I saw some notes on ingress/egress in the game thread last night. I know this is an ongoing frustration and I’m hoping to get some assistance.
I am putting together notes from last night’s game with specific feedback for our internal team and campus partners.
I would be incredibly grateful to anyone who would be willing to take a few minutes to send me an email (jwmason2 at uh dot edu) with their specifics. Starting with how you arrive to campus (45N from Friendswood), the approximate time, where you encountered issues (ex: stuck on Cullen going south to Holman), and observations (no traffic assistance present, not enough, etc.). Same goes for your exit from Blue Lot, Parking Garage, etc.
Grateful for all of you who enjoyed the late night with us! Go Coogs!
Gettting in and out of the Blue Lot is relatively easy. My wife and I had no problems last night.
We waited 15 minutes for some on the traffic to clear and got out easily.
30+ to get out of the garage. Someone opened the cross way between the 2 garage parking zones serviced by the 2 primary orange gates. This allowed lower levels to cross pollinate and snarl.
The cop clown show at Holman and Scott never fails to amaze us
Opening that crossover has created some chaos, for sure. Things moved much better before.
Coming into the game, it seemed like the cop working the lights at Cullen and Elgin didn’t really understand the assignment. This caused a backup all the way onto the feeder road. Gotta keep traffic moving south on Cullen better than that.
And I don’t know the solution to this particular problem, but it seems like at least half the cars that approach the garage from Cullen don’t know what they’re doing and have to turn around because they don’t have an orange pass. Maybe add some prominent signage that there’s no cash parking? This happens at every single home game.
● Allow Both Lanes to go Straight Up Cullen to 45. This would clear things out faster, IMO. When I left after TTech and drove up Cullen in the right lane, I was directed to turn right at Elgin. This took me into the Blue lot emptying out and the backup at 45/Lockwood — a mess.
● A police officer helping the Blue Lot exit that is nearest to Cullen would help, too — folks trying to go west on Elgin then a quick right to N on Cullen were all tangled up with the traffic on Elgin.
● Garage Crossover not Helping — I agree that opening the crossover in the garage from Level 2 to the Level 3 exit ramp has made things worse. It’s right where folks are crossing to their parking from the stairs, so three streams of traffic are converging — two auto and one pedestrian. Too much going on there.
● More Street Lighting is Safer — The mobile lighting in front of Fertitta is very helpful. I remember when @EatEmUp was clipped by a golf cart in the dark a few years ago before it was lit up. Adding more lighting at other locations like Cullen & Holman and Cullen & Elgin would make things safer, IMO. The ‘new’ street lighting at Cullen and Entrance 16 drive, where pedestrians cross to go to the Blue Lot, is a good example of what helps.
● Cones in Cullen Center Lane Work — The cones that indicate traffic can use the Center turn lane when arriving and then departing are helpful — esp. when folks stop on Cullen to drop off passengers in front of Fertitta. The only hitches I’ve had with this are (1) what to do when arriving and turning right onto Holman from the center lane during football season — you can only turn right because Cullen S of Holman is closed but folks in the right lane aren’t ready for the center lane to also turn right. And (2) playing ‘chicken’ with the pedal-cart guys who go the wrong way in the center lane to save time and get more fares.
I am confused. How can it take 5 minutes for some people and 45 for others to get out of the garage. We probably need more context, as in which floor you were parked on and what time you left the game.
@Hill — Good Question — if you get out of the garage in 5 mins. which entrance/exit are you using? The one Closest to Cullen, or the Middle one, or the one Closest to Scott?
Entered from Scott, parked on third level, exited Cullen.
Suggestions:
Close off cross over in the garage
Eliminate printed parking receipts for the garage (do these serve any purpose other than to slow down entry?)
Have someone with authority and a brain observe the Scott /Holman intersection before the game. Cops are clueless, from multiple agencies, and no one appears to be in charge. Post game traffic patterns appear to be simpler (fan out rather than funnel in) and they seem to be better equipped to move traffic along. The one constant we can’t do anything about is that boondoggle train
Add traffic control cops at Cullen /Elgin and Cullen /freeway to keep those from backing up Cullen north of Elgin.
Side note: as much as I dislike NRG, they do a great job moving traffic. Do they have a traffic person to consult?
Took me about 30 minutes to get out of the Blue Lot.
It was mildly irritating, but I was in a great mood from the game so I didn’t mind too much.
I was exiting the Blue Lot into the access road right in front of the Communications Building. The access road itself is not the problem, it’s that no one can get onto Elgin because it’s packed solid with traffic. The access road traffic can only get out as fast as Elgin will let it.
My frustration is, I’m not trying to get to Elgin. If I could take a right onto the access road to head south on Cullen, I would. I usually end up taking the access roads through campus over to MLK. But it takes 15-30 minutes to get out of the parking lot, just to get to the internal access roads.
I totally agree! I wish the access road in front of Moores was open for the exit. That is the way I enter the blue lot and it would be so helpful to have it open after the game. It was open last year. I do not want to turn right on Elgin, which is the only option right now.
Entry into the Blue Lot was still a mess. Not only did they not allow a left turn off of Elgin westbound, they selectively decided who could turn RIGHT off of Elgin and forced others to loop around to the access road entrance, which was much longer.
I think the parking garage direction (ingress and egress) was overkill, too. Even with a more crowded exit than we had the other night, they should really be limited to the crosswalks. And the entrance process doesn’t need parking attendants at all, imo - it just adds unnecessary foot traffic.
I noticed that there were a bunch of spots blocked off. Does anyone know if that was for maintenance purposes, or are they trying to limit the number of cars parking on the ramps?
Overall, traffic flow was much better, but the game had fewer people and a bunch of folks left early, so it’s kind of apples:oranges.
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