Hey! Looks like the roads in and around Houston are Empty right Now!

[Up2Late]

I finally found a web page with working traffic cameras, and the roads look empty.

If you know anyone in the evacuation zone who hasn't left yet, Call and wake their Ass up! Tell them to leave now!!!

http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/allcameras.php

[expatriot]

1. Why the hell is the media (according to many DUers) saying it's too late?

The storm is not schedule to make landfall until Saturday A... still got 24 hours.

[Up2Late]

2. What media are you listening to?

I have only been watching The Weather Channel.

[ladylibertee]

3. I think because all we were left with was the images of bumper to

bumper miles and miles and we were told that people were on the freeway for 10 to 15 hours so we got a little anxious.I'm glad now that all is clear.

[Dover]

4. Anyone have a bus? I wonder if they could get IN to the city to get

stragglers and those without vehicles?

[Up2Late]

6. Naaa, I bet FEMA's got the roads going in blocked off.

I bet their is still 500,000 to 1,000,000 who haven't left yet, just a guess.

[uncle ray]

5. oh? try this site:

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/cameras/camtext.aspx

the lake woodlands camera in particular shows quite the gridlock for the time of day. many areas are empty, but the main evac routes look to be clogged.

[Up2Late]

8. Well then this is a bigger screw up, because most of the roads...

...are empty. That's about the only camera with any traffic on it.


That city has 2 loops, someone needs to re-route the evacuation routes.

[cynatnite]

7. Not according to these images:

http://traffic.houstontranstar.org/cameras/camtext.aspx

[Systematic Chaos]

9. Ouch.

n/t

[Up2Late]

11. Swoosh!

[moc]

26. I-35 goes from San Antonio to Dallas; nowhere near Houston

Never heard of I-37.

Freeways out of Houston in the right direction are 45, 10, 59, and 290.

[Up2Late]

10. Well that just moronic, at this point, they need to head out in all...

... directions, not just north.

BTW, the Storm is forecast to stall over Dallas, causing lots of flooding up there.

Did you even look at this link before posting, those are the only two that are not nearly empty.

<http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/allcameras.php>



<http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/>

[uncle ray]

12. tell that to the people stuck on I45.

it's easy to be a keyboard evacuee.

[Up2Late]

13. I'm not blaming them, just the idiots who came up with this stupid plan

to route 4 Million people onto one road, when they have half a dozen they could have used as evacuation routes.

I looks like they are not using the Toll roads, which at this point, should be free.

[aquart]

14. You're kidding. There are other roads??? UNUSED???

What idiot planned this?

[Up2Late]

16. not kidding, empty Toll Roads and the evac route through

a road Construction zone.

<http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/ccmap.php?cc753>

The outer beltway on the South/East and West is a Toll road, so it's not on that TDOT map.

[moc]

28. LOL! That's a picture of San Antonio!

:eyes:

[Up2Late]

24. moved post

[pitohui]

35. don't come east

don't head in all directions, if you head east, you are unlikely to find fuel or shelter in time

[Up2Late]

15. Here's the main problem, they routed them though a construction zone

<http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/ccmap.php?cc335>

All that orange is Road Construction. You can even see what is on the advisory signs at this web page.

[uncle ray]

18. and the congestion appears to be PAST the constuction zone...n/t

[Up2Late]

23. When you have that much traffic going through a bottle neck...

...you get residual slowing over a very large area. Once the traffic jam starts, it has a multiplying effect, especially when you have cars running out of Gas and over heating.

[Bouncy Ball]

34. Please know the roads you are talking about before saying this.

There are limited roads to use to BEGIN with. In the best of conditions.

People are NOT refusing to use empty roads. My God, they're driving in agricultural fields next to the interstate just to get through. You think the evacuees would just ignore empty roads that got them out of Houston?

[LittleClarkie]

17. Have you ever been to Texas?

Do you know these roads you're showing us. Do you know which way they lead?

And I suspect that anyone who is evacuating is already stuck in traffic, so pointing out the empty roads at this point ain't doin' them alot of good.

[Up2Late]

19. Yes, I have been to Texas, and in a minute I'm sending an e-mail to NPR to

tell them to ask get the Texas Governor on the Phone and tell him to start using these empty Toll roads.

I-45 is a road construction zone and should NOT be used as an Evac route at this point. They need to re-route the traffic around the city center and to the west (San Antonio).

If you have a Rand McNally Road Atlas Houston is on Page 101

[LittleClarkie]

21. Well alright then. Sorry about that. Carry on.

:]

[Up2Late]

22. No problem, I just sent the email below to 3 NPR News Shows

"Morning Edition," "Day to Day" and "All Things Considered")

And anyone else who wants to help should too. This is an outrageous screw up. Whoever is in charge of evacuation planning should have known this route was under construction and set up a temporary (and additional) evacuation routes.

I've lived in Florida, so I know that most everyone just follows the evacuation route signs.

This is a huge (and most likely deadly) screw up, as a lot of folks have turned around and headed back home, are hopelessly stuck or are just going to "try and ride it out." :banghead:

[Up2Late]

20. My message to NPR -- Urgent Message re: Texas Evacuation!

Dear NPR:

You need to get on the phone with the TEXAS DOT and the Governor or someone else high up.

The people stuck in Traffic on I-45 have been routed into a road construction zone, when they should be using the Toll Road outer Beltway.

Almost ALL of the Roads in Houston are almost Empty except for I-45

Here is a page of Texas DOT traffic cameras and a interactive speed map, that shows the areas of Road construction.

<http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/allcameras.php>

<http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/ccmap.php?cc753>

The Outer Beltway (Toll Road) is not on the TDOT map, but if you look at a current Rand McNally Road Atlas, you will see it. Houston is on Page 101!

Please Hurry and check this out and get this info out, your efforts could save 1000s of lives.

Also, here is a very accurate tropical storm forecast sight: <http://tsr.mssl.ucl.ac.uk/>

The Storm is Forecast to stall over Dallas for several days, which would cause a lot of Flash Flooding.

[Xenotime]

33. Look at a map

610 is loop around Houston that goes nowhere.
Beltway 8 is a loop around Houston that goes nowhere.
59 & 45 head in two directions north and south. If you go south on both, it takes you back to the friggn coast which is what you are trying to escape anyway.

290 N.
I-10 W (Because you can't or don't want to go east)
45 N.


These are the only major departure ways out of the city. There are other smaller routes but they all have stop lights and stop signs.

[Up2Late]

25. Damn, if you click on "downtown" button near the top of this page

You'll see one tiny area that is causing this problem.

<http://www.transguide.dot.state.tx.us/Traffic/dtmap.php?cc103>

[Samurai_Writer]

27. This is San Antonio, not Houston

Houston's freeways are I-10, 610, Beltway 8, I-45, US-59 and 290.

[GOPAgainstGW]

29. Up2Late What the Hell is Your Problem with these IGNORANT Threads!

I live in Houston and am operating a command post in Houston. Please STOP with these ignorant posts. You have no clue what you are talking about.

[Up2Late]

36. SORRY, after getting some sleep, I see my mistake,

Sorry, It was late and I was just trying to help. :blush:

What? have you never made a mistake? :shrug:

[Geoff R. Casavant]

30. Mods, can we get this thread deleted?

I think we have more productive uses for our time than using maps of San Antonio to debate traffic problems in Houston.

No offense to the poster, but this is not helping and we're getting spun up for nothing.

[GOPAgainstGW]

31. HURRICANE RITA: Galveston/Houston "On the Ground" Reports

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4846706&mesg_id=4846706

[lse7581011]

32. But No Gas Available n/t