Houston Commute Resource

So you commute to Houston every day from The Woodlands! Maybe you want to have a link that shows the freeways  and major roads and the up-to-the-minute status of those roads, including the current traffic speed. You can even put it on your cell phone, but be safe in using it. The data is collected from various sorts and is intended to be current, so you can check before you go out the door whenever you are traveling to Houston.
 Current Houston Transit Road Conditions

Woodlands Parkway and Gosling intersection

Sometimes, an intersection is just not designed well. In fact, an intersection can be downright dangerous. This is the case of The Woodlands Parkway and Gosling. It is difficult to understand the reasoning behind this design, except it is to keep traffic flowing without regard to the safety of the pedestrian. Let's see what we are talking about.

Facing north from the south side of the parkway

We are supposed to be a master planned community where pedestrians are provided amenities with safety. During the development of this intersection, something went awry. Walk with me north on Gosling as many in our neighborhood do, to the Panther Creek Shopping Center on the parkway. The shopping center is about three blocks from the homes on the southern side of the Woodlands Pkwy. As we walk along the pathway, we arrive at the intersection above. Automobiles are turning right. The drivers must look to their left to directly merge with the oncoming traffic, because this turn lane has no ramp to it on the parkway. As a result, it is easy to rear-end the car in front of you as you make this right turn. It is also easy to hit a pedestrian in the marked crossing directly in front of us in this photo.

For the pedestrian, the first challenge is to cross the turn lane to get to the button to request a crossing. The right turn lane is not regulated in any way by that pedestrian button on the pole. A pedestrian is on his own to cross that lane.

Crossing six lanes of traffic

Now as we stand on the little island and face to the north, we wait for the pedestrian signal to turn green and give us the number of seconds we are allowed to be in the intersection. This is a challenge also. We feel vulnerable to oncoming traffic from our left.

Now we are nervously watching out for the cars coming at us from the west. One lane is to turn right onto Gosling and the other for traffic to dart a few feet from our feet. This is the pedestrian island. So the light changes and we are cleared to go. We cross. But wait. When we reach the other side, the reverse configuration requires us to watch for traffic turning right from the east onto Gosling. The speed of the turning automobiles is not necessarily slow either!

So we finish our crossing after the cars are allowed to interrupt our crossing. The drivers often assume they have the right of way even though we are in the cross walk.

Coming back with a bag of groceries or other goodies, we now must perform the same crossing in reverse.

Oncoming traffic towards the pedestrian turning just in time

First we cross the turn lane to get to the island requesting a crossing towards the south. Now on the island we are confronted with autos coming straight at us and then turning. We press the button. Hurry up! Cars fly by us and more turn into the lane. We hope everyone is paying attention.

Traffic whizzing by as we wait

The wind of the autos moving at 45-60 mph shake our bodies. Sometimes there is even a honk as a driver is nervous about us being so close to the cars as they move by us at high velocity. That makes us even more nervous. Finally, we cross the six lanes to the other island and then cross the other turning lane. Whew, we made it safely once more. A kid on the bicycle passes by us to cross. I am thinking, I bet he is quicker than us and is able to more confidently cross the 8 lanes. Ah ... maybe not.

Those cars can make anyone nervous, pushing their wall of wind.

The commissioner has been asked to look at this intersection to see how it can be made safer. What has happened to the hometown feel anyway? It feels more like a amusement park arcade with the noise, hustle and bustle, not exactly a country setting anymore.  Although I have not attempted the Kuykendahl crossing for a while, I suspect it is designed the same. Perhaps it is not used much by pedestrians.

A trip aboard the Trolley

In the summer and winter, the Woodlands trolley system is a really good idea! After parking at the mall to go eat lunch today, I needed to take my first trip on a trolley to get to Market Street. I had parked a long way from where I was located and found the stop. Then I said to myself - "it would really be dumb for me to walk all the way to the car and then find a parking spot at Market Street and then walk a long way again. Of course I had the alternative to use Valet Parking, but I do not like other people driving and parking my truck. Guess what? The trolley was AIR CONDIITIONED!!!!!!! I felt really lucky. The trolley arrived within five minutes after my arrival at the Trolley Stop, and the bus driver was really nice. I gave him a business card for this blog, and presto, we talked all the way to Market Street. It was a pleasant drive. We went on the road behind the hotel along the waterway and behind the park. It was scenic and tranquil. Although I had to face the sun again when I exited the trolley, I felt plenty refreshed by the time I arrived at the restaurant in Market Street.

There were two trolleys operating, each heading in a different direction. Our driver said that normally it takes him 20 minutes to make the full trip, but sometimes he transports someone needing a lot of help on and off the trolley. That can add another 5 minutes. Our trip was quick with few passengers.

On the way back, the same driver and some kids with their mom were on the trolley. The children got to ring the bell on the trolley. I waited about 12 minutes this time out in the sun. The kids had a grand time. One thing you can do to ready yourself to be congratulated on your knowledge about our dear state, is to know what the state insect is. Our driver kept us all entertained with questions and facts along the trip back to the mall.

I do encourage residents and visitors alike to use this system. Tip the
driver for his added value. Mine was really good.

A couple of issues became apparent. It sure would be nice to sit under shade and have a fan or something to cool you off while waiting for the trolley. It would also be helpful if we knew how long we may need to wait. If I was working with a schedule, I might have gone and grabbed a drink at the local salon first, but then again, a cold lemonade would have really been the cat's meow at that particular point in this particular day!