Houston’s Urban Sprawl – Coming Soon To A Neighborhood Near You
Posted on February 14, 2008
Filed Under Houston | 1 Comment
I still find it amazing how fast Houston is growing. I laugh every time I hear one of those know-it-all’s on TV News say that Houston’s economy is slowing down or that home sales are declining. Don’t believe it for a minute!
I can’t get over how some outlying areas are just exploding with growth. Now for most people that might sound okay. The problem lies in the fact that many people moved out to these outlying areas to get away from the traffic congestion, crime and everything else the urban life brings with it.
Look at the Katy area. Just a few short years ago you were in the boonies once you crossed over Barker Cypress. Now, you have to go all the way past Katy itself to find some solitude.
The Magnolia and Tomball areas aren’t any better. Take a look at all the construction around the 1488 and 2978 intersection. 2 years or so ago there was no Home Depot, Sonic, Target and certainly no Townhouses going in. What was once a sleepy little intersection that had one Chevron Station now looks no different from any intersection in Houston.
What’s fascinating is that the people who moved out there did so to get away from all that crap but once they moved out, they demanded more variety in shopping and other services. So the shopping and services moved to them.
There are a lot of these people who work in Downtown Houston. It’s about an hour and half drive most mornings , with good traffic, and much more if the traffic slow. Now that 1488 is a screwed up mess (thank you TXDOT), their drive time has increased.
Kingwood hasn’t faired any better in recent years. Now most of the land around 59 is being developed for more stores and more shops as shopping in Humble has become a “shop at your own risk” according to some residents I’ve talked to. Plus, a 15 minute drive is too far!
Rumors have it that this is going to be either a Office Complex or new Shopping Mall.
Well, all I can say is that pretty soon, you’re going to be living right in the slums with all the crap that you expect from a big city like Houston. This isn’t going to solve itself anytime soon. Not as long as the politicians can make money and the residents only have to drive 5 minutes to their favorite shopping.
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Texans BEARING ARMS To Stop TxDOT!:
http://salcostello.blogspot.com/