In case you've managed to miss it, Kirby Drive south of the Southwest Freeway has been sort of a mess for a while — almost three years, in fact. The street has been torn up so crews can install a massive new storm sewer; in the process, super-bumpy stretches of street will get fresh new pavement. So what's not to like? How about this: Because of a measurement error, some of the fourth phase of......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • Two men were rescued from the Gulf of Mexico 130 miles southeast of Galveston when their helicopter crashed. • Deer Park resident and former Astros pitcher, Andy Pettitte, admitted to using a human growth hormone during his recovery from an elbow injury in 2002. • During future evacuations and before boarding public transportation criminal background checks will be standard operating procedure to......

Good morning, Houston. 'Tis the season for strange missing persons reports: In Tyler, the latest individual to go missing is a 42-foot-tall snowman. The inflatable snowman was last seen at a Tyler tree farm Friday night; the tree lot's owner, Royce Wisenbaker, told the AP that he believes it was hoisted over a fence and carted away. The snowman is worth about $10,000, and a $1,000 reward has been posted for information leading to......

From local Houston headlines, we bring you these weekend news bits... • A World War II era ship that Texas A&M-Galveston used as a classroom at sea has been sunk in the Gulf of Mexico to create an artificial reef. • HPD is cracking down on ID Theft. Here's a story that focuses on one recent bust. • Hey, what do you know...people like public transportation. • The U of H Cougars beat Marshall,......

Good morning, Houston. We suppose Tex-Mex is finally official: The New York Times wrote about it yesterday in an article that looked at famed Mexican joints in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. "Neon signs flicker above pastel storefronts promising excellent Mexican food in virtually every block of the city," the Times' Joe Drape writes of Houston. "The trick is to figure out which places will deliver on that promise." Indeed. Drape visited El Jardin......

Need to know just a little bit about something? Ask a dilettante. I'm all for transportation by bike, but what's up with Houston bikers never observing stop signs and traffic lights? I almost run over and kill a biker every day, and it's always their fault. Maybe we need to add "bikes too!" to the bottom of every traffic sign and signal. -- Ophelia, Houston-upon-Avon Oh, Ophelia. You're missing the real problem with bicyclists: bike......

In a fight trying to reinstate a fraction of what the city had miles of before 1940, the Metro Board has voted on the future placement of the controversial University Line - west: Richmond-Cummins-Westpark-Hillcroft transit center, and heading east on Richmond/Wheeler and terminating at the Eastwood transit center. The other main west contenders were Richmond-Greenway-Westpark, Richmond-Kirby-Westpark, or to can it altogether. There is still more work and fighting to do, though - Metro must still......

It's been called many things. The Danger Train. The Death Train. A Streetcar Named Disaster. But it is our only rail line and it does get us from downtown to beyond Reliant Stadium. So, in this video, we give you it's greatest hits. Just smashing! Thanks to Mike McGuff and brentabousko for turning us on to this video.......

This week, Phillyist saw the waters of a landmark fountain run red for a Showtime marketing stunt, the Phils pull ahead, and some serious nostalgia. They also got a chance to review an awesome tribute album, reminded folks to see the King and appreciated their beautiful skyline. Chicagoist knows what it's like to like the Cubs. But naming your kid Wrigley Fields? At least they can breathe a little easier now that Grossman's out and......

The Orange Show Center for Visionary Art is kicking off its Fall with a fantastic afternoon for families, children, artists and all very cool persons who enjoy art cars! Saturday, September 29th from 1-4pm, head on over to Munger Street, home of The Orange Show Monument, for food, drinks and the return of the 2006 winner of the Mayor's Cup - Atomic Dog, created by Waltrip High School. Those of you who hit the Art......

Good morning, Houston. If you've ever thought that Halloween needed a little more, uh, spice, you might want to check out HauntXXX, "Houston's most titillating haunted house." The titillating part apparently has to do with nearly naked women wearing neon body paint — and as for the haunted part, well, we're not so sure (maybe these are some super-scary sexpots we're talking about). The haunted house isn't sitting well with some of its neighbors,......

Good morning, Houston. In the mood for a really, really bad promotional video? It's your lucky day: May we introduce you to "The Metro Report", a quasi-Colbert Report-style production in which a host, Elliot Roberts, "interviews people on the street" about why they love riding public transportation. Which makes us wonder: Where'd Metro find all these people? Oh, right, they're actually actors — and, according to KTRK's Wayne Dolcefino, this bit of self-promotion cost......

Good morning, Houston. How many of you knew what Monday was? Anyone? Anyone? That's right: It was the 220th anniversary of the signing of the United States Constitution. To mark the anniversary, the nation had a little holiday, Constitution Day — but how many people actually knew about it? Not many, apparently: Though federal law says students at public high schools should be taught about Constitution Day, a recent survey of students found that......

Today’s Photo of the Day comes from flickr user and Houstonist photo contributor eschipul. Here we have a rare look inside Houston Transtar. What is Houston Transtar? According to their website, "The Houston TranStar consortium is a partnership of four government agencies that are responsible for providing Transportation Management and Emergency Management services to the Greater Houston Region." They also maintain the city's freeway camera system. If you have a passion for Houston and......

Good morning, Houston. Imagine that you're driving along one day when a traffic light falls from an overhead line and crashes through your car's windshield. You'd think the city would be responsible for the accident, right? Wrong! Just ask Lei Zheng, who was on a shopping trip with his wife and son last year when a traffic light fell on his Volkswagen. Zheng and his family weren't seriously hurt, but they did ask the......

After an extraordinarily embarrassing event wherein Houstonist unwittingly drove the wrong way down a portion of South Braeswood Boulevard, we decided to thoroughly investigate the nature, goals, and idiosyncrasies of the Braeswood Boulevards. Our results have been quite astonishing and maddening, as these braided hydra-like streets weave, change course, change names, and sometimes suddenly disappear for a portion of their overall path as though it were not no thang at all. Our ultimate aim......

There was very little else for Londonist to be concerned with when the threat of a Tube strike became a very unpleasant reality. The inconvenience was extreme: there aren't many alternatives to the Tube in London despite the best efforts of the Londonist team to get everyone from A to B. Brighter news came in the form of the first ever female Yeoman Warder, or Beefeater as the position is more commonly known, and......

So, Houstonians, you think energy prices are higher than a proverbial cats back? We can power our world on biodiesel, wind turbines and solar power? You have the opportunity to experience what it takes to power a city of 3.9 million, courtesy of Chevron and the publisher of Economist magazine. So, bang here to try your hand at running "Energyville" and learn a little about energy supplies. Here's a blip from the Chronicle that gives......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Chicagoist is gearing up for this weekend's annual Air & Water Show along the lakefront. In what's becoming an annual tradition around there, staff member Todd McClamroch even got to fly with one of the participants. Chicagoist's decidedly opinionated readership was also appalled that one of their staffers found a popular local brewpub to be a great place to bring a kid. They also think that an unlikely activist for immigration rights should just take......

So the Draft Environmental Impact Study for Metro's proposed University light rail line has been released — a lot of information that a lot of people will be poring over. Fortunately, Christof at Intermodality has a summary of the DEIS for the line's western segment already, and here's what he found: There are three alignment options for the Main-to-Hillcroft segment of the University Line: Richmond to Cummins to Westpark, Richmond to Greenway to Westpark, and......

KPRC reported this weekend that mysterious cracks are showing up in the pavement of the Westpark Tollway — payback, no doubt, for everyone complaining so much about the Westpark peak pricing proposal. (No, not really.) One of the cracks is west of West Houston Center Boulevard, and the other is west of Synott Road, neither of them on a bridge or overpass. Both of them are about an inch wide and are located near the......

We've heard a lot about yesterday's bridge collapse in Minneapolis, and we also noted a story yesterday about repairs on a Highway 288 bridge that had to be carried out after recent heavy rains washed out part of the bridge's embankment. The natural question, then: Could something like the Minneapolis collapse happen in Houston? And the answer: Sure it could, but officials are doing their best to make sure it doesn't. According to the Chronicle,......

Something we neglected to pick up from the weekend: According to the Chronicle, the city's attempt to curb the erection of billboards. But before you get too excited, it doesn't mean you'll start seeing less of the giant, landscape-blocking signs anytime soon — the city's current effort is aimed at one company that's putting up billboards just outside the city limit, in Houston's extraterritorial jurisdiction. The city is seeking an injunction against RTM Media, which......

If you're one of those people who sits in the car for more than an hour every day on your way to and from work, we're sorry — and there's bad news: It may be getting worse. According to a transportation researcher, Texas' strong population growth over the next 20 years or so will mean that we'll see more and more "extreme commutes" of an hour or more. Better invest in some books on tape,......

Sorry to break it to you on this lucky day, but there are more traffic headaches ahead on the Katy Freeway this weekend. This time around, the freeway will be closed in both directions between Wilcrest and Gessner beginning at 5 a.m. Saturday, and they won't re-open until 5 a.m. Monday. Feeder roads at the I-10/Beltway interchange will also be closed, so don't expect to be able to use them as a detour. Of course,......

Well, this shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone who's been in Houston for a while: The Chronicle reports that a draft agreement for the operation of the toll lanes on the new, super-wide Katy Freeway doesn't include a provision for rail transit. Instead, we'll have four toll lanes running down the middle of the freeway, which will take the place of Metro's HOV lanes — but will be accessible for free to......

Well, the peak pricing proposal for the Westpark Tollway died more quickly than we expected: On Thursday, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett said the county commissioners will cancel the proposed doubling of Westpark tolls at rush hour, a decision that "was certainly influenced by the public's reaction." Under the proposal, transactions along the Westpark would have doubled from $1.25 (after a general 25-cent increase across the entire county toll road system to $2.50 from 6......

So all day yesterday, we heard people complaining about about the Harris County commissioners' proposal to raise the cost of using the county toll road system — and we even added our two cents. But is the rate increase a done deal? No, according to KHOU, which reports that commissioners approved a "toll-setting policy" on Tuesday, with the actual toll increase decision still to come in another vote. Or yes, according to KTRK, which says......

Depending on the outcome of a vote by Harris County Commissioners Court tomorrow, rates on the county's toll road system could increase 25 cents by the end of the summer, the first step in a plan to double tolls over the next 20 years. That means that, by 2027, drivers would pay $2 per EZ Tag transaction and $2.50 per cash transaction on Harris County toll roads — though it's not clear just how......