The rant about tollways, the Northwest Freeway, and the South Freeway

A highly unpopular decision was made the other day when Harris County Commissioners approved a very tentative plan to add toll lanes to U.S 290 (the Northwest Freeway) and S.H. 288 (the South Freeway). How this will work out remains to be seen and relies on quite a bit -- Harris County is still owed $77 million by TxDOT over the Grand Parkway Project, better known as that-really-big-loop-that-makes-no-real-sense. This continues the massive tollway movement underway here in the Greater Houston area and the State of Texas as a whole. For those keeping score, there has been four major construction projects in regards to limited-access highways completed since 2008 -- the Katy Freeway, the eastern segment of the Grand Parkway by Baytown, the northeast section of the Sam Houston Tollway which completed the Beltway system, and the Crosby Freeway (US 90). Of those, only the Crosby Freeway has no toll lanes. I declined to include the NASA Bypass for the fact that it is only 2 miles in length.


As such, I've seen a lot of comments full of flawed logic and irritation over the infamous reneging of Harris County removing toll booths once the Sam Houston Tollway and the Jesse H Jones Houston Ship Channel bridge were completely paid off. However, the county (and as such the state) realized something -- tax revenues going into the general funds of these jurisdictions were disproportionate to what would be needed to effectively resolve the transportation issues brought on by Houston's rapid population growth (Greater Houston is now the 5th largest metro in the country at roughly 6.1 million according to a 2011 Census estimate). The issue is not really new -- it's been a reality ever since the early 1980s.


It was tollways that bailed out Harris County after the financial clusterfuck of two projects: the Beltway 8 Ship Channel Bridge and the Hardy Toll Road, both of which suffered from massive traffic shortfalls in relation to projections (for the Ship Channel Bridge it was to the degree of 58%), which left both projects stumbling into the 1990s as money-losing albatrosses. Ironically, it was the Sam Houston Tollway that saved Harris County finances with all portions of the tollways constructed on time and under budget, even if most of these projects were started late (the West Belt and the North Belt from the Southwest Freeway to the North Freeway and the entire South Belt were on time; the Northeastern portion of the Sam Houston Tollway was not). It was during this time that the purpose of tollways shifted from being a means to pay off project costs and to being a reliable generation of revenue.


In truth, I'm not crazy about tollways, but at the same time though, I understand that the following reality, considering the rather conservative lean of this state -- there would be a greater uproar amongst Texans if the state decided to increase the gasoline tax (which currently stands at 20 cents a gallon). Considering how broke the Texas Department of Transportation is, I would imagine that the gas tax would have to be increased to levels seen in California and New York (roughly 47 cents a gallon), if not higher, considering Texas is a larger state and has more state maintained highway mileage than any other state in the country. To everyone whining about the toll booths not being removed -- would you rather pay $1.30 (with the EZTag) each time you pass through the main plaza, or would you rather shell out almost 30, or possibly 40, cents more per gallon of gas and have no toll roads?


I'll take the latter -- and for conservatives and libertarians that want to trumpet the old "cut spending" shtick: Texas has a mediocre budget at it is for transportation infrastructure. If it didn't, then I'd probably wouldn't be writing this post and almost every controlled access high volume transportation project in this state wouldn't be a tollway. This is a case of Texas not having enough revenue.


Transportation in Houston is really, really bad for about four to six hours a day, 6 days a week. U.S. 290 is a total hell, and the biggest reason why I'm relieved I do not live out towards Cypress. At least heading back  down to either Pearland, Alvin, or any community really in Brazoria County, there's State Highway 35, Cullen Boulevard (FM 865), and Almeda Road (FM 521) to relieve SH 288. The plan makes some sense for SH 288 -- it is a nightmare before 9 AM and it's a living hell between 4 and 6 PM. As it goes by the Medical Center, I avoid it like the plague whenever I leave in the late afternoons from the University of Houston.


The plan, however, makes no sense for US 290, considering that there's almost no way in hell another lane could be added between Magnum and Hollister -- the throw together extended added lanes that last briefly up to Antoine are a bad enough. At least for the Northwest corridor, it's better off that Hempstead Tollway gets built, serving a similar function to the Westpark Tollway or at least widen Hempstead Road to an 8 lane thoroughfare similar to Westheimer Road with synchronized lighting to handle a higher volume of traffic.

Shasta's Awake: The University of Houston

UH Cougar game at Robertson Stadium. (University of Houston Athletics). FAIR USE: I'm only using this photo because it is relevant to the subject that I'm posting about, NOT to obtain profit.

Two and a half years into my collegiate career (counting the years I did dual credit in high school), I started at the University of Houston to major in architecture -- also known as, "that other big school in Texas", "Cougar Fucking High", "the college for students that couldn't afford Texas or Texas A&M", "the largest commuter school in Texas", and other derogatory nicknames that have been uttered ever since the school was founded in 1927. The school at the time was in the middle of transition -- Dr. Renu Khator became Chancellor and thus chief executive of the University of Houston that January with the stated of goal of elevating the University of Houston to tier-one status and developing a national relevant athletic department. Needless to say, it was a campaign that most non-Cougar supporters cared for or even blew off; I don't even have to mention what the vast majority of the alumni did.

For years, and even to some degree now, the University of Houston has not had much of a reputation here locally. Many are going to watch a Longhorns game or an Aggies game before they would watch a Cougar game. Many won't shut up about the glory of attending Texas or Texas A&M, yet, they'll only utter two condescending sentences about the University of Houston. But up to the last few years heading into Khator-era University of Houston, that's the reputation that the school garnered because of decades long  complacency: the University of Houston will provide you a degree because you need one, athletics whenever you are bored, and the opportunity to live at home because you can't afford to live on campus in Austin and College Station, much less anywhere else.

By the time Dr. Khator marks four years being head of the University of Houston, she has managed to be the catalyst for an improvement in the academic system that has put the University of Houston into Carnegie's top 50 national school rankings, finally bringing the school tier-one recognition. I would imagine that US News & World Report's elevation in rankings for the University of Houston will follow in 2012. Athletic director Mack Rhoades, along with Cougars head football coach Kevin Sumlin and head basketball coach James Dickey, have returned Cougar athletics to national conversation for the first time since Bill Yeoman and Guy V. Lewis, respectively. In fact, the University of Houston has even scored at Big East Conference invite. New school buildings are being constructed. It's now fashionable to live on campus. School spirit is contagious. Believe it or not, people are proud that they attend the University of Houston.

Indeed, the University of Houston has a long way to go. Its endowment, across the entire system, only barely squeaks past half a billion, compared to over $14 billion for the University of Texas and $5 billion for Texas A&M University. However, that is expected -- Texas and Texas A&M have a widespread appeal that comes with being founded in 1883 and 1871, respectively, and it undeniably hard and nearly impossible for a school like the University of Houston that's not even a hundred years old to reach. But, at the same time, it is not the University of Houston's intention to be an alternative to Texas and Texas A&M; the school intends to be a school of its own, with its own appeal. The school wants you to attend the University of Houston because it is the University of Houston -- a primary choice instead of a remedial choice.

Dr. Khator's generation of students, and I mean this for the students that were here in 2008 whenever she took over, are going to be the ones that pay the school the most dividends later on. We will be the alumni that will be donating to the school. We will be the ones that will be the boosters for the athletic departments. We will be the ones that will say, with pride, that we attended the University of Houston.

It's nothing short of amazing to see the transformation of this school in such short time. If you are a former University of Houston student and you haven't been on the campus in years, take some time, any time, and just walk through the campus. I promise that you will be in awe. While like I said, the school has a long road ahead to lead it from the abyss of being "just that other big school in Texas", the University of Houston is off to a hell of a start. Count me as one of its biggest supporters and I will be a big supporter, even after I graduate from here.