Results tagged “pierceelevated”

Good morning, Houston. Have you ever wondered why our freeways have multiple names — for example, I-45 south of downtown is also called the Gulf Freeway, the section through downtown is the Pierce Elevated and the part north of downtown is the North Freeway? Yeah, we have, too — and it seems we're not alone: The Chronicle's Tex-Arcana column tackled that question this weekend. The answer? In Houston, at least, the names tell where... more ›

Finally, Google Street View has come to Houston. Now we can see all those far-flung parts of town we've always wanted to check out — without having to leave Houstonist World Headquarters! Kind of, anyway: Most of the street view streets are on the southwest side, and almost all of 'em are inside the Beltway. No virtual tours of Alief for us, we guess. If you haven't used Google Street View, here's an introductory... more ›

More in the ongoing saga of MetroRail's stray electrical current: Looks like Metro is going to go after payment from contractor Siemens, despite a refusal letter. Last summer, Metro billed Siemens Transportation Systems $917,400 for monitoring related to the stray current between May 2005 and June 2006. No one's sure where the leaking current is coming from: Metro has tracked down and repaired points it thought were causing trouble, and it replaced metal anchors in... more ›

So the MetroRail line is leaking electricity. It's nothing new: Metro admitted to the problem last year, and since then it's come up more than once. But what's news is that the problem continues to be a problem, and according to community watchdog Tom Bazan, it could bring the Pierce Elevated down on our heads (assuming, of course, we were standing underneath it at the time). Bazan is worried that the electricity leaking from the... more ›

So it's not news that the MetroRail line is leaking electricity — Houstonist has talked about it a couple of times already. But now it's been a year since Metro admitted to the problem, and the agency still hasn't been able to fix it. Remember that this electricity leak isn't going to kill you if you walk near the tracks, but there is concern that it might eventually corrode metal objects near the rail line,... more ›

The more things change, the more they stay the same and then almost change again. In his "Move It!" column, the Chron's Rad Sallee looks at a failed 1983 plan for a southwestern rail transit line, nothing that the Metro of 20 years ago ruled out street-level light rail as a transit mode and Richmond Avenue as a route because of "severe traffic disruption on major cross streets and ... relatively low speed." It's theoretically... more ›