Now on Spur 527: The on-ramp of death!

Houstonist was interested in a section of Rad Sallee's "Move It!" column in the Chron yesterday that dealt with the new Spur 527 — specifically, the entrance ramp to the southbound spur from Milam between Alabama and Richmond. We were excited when the new lanes of the spur opened last week, but one of the first things we noticed was that the barrier wall on the side of the freeway is much higher than before, meaning that the Milam entrance ramp has almost zero visibility. It's almost as if drivers entering the spur from the ramp are coming out from behind a wall at the last minute — not a good idea when people are speeding along at breakneck speed on the spur (yeah, the speed limit is 35, but we all know that's a joke). It seems we're not the only ones to notice: Chron reader Stu MacPherson wrote Sallee, saying he was almost killed using the ramp.

"The ramp spills out onto the main spur ... with absolutely no merge lane and zero visibility of the traffic already on the spur. Had I been 1 second later, the Suburban doing 70 mph in my (our) lane would have obliterated me," he said.

TxDOT spokeswoman Janelle Gbur said there is, too, a merge lane, "but because of the limited visibility, motorists may feel they have no time at all." Well, yes — we don't know much about freeway design, but it seems to be common sense that putting a merge lane behind a wall isn't such a great idea. Gbur said the state will keep an eye on the ramp and see how it works; in the meantime, be careful.

(There was some good news in Sallee's column, though: TxDOT says the northbound lanes of the spur should be open by the end of the month, a development we welcome wholeheartedly.)