If you have driven down FM 1960 lately you are aware that the margin of error as well as your ability to make turns into businesses on the left hand side of the road have been eliminated.
UGLY and pretty much useless concrete esplanades and curbs have been created and placed where there was open space and painted lanes. Painted lanes do not prohibit turns, nor do they jar alignment when a neighboring car gets too close to you and pushes you over. Paint also does not create serious ugly.
There has been talk about creating beauty in the esplanades now. To do so will require use of water trucks, landscape maintenance and lots more questionable expenditures. But, Hey, it provides "shovel ready" jobs for the undereducated masses.
I can assure you that I am one of the first to applaud beautification efforts, in the correct places. That place does not include creating more boundaries or expenses where they are neither wanted or needed. There are significant other projects where traffic changes are needed. Suddenly this concrete mess became a priority?
The FM 1960 corridor has been allowing passage from Humble to Hwy 290 and beyond for at least 40 years. In the early days it was only two lanes. On Saturdays for many years it became a virtual parking lot from early morning to late in the evening. When Champions Golf course was designed, the traffic along FM 1960 increased even more. Then all the land in between Champions and the I 45 Freeway developed, filling in all the vacant land with housing and commerce. Northwest Houston was evolving. Soon it was competing with areas like Meyerland, Spring Branch and Memorial. Watching the growth was a beautiful thing. It served constructive purposes.
Today we are watching the area change. There is now a plan to change the name of the road we all grew up with. Traffic impediments are crowding in an already crowded area. This well known and loved landmark is being ruined. Who on earth thought changes such as these concrete curbs in varying lengths and textures would be seen as advancement? Who decided these people should have the right to inflict their opinion of traffic value on the masses? Their opinion is based upon what? Why?
FM 1960 has served this area well. Everyone knows where it is and where it goes. What possible benefits do these proposed changes make? FM 1960 soon will be a victim of some groups vision of progress. It will be missed.
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