I see the gridlock on the way out of Houston

[gratuitous]

Some interstate freeway on the way out of Houston is bumper-to-bumper. A four or five lane parking lot, and people are running out of gas. The inbound lanes have about six cars on them. Why can't they shut the inbound lanes down to one lane, remove the barricade divider, and expand the outward lanes from four to seven?

Or am I overthinking this?

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. works for me

[onecent]

2. That's what I was wondering. Would sure make sense. n/t

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

3. they were going to do it later today.

At least that's what I heard on CNN this morning. No one explained why they were waiting. Some guy called CNN. He'd been on the road for 13 hours & had gone 48 miles. I can't even imagine. I would be tempted to turn around & go home.

best

[the other one]

4. Fema needs a new director. Can you help?

Which is riskier - facing a hurricane in your house or in a stalled car out on the interstate?

[fudge stripe cookays]

5. It was supposed to happen around noon today.

That may be older footage.

It's probably either I-45 or I-10. I-45 goes NW up to Dallas, and I-10 heads west to San Antonio.

FSC

[gratuitous]

20. It was a live shot 15 minutes ago (3:30 CDT)

I'm hoping for the best, but fear the worst.

[Geoff R. Casavant]

27. I-45 has opened up the Contra lanes

but only up in Conroe, about 45 miles north of Houston.

[SillyGoose]

6. I am worried these people will be stuck on that freeway when

the storm comes in. This is not a good situation. I hope they open those other lanes ASAP.

[CountAllVotes]

13. you're right!

Yikes! This could be = to the Superdome sans shelter!

:kick:

[AuntieM1957]

17. Thanks - they are open and we have 24 hours until

tropical storm winds make landfall.

The mayor just confirmed that being in a car on the route when that happens - "a deathtrap".

Right now, they seem to be coaxing those of us not in imminent danger to stay put so that those who are - can get out safely.

[ClintonTyree]

7. I thought they were going to contra-flow........

this afternoon? Did they decide against it? I remember hearing it on the news this afternoon and I thought they said at 3:00 they were going to contra-flow. Maybe I'm wrong, but if they haven't they'd damned well better, and soon. Who in their right mind would want to be driving IN to Houston right now?

[TomInTib]

8. Think about it...

The southbound lanes have to be closed incrementally by segment.
For example, they just cannot decree that all major southbound highways be closed at the Oklahoma border for the next 3 days. Or Dallas for that matter.
These unaffected areas have their own commercial concerns hurricane or no.
What happens when those cars on I35 and I45 start running out of gas?
Heard a guy on CNN say he had driven 20 miles in 9 hours.

[Igel]

9. They're trying.

Nobody can say what the hangup is, except that it requires a lot of coordination, blocking off all the entrance ramps and rerouting traffic.

They have part of I-45 contraflow, I think. Wasn't part of the plan: they foolishly thought that when they said "mandatory evacuation here, not there", those "there" wouldn't pick up and flee, choking the roads. Silly them: if somebody living on the bay needs to flee, of course those living 45 miles away and 60 feet higher, in an area that's never flooded, have to flee.

[tulsakatz]

10. sounds like a good idea!

I have a friend who lived in Houston for 20 yrs and he said the same thing.

[enid602]

11. Houston traffic

Notice in the Houston freeway traffic photos that the median strips on the freeways are grassy. Some wingnut will get the fabulous idea to bypass traffic by accelerating onto the grassy median strip. When they do, their exhaust pipe blows sparks over the dried grass. Cars explode. This happens if Houston. If people are carrying rifles, it gets even more lively.

[AuntieM1957]

14. What are you smoking, friend?

I've lived in this town for over 40 years. Seen lots of Bubba Yahoos drive over the median. Never once seen a car explode due to it.

And so far, what I've seen is people behaving well. Given that their kids are hot and screaming in the back seat. They're out of gas, hungry, scared. But they're helping each other.

Sorry, friend, but this is my hometown. We're not perfect - but we're not all rednecks, either. Please don't spread that type of myth - it's not an accurate depiction of Texans. It's a stereotype.

[enid602]

28. TX

Lived there for ten years. Saw it (sparks igniting dried median strip grass igniting car) once. Sure glad I'm not in that traffic now with the mom who shot her cheerleader daughter's compettition, the fundie housewife who drowned her kids in the tub or the nice Texas lady who ran over her prom date. Oh wait, that last one moved to DC.

[karlrschneider]

22. Exploding cars in the median! Cats living with dogs!

:eyes:

[AuntieM1957]

24. I'll buy cats living with dogs because that I've actually seen

no sale on the incredibly exploding pick-ups with the rifles blaring.

[AuntieM1957]

12. They've already done that

but 3,000,000 people are driving out of the city.

all at once.

the major evac routes are now all outbound.

but to allow for supplies to reach the city - two hwys (290 and 59) remain two way.

Mayor Bill White, who organized the Katrina Relief efforts is working with state, county, and federal agencies to coordinate fuel delivery for those who are stranded on the hwys now and out of gas.

Part of the problem is that Houston is so jumpy because this is a 100 year storm and we've just seen Katrina. So people who weren't in the "storm surge" mandatory evac zones left. Adding to the flow of people. It's Exodus all over again.

Took me nearly two hours to run to the store earlier today. One of the through roads in my little town is jammed - people are scrambling to find routes that they hope will be less busy. So all roads are full.

[GumboYaYa]

16. Good luck to you.

I hope you guys are spared.

[AuntieM1957]

21. Me, too friend, me, too

I hate like hell for my New Orleans friends to take another hit - but I'd hate for Houston to take it even more.

Anyone else want to volunteer an alternate destination where we can send this monster girl?

[GumboYaYa]

15. Maybe this is a sign that we have too many cars and not

enough public transportation. Of course the Republicans want to address this issue after Katrina by cutting funding to the rail system.

[xultar]

18. Now the Mayor of Houston is like we didn't evacuate the whole

city just those in flood plaines.

Then he mentioned something about people sheltering in place @ home.

I'm confused.

[spuddonna]

19. I've been watching some streaming news...

http://www.khou.com/perl/common/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=beloint_khou&props=live

Sounds like some of the reporters are pissed... People stuck for hours on highway, some that left at 3am this morning and are still crawling out of city... Worries now because cars are overheating (high 90's there) and running out of gas...

It's moving but slowly in some areas, but lots of people getting PO'd...

This is a huge evacuation and so far it looks good, but the big problem sounds like the interior of TX is evac'ing too, which is adding to the congestion...

[AuntieM1957]

25. Ya'll need to understand that Houston is HUGE.

People and land area.

Consider that we just took in an estimated 100,000 people (private and public shelters). That we watched Katrina and what it did to NOLA.

Then they tell us storm of the century, category 5.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[global1]

23. You Need To Keep The Interstate Going Into The City Open For....

the 'looters' and 'finders'. (sarcasm)

[AuntieM1957]

26. No looting in Houston

won't happen.

unless of course that exploding median jumping rifle shooting son of a bitch comes back into town. :sarcasm: