4th worst traffic

If Houston has the 4th worst traffic of any city in the United States, I shudder to think how bad those other three cities have it. Traffic in Houston has become unbearable unless you are on the roads between about 1:00 am and 5:00 am. And it's getting worse by the day, as apartment complex after condo complex is getting built at a rapid pace. 

In my neighborhood, there are three complexes under construction that will add at least another 1,000 people. With another 1,000 cars. 

It might not be so bad if Houston was good at maintaining its roads, but it's not. They can't keep up. It's almost unbelievable how bad some of the streets are in this city. 

The wife and I are getting close to retirement and eventual evacuation from this megalopolis. It frankly cannot come soon enough.

Houstonians wasted even more time in traffic in 2015, report shows

Houston Business Journal

Houstonians wasted more time in traffic in 2015 than in years past, a new report from Washington-based Inrix Inc. shows.

The report, dubbed the Inrix 2015 TrafficScorecard, looked at traffic speed data collected for more than 1.3 million miles of urban streets and highways in the U.S., as well as highway performance data from the Federal Highway Administration to determine the most congested cities in the country.

Houston had with the fourth worst traffic in the country, falling only behind Los Angeles (No. 1 ), Washington, D.C., (No. 2), and San Francisco (No. 3). It was the only Texas city to make the top 10.

The average Houstonian wasted about 74 hours in his or her car last year sitting in gridlock traffic, the report found. That's a 12-hour increase from the year before, moving the Bayou City's rank up four spots from No. 8 in 2014.

Houston was home to five of the top 100 most congested stretches of roads in the country.

The city's most trafficked area was the portion of Interstate 610 from the Woodway Drive exit to Beechnut Street, near the Galleria. The less than 7-mile strip, which has received low ratings before, should take about six minutes to traverse, according to the report. At peak travel time, the strip takes about 26 minutes.

Other highly trafficked roads in Houston within the top 100 in the country were:

• U.S. Highway 59 from Lorraine Street to Texas 288
• Interstate 45 from Texas 5 Spur to Gulf Bank Road
• Interstate 610 from Evergreen Street to W. 11th Street
• U.S. Highway 290 from Antoine Drive to N. Eldridge Parkway

Houston has long been known for its traffic. The city’s rapid population growth coupled with its massive sprawl makes an hour commute each way a normal occurrence.

The Texas Department of Transportation recently announced that it would invest $447 million toward relieving traffic on three of the city's major highways. TxDOT has even proposed elevating lanes in some of the most congested areas of 610 to help alleviate traffic. However, construction on other roads is still expected to bring about closures and congestion.

To combat the issue, many Houston businesses are adjusting their policies to make the burden of transportation lighter on employees and to attract new talent. Read HBJ's unlocked cover story on the city's traffic problem here.

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