News:

The AARoads Wiki is live! Come check it out!

Main Menu

Skyscrapers on Beltway around Big City

Started by roadman65, April 16, 2022, 09:01:11 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

roadman65

I was noticing that on Interstate 610 around Houston, a freeway that is made to circle a city with  tall buildings, has tall buildings along it from freeway induced sprawl like none others.

San Antonio has a built up area along its north end of the I-410 loop, but a few tall buildings built along the service roads.  Many other city bypasses have a few tall corporations with builds ten stories or higher, but not a bunch together.

In Houston the area on the west side from I-69 to I-10 has tall buildings arranged in a Downtown like street grid built between square blocks. None built out linearly or parallel to the road. Basically a Downtown area made to duplicate a downtown area from access to it created by a road that was supposed to avoid this type of situation.

Unusual to say the least for a business district bypass.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe


edwaleni

Quote from: roadman65 on April 16, 2022, 09:01:11 AM
I was noticing that on Interstate 610 around Houston, a freeway that is made to circle a city with  tall buildings, has tall buildings along it from freeway induced sprawl like none others.

San Antonio has a built up area along its north end of the I-410 loop, but a few tall buildings built along the service roads.  Many other city bypasses have a few tall corporations with builds ten stories or higher, but not a bunch together.

In Houston the area on the west side from I-69 to I-10 has tall buildings arranged in a Downtown like street grid built between square blocks. None built out linearly or parallel to the road. Basically a Downtown area made to duplicate a downtown area from access to it created by a road that was supposed to avoid this type of situation.

Unusual to say the least for a business district bypass.

As for Houston, it all started with Williams Tower.

Atlanta has the same situation where there are tall buildings in Buckhead away from the city center.

Anyone who has been to London knows that with the Barbican and Canary Wharf, there is a lot of development away from the city center.

Rothman

Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

thisdj78

Clayton along I-170 in St Louis. That's the first memory I have as a kid of wondering why there was an isolated group of buildings away from the STL downtown area.

Bobby5280

Clusters of high rise towers built in locations outside the traditional city center are nothing new.

The DC area is one of the earliest American examples, with a multitude of high rise clusters outside the historic capital. There's Crystal City and Pentagon City (which seem to be merging together). The same is happening parallel to I-66 with office towers from Roslyn to Arlington. The DC area is pretty de-centralized with such building clusters.

In NYC, Manhattan was the main place to see skyscrapers. Spots over in New Jersey have had some high rises for a long time. They're now growing at a faster pace in Brooklyn.

Los Angeles has multiple zones of skyscrapers. The "Die Hard Building" is in Century City, miles away from Downtown LA.

Of course the Dallas-Fort Worth metro has its multiples of high rise districts. So it's only natural the same thing would be happening in Houston. The downtown zone in Houston has only so much space for high rises. Office towers popped up in the Uptown zone, the Medical Center district, Greenway and other places around the metro. The Woodlands may end up with skyscrapers of its own before long. The Williams Tower by I-610 does stand out for its height. At over 900' it is the tallest building in the US outside a traditional downtown zone.

With major metro areas around the US sucking up population from smaller towns and rural areas this trend of detached skyscraper zones may only grow.

roadman65

My point is that Beltways now like the IH 610 in the Uptown District are rare to see a Downtown looking cluster. Even on IH 610 in SA, has high rise offices near SA International Airport but not in a downtown type of cluster.

Pentagon and Crystal City in Arlington, VA is clustered with tall buildings but not on a beltway. Ditto for Rosslynn as well.  I am quite aware of high rise sprawl as Florida is very active in that. Sarasota is a city that is clustered now with high rise apartments and condos similar to Miami Beach. 

The OP is about clusters or typical business districts on a suburban  loop interstate.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

SkyPesos


rte66man

Quote from: roadman65 on April 16, 2022, 09:01:11 AM
I was noticing that on Interstate 610 around Houston, a freeway that is made to circle a city with  tall buildings, has tall buildings along it from freeway induced sprawl like none others.

San Antonio has a built up area along its north end of the I-410 loop, but a few tall buildings built along the service roads.  Many other city bypasses have a few tall corporations with builds ten stories or higher, but not a bunch together.

In Houston the area on the west side from I-69 to I-10 has tall buildings arranged in a Downtown like street grid built between square blocks. None built out linearly or parallel to the road. Basically a Downtown area made to duplicate a downtown area from access to it created by a road that was supposed to avoid this type of situation.

Unusual to say the least for a business district bypass.

IMO, it all happened because of the Galleria and oil and gas companies. When those building were built in the late 80's/early 90's, the Galleria area was a mini-city. BP had their old HQ on San Felipe. The Galleria tower itself over the skating rink and mall was a big draw for some companies during the boom. The development ran from Richmond north past San Felipe between Sage and 610 to where Post Oak bends east to meet with 610. The complex around BHP is impressive
When you come to a fork in the road... TAKE IT.

                                                               -Yogi Berra

JayhawkCO


Flint1979

Quote from: roadman65 on April 16, 2022, 09:01:11 AM
I was noticing that on Interstate 610 around Houston, a freeway that is made to circle a city with  tall buildings, has tall buildings along it from freeway induced sprawl like none others.

San Antonio has a built up area along its north end of the I-410 loop, but a few tall buildings built along the service roads.  Many other city bypasses have a few tall corporations with builds ten stories or higher, but not a bunch together.

In Houston the area on the west side from I-69 to I-10 has tall buildings arranged in a Downtown like street grid built between square blocks. None built out linearly or parallel to the road. Basically a Downtown area made to duplicate a downtown area from access to it created by a road that was supposed to avoid this type of situation.

Unusual to say the least for a business district bypass.
Well for one thing I-610 never leaves Houston except for the brief trip through Bellaire which is totally surrounded by Houston. So it's not like you are in the suburbs once you get to 610. Beltway 8 does a little better job circling the city and Highway 99 does an even better job. But I've never got the vibe that I wasn't in Houston when I've been on 610.

Flint1979

Btw, Detroit's suburbs have taller buildings in Southfield and Troy and a few other suburbs too.

andrepoiy

Toronto has high-rises built everywhere in the suburbs

MATraveler128

Boston doesn't have anything huge along I-95/128, but the tallest building along that stretch is the Charles River Building in Burlington. Otherwise, there's some large office buildings in Waltham and that's it.
Decommission 128 south of Peabody!

Lowest untraveled number: 56

SkyPesos

There's also White Plains, NY along I-287, but I don't think you can see it from the highway.

webny99

If we're looking for more examples, as the thread title would suggest, wouldn't that be General Highway Talk?

US 89

I-285 north of Atlanta especially near its junctions with I-75 and GA 400.

abqtraveler

Quote from: thisdj78 on April 16, 2022, 11:13:40 AM
Clayton along I-170 in St Louis. That's the first memory I have as a kid of wondering why there was an isolated group of buildings away from the STL downtown area.
As does Albuquerque with a cluster of tall buildings (hotels, office, retail, mixed use) along I-40 in the Uptown District, located several miles east of downtown where the city's tallest buildings are located.
2-d Interstates traveled:  4, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 49, 55, 57, 64, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76(E), 77, 78, 81, 83, 84(W), 85, 87(N), 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95

2-d Interstates Clinched:  12, 22, 30, 37, 44, 59, 80, 84(E), 86(E), 238, H1, H2, H3, H201

Avalanchez71

Quote from: thisdj78 on April 16, 2022, 11:13:40 AM
Clayton along I-170 in St Louis. That's the first memory I have as a kid of wondering why there was an isolated group of buildings away from the STL downtown area.

Clayton is the county seat of Saint Louis County.  Saint Louis is an independent city and not part of Saint Louis County.  Perhaps this has something to do with the development.

index

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.0672436,-80.8631554,3a,15y,113.42h,90.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sUJl4nojvovFsA-0op2d22Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

It's not much of a skyline, but Ballantyne near I-485 is one of them. So far it's Charlotte's only example of highrises on the beltway, although we do have SouthPark off of the beltway.
I love my 2010 Ford Explorer.



Counties traveled

Avalanchez71

High rises have popped up in Franklin, TN south of Nashville, TN on I-65.

Chris

La Défense, which is west of Paris, beyond the ring road. (not Paris, Texas).


rlb2024

Houston also had little to no zoning requirements back in the 70s and 80s when much of the area along the 610 West Loop was starting to develop and then booming.  You could basically put a 20-story building in a residential neighborhood if you wanted to.

kphoger

Quote from: thisdj78 on April 16, 2022, 11:13:40 AM
Clayton along I-170 in St Louis.

Calling I-170 a "beltway" is a bit of a stretch.

Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 17, 2022, 08:41:24 AM
I-435 in Overland Park

Calling those "skyscrapers" is quite a stretch.

Quote from: Avalanchez71 on June 06, 2022, 11:46:11 PM
High rises have popped up in Franklin, TN south of Nashville, TN on I-65.

Calling I-65 a "beltway" simply erroneous.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

thisdj78

Quote from: kphoger on June 08, 2022, 11:17:40 AM
Quote from: thisdj78 on April 16, 2022, 11:13:40 AM
Clayton along I-170 in St Louis.

Calling I-170 a "beltway" is a bit of a stretch.

Quote from: JayhawkCO on April 17, 2022, 08:41:24 AM
I-435 in Overland Park

Calling those "skyscrapers" is quite a stretch.

Quote from: Avalanchez71 on June 06, 2022, 11:46:11 PM
High rises have popped up in Franklin, TN south of Nashville, TN on I-65.

Calling I-65 a "beltway" simply erroneous.

There's no mention of beltway in my comment...only that it is a high rise district located a distance away from downtown St Louis.

kphoger

Quote from: thisdj78 on June 08, 2022, 03:06:51 PM
There's no mention of beltway in my comment...only that it is a high rise district located a distance away from downtown St Louis.

It was the third reply in a thread called Skyscrapers on Beltway around Big City, in which the OP's example is along a beltway.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.