All the fun, hilarious, and beautiful aspects of driving in Texas

The Houston Chronicle has a cool interactive map that shows where all the red-light cameras are located in Houston and gives information on the number of tickets issued at each light. It even has video for some of the lights.

photo credit: j-e-m-s (dos chicas)

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I hate feeder roads. This is a subject my wife and I debate occasionally. She claims that feeder roads are almost universally praised. They provide additional lanes to relieve highway congestion during peak usage, and they reduce traffic on city streets away from the highway.

A feeder road, also known as a frontage road, access road, service road, etc., is a smaller road that runs parallel to a highway and allows access to and from the highway. They are rare in most parts of the US, but they are common in Texas and usually lined with store fronts in urban areas. Some feeders are equipped with Texas U-Turns, a curious invention allowing travelers in one direction on a feeder to switch over to the feeder in the other direction without having to wait for the stop light.

Nevermind that feeders cost an additional $1.5 million per mile to construct or that feeders and the mini-mall developments that line them are ugly. I argue that feeders are dangerous, particularly in urban areas where freeway exits are closely spaced. In some areas around Houston, feeder roads can be three or four lanes wide. If you’re exiting the freeway and have to turn right at the next signal, you’ll find yourself having to cut across multiple lanes of high speed traffic in a very short distance. Moreover, when entering the freeway, you often find yourself jockeying for the same lane with cars trying to exit at the next ramp. As for Texas U-Turns, these seem to provide only a minor benefit that is not worth the cost.

TxDOT appears to agree with me, but the rest of the state doesn’t. In 2001, TxDOT approved a change in policy that would limit construction of new feeder roads, but that policy was withdrawn in 2002 after protest.

I don’t get it. Can somebody explain to me why feeders are worth saving?

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I don’t know how it is in the rest of Texas, but the transition between warm summer days and cool fall days occurs literally over night in Houston. Last week we enjoyed weather in the high 70s/low 80s. Now were in the 60s. The sudden drop in temperature precipitates a drop in tire pressure, so you’ll probably notice the handling of your car feeling a little squishy.

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photo credit: Sergio Alvaré Peláez

Last night I saw a Mercedes E65 AMG with the license plate “PHAEDO”*. Geez, how much are they paying philosophers these days?

*Phaedo, as you may recall, is one of Plato’s dialogs and tells the story of Socrates’ death.

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