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Missed Connections: November 2 - 5
Daily-ist Thursday: River Oaks Theater 70th Anniversary Celebration
Get sticky at Lawndale's Sugar Skull workshop
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.)
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Whenever you see Gbur's name, you know it's going to be high comedy straight from Fantasyland.
I think we ought to have a naming contest. My choice is Deathramp 527.
That sounds like a really bad sci-fi movie.
Living very close to the Milam entrance to the 527 Spur, I've anxiously awaited its reopening. Most agree wholeheartedly about the horrible new entrance. Before the merge was long, gradual, and with LONG sight lines. Now it is almost a merge of faith.
Also, the new onramp is RIGHT after the W. Alabama/Milam intersection, which creates two other problems. One, is that if you are coming on W. Alabama from the south, you cannot cut over to the entrance on Day Street (like you used to be able to). Two, Milam is five lanes before coming to W. Alabama. The current configuration is a dedicated right turn lane, a dedicated left turn lane, and three lanes inbetween. However, AFTER the intersection there are only TWO lanes (one for the Spur entrance and the other to continue on Milam). The brilliant TxDoT folk have 'solved' it for now by coning off the dedicated right turn lane and just making the lane next to it the dedicated turn. Obviously, this cannot continue for the long haul.
Final rant is the lack of ANY sidewalks under the Spur (at Richmond or W. Alabama). Horribly dangerous (not to say muddy).