of its problems on Dallas.
Well, its just different times.
When you were a kid, which i'm assuming was no longer than 20 years ago, 45 was still considered modern. It still had that "cool" thing happening. Although its still modern today, the surroundings of it haven't fared so well. Other cities were still developing their freeway systems to catch up to Houston's at that time, so Houston could get away with alot more than what it can today such as the businesses and strip centers lining the freeway.
For example, Denver, Colorado had a functional freeway system through the first half of the 00s. It was still developing, but now that it is developed, it has paid more attention to aesthetics and it makes Houston's 45 corridor look aged. Dallas's US 75/NCE corridor was developed within the last 15 years, so it has that newer style as well, along with all the developments off the freeway and downtown. These freeways are the new "cool" thing. Houston already had its head start long before that.
Now what Houston has is a functional system which still works and serves it purpose, but appearance wise, it looks aged and outdated. Keep in mind that I am really talking 45. Everything 288 and West looks great to me. I disagree with R1070s comments about the Katy Freeway. That freeway looks damn good.
So i wouldn't really say its a grass is greener thing. It's just that its different times of development. I guess they figure since I-45 is not where the city is growing, it's not where the $$$ is. So the city feels there's no reason to change it. But maybe with the new Exxon Mobil campus and the surrounding developments that's going to come with it, maybe that might kickstart something. Let's hope.
I stand by my comments about 45. I support my city just as much as the next guy but there are a lot of things I want more for my city and would like to see done better.
It does not make me feel good to hear people refer to my city as ugly, nasty, and decayed. It does not make me feel good to think my city's urban and transit progress is being left behind other cities because of the backwards politics here that want to hold back transit projects. To think that the place where I live as an unprogressive dump by so many eyes actually makes me feel uncomfortable like i'm sitting in the middle of a landfill or some other disgusting place. But i know that's not really the case...
I-45, the main artery that connects the two airports, the first sight visitors see makes a poor representation on the gems that Houston has to offer. If there are old abandoned car dealerships/apartment buildings, rusty billboards, old strip centers, and crummy businesses lining the main central freeway, something needs to be done and FAST. That's the first and most lasting impression that people have of Houston. True, the gems like the Museum district are here, but they don't stare people in the face like the ugly does. People have to actually get off the freeway and find these areas. The nicer parts of Houston like Uptown and Katy Freeway/EC sit out too far left field to be apart of the first impression.
I can see why the Olympics committee came here and made the comments that they did about our city. We even hear news articles written about our city where taxi cab drivers are encouraged to take different routes from the IAH in to town to avoid the unsightliness. One recent newspaper columist even joked that visitors should just put on their sunglasses between IAH and downtown. It shouldn't be like that, the city's primary freeway cooridor should be better maintained. That's just like going to a prom in your pajamas and telling people to go the other way and not look at me. No, take time and put on some better clothes !!!
I don't think Houston is ugly myself, I just think it does a poor job of sweeping it under the rug. Make no mistake, I love my city. I just get frustrated with it. Out of the cities I visit, none of them allow their main freeway cooridor to look like that?
Yes, Houston has decorated noise reduction walls along the Katy Freeway and West Loop South in Bellaire. And yes, they are nice. But guess what? Those are nicer areas. If any freeway could use that the most, it would be the I-45 corridor.
Again, I-45 on the northside is buffered now by a thick, fast growing mini forest of pine trees.
The Southside is lined with palm trees that helps filter some of the ugliness along the feeders.
Mayor White signed something when he was in office that would supposedly limit or get rid of the number of billboards in Houston along its freeways...has it been effective, not really.
Lets not pretend for one second though that Dallas' freeways, especially its coveted 75/Central Expressway isn't lined with condom shops, lingerie stores, casket stores (which you guessed its sign), plastic surgery doctors, mega churches, & other tacky billboards.
Again, I-45 on the northside is buffered now by a thick, fast growing mini forest of pine trees.
The Southside is lined with palm trees that helps filter some of the ugliness along the feeders.
Mayor White signed something when he was in office that would supposedly limit or get rid of the number of billboards in Houston along its freeways...has it been effective, not really.
Lets not pretend for one second though that Dallas' freeways, especially its coveted 75/Central Expressway isn't lined with condom shops, lingerie stores, casket stores (which you guessed its sign), plastic surgery doctors, & other tacky billboards.
There's not that many trees along the roads in Houston. If there is they are still sapplings. The older retail is very prominent. Perhaps as a visitor you don't notice the trees for the other stuff.
I like how in the Dallas area they are removing a lot of the old retail along the Airport Freeway to clean the area up and start fresh with the new construction there.
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