TxDOT is destroying Houston and ruining driving for me

I loved driving growing up. Like, before I could drive I was Car and Driver obsessed, would watch rally car race highlights, and especially loved the feeling of driving through the mountains when we would visit family in Colorado.

But I feel trapped in Houston. It’s not a joy. I’m on the freeway or the road to go everywhere. The trucks keep getting bigger with more high powered LED lights that blind me at night. I don’t feel comfortable going out and partying without budgeting like $30 for the night in Ubers.

And TXDoT doesn’t invest in METRO or Density or making Houston’s more walkable neighborhoods better connected. I feel scammed by the state!! And i’m convinced it’s not because we all like driving on these concrete slabs so much. It’s got to be corruption. Who is making so much money on these never ending construction projects? Why are we just numb to the way it is?

I moved back to Houston a year ago for family. Before that i was in Seattle. My commute was a time of meditation or exercise depending on if i took the bus or biked. I’m in Madrid right now and f**k. It’s so much easier to exist. Walking or taking a E-Scooter or using the Metro if i need to go further. There are cars but they’re just in their place: as a tool for those who actually need it!!

I want so bad to stay in Houston. I have roots, I have family. But f**k TXDoT. They’re corrupt. They’re making these freeway construction contractors rich, who funnel money to politicians or ARE politicians (@sugarland mayor Joe Zimmerman).

But I don’t think I can. Driving is no longer a joy. My life is dictated by working around rush hour and schools getting out because all of a sudden something that might be 15 mins away becomes 45 mins! I see an accident on the freeway and i’m mad at them for slowing me down, rather than hoping those people are alright.

Something needs to change. But it’s a web. An entangled web and there’s so much power behind that web of corruption. Why try and fight against it my whole life for maybe the chance to see marginal improvement, when I could just move somewhere that doesn’t force me to spend my life on the road?

I’m just sad. Oil isn’t even a titan industry any more. What economic titans exist? HPE moved to cypress? Things have got to change.