Yes, This Interchange in Houston Is the
Same Size as an Entire City Center in Italy
Texas Monthly,
by
Dan Solomon
Original Article
Posted By: StormCnter,
8/30/2020 11:00:00 AM
Last week, a tweet went viral for pointing out in a novel way something that remains a source of fascination among Texans and non-Texans alike: Houston is really, really big, y’all.(Snip for tweet)In his Twitter post, Michael Hendrix of the Manhattan Institute, a free-market think tank, pointed out that the city center of Siena, Italy, packs roughly 30,000 residents into a space roughly the same size as one of Houston’s countless stack interchanges. Hendrix pulled this eye-opening comparison from a report compiled by the U.K.’s Building Better, Building Beautiful Commission, which sternly suggests that housing 30,000 Italians is less wasteful and more sustainable
Reply 1 - Posted by:
stevendm 8/30/2020 11:09:01 AM (No. 525792)
Which interchange in Houston are the referring to? I can think of 5 or 6 that look like this.
7 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
justavoter 8/30/2020 11:32:09 AM (No. 525828)
I have yet to find a town planner that advocates such crammed living quarters to actually live in one.
13 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Gruntmedic 8/30/2020 11:32:47 AM (No. 525831)
They want to stick us in cities to control us.
11 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
jeffinitely 8/30/2020 11:35:38 AM (No. 525835)
The article talks about "urban sprawl" being the result of Urban Planners responding to the need to spread out cities so they are less vulnerable to nuclear attack. Something I've never heard of up to this article. Anybody got any good references to that? Other than that, I think a good enough reason is "because we have the space to do that!"
9 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
Safari Man 8/30/2020 11:36:50 AM (No. 525839)
I grew up in west Houston (Kirkwood exit). We drove to Galveston often and that stretch of I-45 was under construction for 30+ years. It probably still is.
I am not buying the "nuclear deterrent" thing. Houston is flat as a pancake and most people don''t want to live on top of each other. But Houston also has MASSIVE apartment complexes too where the density is much too high.
And, yes, there are dozens of interchanges this size. Its one of the reasons I rarely leave my hovel here in The Woodlands.
12 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
earlybird 8/30/2020 12:06:53 PM (No. 525885)
Urban sprawl (actually suburban sprawl) has to do with the price and availability of land.
As for living like bees in hives, or termites, most humans are not big on it. Americans in particular like their space. Their own space.
11 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
red1066 8/30/2020 12:14:56 PM (No. 525899)
City planners. Have they EVER been right about anything? How old is this city in Italy? Back when it started, living close together was needed for protection and ease of movement. Plus it was a great way to spread illnesses. Here's another fact the city planners don't take into account. Personnel space. Certain cultures have closer personnel space then others. Italians have a closer personnel space then say people from England or the U.S. They more closely resemble the personnel space of the Middle Eastern culture. Living closely together is a cultural thing. For the most part, people from the U.S. don't want to live close together. They want space. Wide open spaces is the ideal if one can afford it. Texas is huge, why live on top of each other when land is cheap and plentiful, and movement is easy.
12 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Aubreyesque 8/30/2020 12:26:06 PM (No. 525919)
Theres a reason Mom called Houston The Blob That Ate East Texss...
9 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
DVC 8/30/2020 12:32:13 PM (No. 525935)
I think the interchange is a better, more sensible use of the land than wedging in 30,000 unfortunate victims of the ant colony mentality.
7 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
padiva 8/30/2020 12:39:11 PM (No. 525948)
We like F-R-E-E-D-O-M!
12 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
bad-hair 8/30/2020 12:43:01 PM (No. 525954)
Saw a cute photo the other day of Houston freeway and the caption said
Houston is an hour away from Houston.
Yep, on the other hand Atlanta is TWO hours away from Atlanta and New York ?
At least in your car you can't catch the plague.
11 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Thos Weatherby 8/30/2020 12:45:57 PM (No. 525959)
#5 That was more prevalent back in the '60s. That's when the bank vaults were told to use high-grade enforced steel with at least 12" of concrete. This was done to protect documents, gold/silver, cash and valuables in case of a nuclear war. Why would these vaults need so much protection. And the Interstate system was built so that Air Force jets and bombers would have a place to land if need by. Now of course with all the signs now it wouldn't work so well.
5 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
rikkitikki 8/30/2020 12:54:22 PM (No. 525970)
I have lived in Houston for the last 40 years, and am very familiar with its geography, and somewhat familiar with its demographics.
The reason for its suburban sprawl has nothing to do with escaping a nuclear blast, and everything to do with affordability of housing. Secondary reasons are quality of education and access to local amenities.
For the same price as the rent on an 800 sq-ft apartment in a part of town with high crime and inner-city schools, a person could spend the same money to pay the mortgage on a 1,500 sq-ft starter home, much less crime, and much better schools.
The only sacrifice is a longer (and more expensive) commute.
For most families, the choice is an easy one.
10 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
DVC 8/30/2020 1:49:01 PM (No. 526027)
#12, lots of places out in fly over country where you could land aircraft on interstates. The rest areas were for refueling aircraft. Set up a few of those large fuel bladders and maybe drop a few road signs, instant airfield.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
kono 8/30/2020 2:04:19 PM (No. 526039)
If a whole European city center can fit under our highway ramps, then isn't there room for homeless encampments? /sarc-off
5 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
ussjimmycarter 8/30/2020 2:11:21 PM (No. 526046)
Why? Merica...that's why! Now go away...
6 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
coyote 8/30/2020 2:39:59 PM (No. 526075)
That's why our ancestors left Europe.
6 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
HPmatt 8/30/2020 3:12:06 PM (No. 526110)
I grew up in Houston in the 60s. There are no geographical impediments to Houston growing in ANY direction, except Gulf of Mexico 55 miles south of Downtown. Houston, much like Dallas/FtWorth where I now live, have grown to be 100 miles wide, and 50-100 miles north-to-South. Cheap land, good freeways, lots of water supply (reservoirs built/planned after the 1955 drought). And, the major growth item - cheap energy, energy-related industries, and AIR CONDITIONING. Take away the last one and you’d find out who really could live here in the summer. TM I suppose I still oriented to yankee readers that admire East Coast model.
4 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
DVC 8/30/2020 3:27:28 PM (No. 526129)
#18, the reason I live in the midwest is that I do NOT "admire the east coat model"....actually, I despise it, run away from it.
3 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
DVC 8/30/2020 3:37:26 PM (No. 526139)
And on the SW corner of the KC metro area, I-435 (the primary loop interstate around most of the KC metro area) intersects with Kansas 10 ( a large, interstate type road which runs over to the nearby city of Lawrence, KS - the home of the University of Kansas, and I-35 running north-south (ish) eventually to Wichita.
They finally finished integrating the new interchange about a year and a half ago. I'd estimate that the whole series of on and off ramps and interchanges covers maybe two miles by 1/2+ mile of land, call it about a square miles, about 640 acres or so. Traffic flows a heck of a lot better now, especially during rush hour. Lots of folks living out in the country still commuting to work, and this helps. Both the K-10 and I-35 corridors have a lot of people living in them who go to various jobs closer in to the metro area, even though not downtown. Big interchanges are a good thing.
Screw the "we should all live in high rise buildings and take the subway to work" ant colony folks.
I like being able to shoot handguns or rifles in my back yard.
3 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
hershey 8/30/2020 4:04:53 PM (No. 526159)
Yep, put 30,000 people in a small space and you can control them better...reminds me of a couple SF movies, like Soylent Green and Blade Runner....no thanks, I'll take my rural house on 24 acres...nothing but wildlife and a few cows around...not hordes of disgruntled worthless idiots....
6 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
RuckusTom 8/30/2020 5:56:58 PM (No. 526265)
As a side note, Houston, Dallas, San Antonio, Austin - all democrat controlled. Who says Texas can't turn blue?
2 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 8/30/2020 6:21:37 PM (No. 526287)
The real reason for "urban sprawl" was forced "busing" for school de-segregation. Urban areas had safer schools.
3 people like this.
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