MaX Lanes Network Moves Forward, But I45N Project Is in Turmoil

Apologies for the long delay between posts while on extended travels with the family. The featured item this week is TXDoT’s new video promoting a managed lane network for Houston similar to what Oscar and I proposed in 2017. Can’t say I’m a fan of the Regional Express Access Lanes (REAL) branding vs. Managed Express (MaX) Lanes Network, but great to see TXDoT pushing the concept forward! It would enable a high-speed nonstop ride from every part of the region to every major job center and be a major asset for the city.

Speaking of TXDoT, if you’d like to support the I45N rebuild project and prevent it from losing funding, fill out the survey here and sign the petition here.

Moving on to several items to catch up on:

• Houston #5 metro in the country for immigrants. Cool interactive map. Hat tip to George.
• City Journal: California Fleeing – Some deny the Golden State’s demographic decline, but data make it hard to ignore.

“California may be a great state in many ways, but it also is clearly breaking bad. Since 2000, 2.6 million net domestic migrants, a population larger than the cities of San Francisco, San Diego, and Anaheim combined, have moved from California to other parts of the United States.”

• Nice review in the Dallas Morning News for the new Kinder MFAH and Rotko Chapel buildings. Hat tip to George.
• Houston has one of the best job-housing ratios in the country, building one new house for each new job and keeping housing affordable.
• Report: Texas ranks as the best state to start a business
• Houston scores ‘stunner’ spot in Time Magazine’s Best Places in the World list
• City Journal: The “Zoning Tax” –In some American cities, regulation costs homebuyers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
• Houston has the 7th-highest concentration of office space downtown in the country and faces some rough years ahead 🙁 Silver lining: recent residential growth, parks, theaters, hotels, convention, stadiums, and govt buildings should help stabilize.
• Continuing with downtown issues: Texas Monthly: Remote Work in Downtown High-rises Is Killing the Businesses in Houston’s Tunnels. Sad 🙁 Hat tip to George.

Finally, ending on a little humor, hat tip to Barry for finding this little gem: The Houston Story movie from the 1950s. How have I never heard of it before?!  Trailer, background, and even the full movie if you’re so inclined. Wow.

This piece first appeared on Houston Strategies.

Tory Gattis is a Founding Senior Fellow with the Urban Reform Institute (formerly Center for Opportunity Urbanism) and co-authored the original study with noted urbanist Joel Kotkin and others, creating a city philosophy around upward social mobility for all citizens as an alternative to the popular smart growth, new urbanism, and creative class movements. He is also an editor of the Houston Strategies blog.