Assignment 3 2b

8/8/2019 Assignment 3 2b

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Transportation



Location: Houston, TexasA place where transportation is vital to the heart o a typically

sprawled, Southern city.

Today’s Houston



Historical Houston

Developed

around the Bayou

and revenue

possibilities, the

city thrived as a

port city.

It also unctioned

as a city o major

exports and

imports



Current transportation data

transportation and port statistics



Title or page number



Types + FormHouston, Texas has a population o 2.3

million people and was ounded due to

its relation to Bualo Bayou. In relation

to the city, there are numerous means o

transportation including highways, roads,

light-rail ways, bus routes, bicycle paths,

and underground pedestrian tunnels. Thetunnels serve downtown Houston and span

seven miles, serving more than 150,000

people a day. There are several airports

around Houston, the most known are the

George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the

William P. Hobby Airport, and the Ellington

Airport. These three acilities serve more

than 48 million people a year.

Houston’s only existing light rail opened inJanuary 2004, serving downtown and areas

south o it. It includes 16 stations, consists

o a seven and a hal mile track, and carries

45,000 passengers daily. The proposed

light rails include more than thirty miles

o light rail transit made o: University,

Uptown, North, East End and Southeast

lines.

Houston has a 345 mile interconnected

bikeway that spans over 500 square miles.

This bikeway includes, bike lanes, routes,

shared lanes, bayou trails, and other

city wide multi-use paths. There are also

numerous miles o bike trails that can be

ound within Houston city parks.

Greyhound provides services rom ve train

stations within and around the downtownarea. Public bus routes include more than

1,285 square miles, stopping every other

corner along its route. Houston’s METRO

system includes 28 Park and Ride lots or

long-distance commuting.

N

Lightrail

Bikeways

Bus Routes and Stops

Composite



Title or page number

Houston includes 575.4 miles o reewaysand expressways. Highways serving

Houston are Interstate 10, Interstate 45,

Loop 610, U.S. 59, U.S. 90, U.S. 290, Texas

288, Texas 225, Sam Houston Tollway, Hardy

Toll Road and Grand parkway ( Texas 99).

The Port o Houston is 25 miles long

controlled by the Port o Houston Authority

and more than 150 private industrial

companies along the Houston ShipChannel. The port is ranked rst in the U.S.

in oreign waterborne tonnage and imports

and ranked second in U.S. export tonnage.

contributing to more than 785,000 jobs

throughout Texas.

The rst railroad in Houston was built in

1854. Currently, sixteen tracks make up

Houston’s railroad system and serve areas

such as Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans

and Galveston.

The roads o Houston weave in and out

o the built environment. Most space that

is not developed consists o roads. It can

be inered that roads take about as much

space as the built/planned spaces.

Highways/Freeways

Ship Channel

Train rails

Roads

Composite



Memorial - moment description

Instance Nodes

Diagram 2 describes an instance where

several methods o transportation meet

creating a node seen several times around

the city. This one depicts what happens

when bike/walking paths meet bayou,

meets road, meets light rail routes and

stops, meets bus routes and stops.

Diagram 1

Diagram 2

bus route

bike/walking trail

Light rail line

bayou

paved roads



Diagram 3 depicts an area where bayou

is very prominent in the landscape. It also

shows streets intersecting bike/walking

trails and light rail sharing the road with

vehicles. It also shows the railroad creeping

into the area allowing the movement o

goods which ueled Houston or decades as

a port city.

Title or Page Number

Diagram 3

Bike paths that ollow along Brays

Bayou and Bualo Bayou oten are

shared walking and biking trails that

can go or 12+ miles through Houston.

The nearby connecting trails leadto main attractions such as parks,

stadiums, schools and universities,

medical centers or housing. These bike

ways create connections with the roads,

the public bus, the light rails, bodies o

water as well as highways.

Due to the location o METRO centers

as well as the high occupancy buildings,

there is high bus activity in many areas

o the city. Public buses serve citizens

o the light rail as well as pedestrians

o the city streets where it is applicable

allowing instances where several

methods o transportation happen

in a common area. The bus system

also allows cyclist to mount bicycles

or urther displacement sometimes

directly o o intersecting bike trails.

The light rail, where it occupies and

intersects streets haults trafc on

one side o the road when it passes.

Because o those intersections and the

requency o the passing light rail, trafc

is stopped airly oten. It begins to

unction as a stop light and a deterent

rom speeding in high pedestrian areas.

Such occurances o light rail and road

intersections happen in several areas

primarely around the medical area,

museum district, and downtown.

The majority o Houston’s road are

multipurpose. Most streets have

sidewalks on both sides o the

street, critical to this highly occupied

pedestrian and vehicular areas. On

occasion, there is only one sidewalk

along the street which oten occurs on

streets that ollow the bayous wherea bike and walking trail occur on the

opposite side o the street.

bus routerailroad

bike/walking trail

Light rail line

bayou

paved roads

Assignment 3 2b

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