KHOU looks at ramp o' death

KHOU looks at Deathramp 527 today — the entrance ramp to the newly opened southbound Spur 527 from Milam Street. We talked about it earlier this week, and it seems enough people have complained about the ramp that TxDOT decided to step in and ... paint.

"Some folks it appeared that you had to make an immediate merge. So we put the stripe there to improve that merge," [Spur 527 project engineer Quincy Allen] said.

It's a 100-foot stripe aimed at aiming drivers in the right direction.

We're not sure exactly how a stripe will help, but maybe we have to see it to understand. In case you missed the earlier discussion, the problem with the ramp is that most of its length is behind a wall that severely limits visibility, so by the time drivers reach the end of the ramp, they're basically dumped out into the right-hand lane of the spur. Surprise! TxDOT told KHOU it's not the ramp's design that's a problem; instead, it's that drivers break the spur's 35 mph speed limit. But even if everyone does go 35 — and we bet nobody will — the ramp is still dangerous.

While you're avoiding certain death, come up with something for Laurence Simon's ramp naming challenge. (Simon, by the way, was the one who came up with "Deathramp 527," still our favorite.)