Recently I visited Houston, TX for the first time (been in Texas though). I observed a few interesting points in downtown, which I haven't seen or I'm not used to in anywhere else in the US.
[1] One-way streets
So many (or most of the) streets were 4~5 lanes wide but one-way. It was so wide to allow double lanes of street parking on BOTH sides, still leaving spaces for two-way traffic in the middle if it were Manhattan. I stayed in downtown only during the weekend, so have no idea on the traffic conditions during weekday. One-way streets should suffer from much less issues associated with intersections / traffic lights / left turn, so one-way-dominant could be a better scheme for busy downtown. Anyway I haven't seen any city streets that wide mostly running one-way. Isn't one-way street typically for narrow roads in old cities?
[2] Parking space
Houston downtown had many blocks only for parking. There were many parking only buildings around, up to 10~15 stories high. Even more interesting thing was open parking lot (no building or whatever) occupying a whole block. Where else in other big US cities can you imagine so many of a whole building or even open parking lot right in the middle of high-rise buildings. Later I learned that Houston is the only city in the US without 'zoning' regulation, meaning no governing set of rules on allowed facilities zone by zone. Or parking building is such a lucrative business contrary to my expectation, probably because of negligible maintenance cost and stable cash in-flow, only prohibited by zone control?
[3] Traffic against passenger pickup
I noticed this immediately upon leaving the Houston airport (IAH) terminal C to get a taxi. The traffic was moving to my left! It means that passengers need to cross the street to get on board. Not only inconvenient, but also accident-prone. The pick-up / drop-off area was larger on the other hand, so it was not as messy as it could have been in other US airports, but I could not figure out the reason that the airport traffic was designed in an opposite sense of rotation (when looked down from the sky). For valet maid to stay away from the building, not to be in the lobby area for their 'master'? More surprisingly, some downtown hotels had similar traffic pattern in the entrance area. Apparently Houston-specific way of thinking. I am truly wondering why.
[4] Toothpick
Many of the restaurants I visited had a bucket of toothpick ready for pickup in the reception / counter area. Much higher frequency than any other cities. Why..?
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