Buckle Up

A new law was passed this September which requires that ALL passengers in a vehicle wear seat belts, no matter how old they are or where they’re sitting in the car.

Train Derailment

TRAFFIC ALERT UNTIL FRIDAY:
Highway 90 Westbound Feeder is closed at Hiram Clarke
Highway 90 Westbound mainlanes: 2 right lanes blocked
Hiram Clarke Northbound at Hwy 90 is closed: take S Post Oak

FROM CHRON.COM:
HOUSTON — Crews are working to clear wreckage from the derailment of more than two dozen freight cars of a Union Pacific freight train in southwest Houston.

No injuries were immediately reported in the derailment late Monday morning.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza-Williams said 29 cars of a 116-car train jumped the track while en route from the Englewood Yard in northeast Houston to San Antonio.

She said that of the 29 cars, 16 carried petroleum coke, four carried ammonium nitrate, two carried aluminized pellets and one each carried polyethylene pellets and automobiles. Five were empty.

The wreck closed a heavily traveled pair of tracks parallelling U.S. 90 in southwest Houston. Some traffic along the highway had to be detoured because of coke dumped on the roadway.

Assistant Fire Chief Adrian Trevino says there didn’t appear to be any leaks, but hazardous materials crews were dispatched.

KPRC DETAILS: They have removed eight cars so far and expect eight more to be done by the early morning. The train was traveling thirty one miles an hour when it derailed and it is a 40 mile per hour zone. The rail was visually inspected by a certified rail inspector the day before.

Crews are working 24 hours and their priority is to clean the derailed cars but also to get this section of the tracks back up because it is heavily used. It is a double track and both lines received damage. They will need to replace approximately 1000 ft of rail.

Local 2 Mornings and Today

I have the BEST job and am so thankful for it!!

Houston Highways

By popular demand…

I’ve created this list for those of you who are new to Houston. Welcome! Yes, it’s true and often confusing…every one of our freeways has “another name.” We have about 16 major highways which you can read more about by heading to wikipedia’s website.

Highway 6                          turns into FM 1960

Check Out The Smallest Art On Earth

To read more about Willard Wigan…head to his website: http://www.willard-wigan.com/about-willard-wigan.aspx

Jennifer Reyna interviewing micro sculptor, Willard Wigan.

Festival of Lights

Right before Santa Claus parachuted from a plane…Frank and I were hanging out reading over scripts and saying hello to everyone. By the way, if you took a picture with Frank or me, you will be able to find those pictures on click2houston.com by the end of this week. I’ll post the link here.

UPDATE: THERE ARE OVER 60 PICTURES IN THE SLIDESHOW ON CLICK2HOUSTON.COM, SEE LINK BELOW:

http://www.click2houston.com/slideshow/news/21631139/detail.html

Frank Billingsley and Jennifer Reyna

Jen and Louis Lochte(field producer) working in the live truck.

Frank Billingsley and Jen Reyna at Festival of Lights

This Saturday will mark my first visit to The Festival Of Lights. It sounds awesome! I’ll be in the middle of Moody Gardens as Santa Claus makes an early visit to flip the switch…ta-da…ONE MILLION LIGHTS! May the holiday season begin.

There’s ice skating, ballet/performances and holiday films. It sounds like there’s a little something for everyone. To find out about pricing, directions and other info head to :
http://www.moodygardens.com/seasonal_fun/festival_of_lights/

FROM FRIDAY’S NEWSCAST:

JUST FOR FUN: To shed more light on your Channel 2, Traffic Anchor’s background try taking a shot at this quiz question. The answer will be posted here on Monday.

ANSWER: B – Dad would take me ice skating on a regular basis.

WatchD.O.G.S-Dad’s Mentoring

I met some wonderful people while on this story. Tyrina Gleinser, my photographer and I took a trip up to Conroe to see what all of the hype was about…HUNDREDS of fathers were pumped up and ready to make a positive impact on the lives of children around them. Take a look at the story. Then spread the word to as many dads as possible. Here’s a link to the WatchD.O.G.S website in case you want more information on how to get involved.

http://www.fathers.com

Or Email :
Pete Ringo : pete@ebetterbusinesscard.com
Adam Berg : Adam.Berg@sylvania.com

Northeast Part of Beltway

Q:

A:
“The portion of the road your viewer asked about was completed a number of years ago by the state. The state built it as a frontage road with two lanes in each direction. The Harris County Toll Road Authority is completing the section as a toll road. When it is complete it will link to the rest of Sam Houston Tollway system.

The segment is about 13 miles long and it will cost about $400 million to build. Work started in July and progress has been rapid. The project is currently on schedule and is supposed to be open in the Spring of 2011. The toll road will be EZ-Tag users only just like the Westpark Toll Road.

The frontage roads along the corridor will remain free.” – TxDOT

Katy Frwy Issue Causing Delays On Alternate Routes

Do you normally take I-10 the Katy Freeway into town? Then you’ve probably noticed the construction and delays approaching downtown. So after the weekend, you probably thought to take another route into work to avoid sitting in a parking lot.

Your Options: Memorial Drive, Washington Ave, Allen Parkway, 59 Southwest Frwy, North Loop

Today, I heard that people who chose Memorial Drive were not too happy because there was a lot of traffic there. I found out that the signal lights were flashing around Memorial Drive and 610 – those have been fixed. Also, “Signals” has been keeping an eye on the traffic patterns and have made timing adjustments. They said today (when I spoke with them on the phone) that you should see a difference tomorrow with a better flow of traffic.

Personally, I am a freeway person so i would choose 59 Southwest Frwy if there were no accidents or problems before I left the house. If that puts you too far away from your destination, I would choose Allen Parkway as my next alternate because there are hardly any lights to sit through and the speed limit keeps traffic moving. Next it would be a toss up b/w Memorial Drive and Washington Ave.-both are popular, right next to Katy Freeway and have lights. For those reasons…they will both run slowly. The North Loop would be my last option-construction there makes for a long commute.

Now, you can always just stay on the Katy Freeway. Today it didn’t look as bad, but it just depends.

I hope this helps. Drive friendly!

**** By the way: Here’s a map that might help****

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=100081557010585993822.00044b1415aeab79e836b&ll=29.772246,-95.406121&spn=0.083549,0.108168&source=embed

I-10 East In Downtown: Construction

I-10 East Freeway Construction In Downtown

TXDOT BEGINS REHAB WORK ON IH 10 EAST IN DOWNTOWN

“Total Closure of IH 10 Eastbound at IH 45 This Weekend”

WHEN: Friday, 11/6 at 9 p.m. until Monday, 11/9 at 5 a.m.

WHERE: IH 10 eastbound WILL BE CLOSED at IH 45 in downtown. Traffic will be detoured to IH 45 South or IH 45 North exit.

ALTERNATE: Motorists can either take IH 45 North to the North Main exit and u-turn back to IH 45 South to access IH 10 eastbound or IH 45 South to US 59 North to access IH 10 eastbound. This closure is necessary so crews can stripe the roadway and set up concrete traffic barriers for the major freeway rehabilitation work that will begin on Monday, November 9th which will reduce IH 10 eastbound traffic to one lane from the IH 45 North and IH 45 South exit ramps to White Oak Bayou for approximately three months. The IH 10 eastbound exit to Smith Street will remain open. Expect significant delays and should consider an alternate route whenever possible. This is the first of three phases for the 18 month repavement project that will span from IH 45 to US 59.

*****NEW INFO BELOW*****

DOWNTOWN HOV LANE TO OPEN TO ALL PASSENGER VEHICLES DURING IH 10 EAST CONSTRUCTION

(Houston) – The Texas Department of Transportation and METRO, working together to relieve congestion during IH 10 East construction, will allow all passenger vehicles to utilize the Downtown elevated HOV bridge during the initial phase of the IH 10 eastbound reconstruction.  Effective today, TxDOT and METRO reached an agreement to open the HOV lane to all traffic, with the exception of heavy trucks, for the next three months while IH 10 eastbound through-traffic is reduced to a single lane between IH 45 and the White Oak Bayou Bridge.  The lane reduction takes effect upon the completion of the total closure work happening this weekend.

The IH 10 Downtown HOV lane will be accessible to all passenger vehicles 24 hours a day eastbound and westbound during this phase of construction.

From my POV…

My alarm goes off around 3AM. Once I get to work, I touch up for camera, put on my mic and IFB set and start on a bowl of fruit. There’s usually some combo of banana, kiwi, blueberries, strawberries, apple or oranges. Obviously, any fruit will do. Then it’s off to the set at 5:01AM. And as I “standby”…this is what I see…robotic camera #1, Anthony Yanez forecasting the weather and a floor director (he’s missing from this picture).

My view right before I go on LIVE.

And when I look to my left, I can see this monitor. There is another to my right. If those are ever off, it’s like doing traffic with my eyes closed. It’s possible, just not ideal. Matt, our robotic operator is taking his seat-in the distance.

I have two side monitors (this is one), so that I can see what you see on tv.

290 Northwest Frwy: Construction begins…

Improvements Begin on US 290 HOUSTON –

Work has begun on the first of two projects on US 290. The project consists of widening the existing pavement to add extra lanes on the US 290 eastbound and westbound mainlanes between West Little York and Fairbanks N. Houston, as well as re-striping the existing pavement to add additional lanes along the US 290 eastbound and westbound mainlanes between Jones Road and FM 529. Crews will also widen the westbound approach to Senate Avenue to create combined u-turn and left-turn storage at the intersection. Once complete, the extra lanes will alleviate traffic congestion by providing motorists with improved access to/from the US 290 mainlanes. Crews began installing barricades and signing; work on the US 290 mainlanes is anticipated to begin in the coming weeks. Work on the proposed improvements is anticipated to take approximately 6 months to complete. Motorists are advised to anticipate temporary lane reductions on the US 290 westbound frontage road to accommodate the intersection improvements, as well as extended shoulder closures and nightly mainlane closures along the US 290 eastbound and westbound mainlanes. 

Though independent of the reconstruction planned as a part of the US 290/Hempstead Corridor Program, these projects are important first steps in providing immediate relief to the traffic congestion on the Northwest Freeway.

Zoo Boo: Last Weekend

Houston’s largest kid-friendly Halloween event is back!

OCT 31st: THIS IS THE LAST WEEKEND (9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) to head to the Houston Zoo for Halloween activities that are fun for the whole family!

The zoo encourages all kids to come dressed in their spookiest, scariest, or prettiest Halloween costume!  They’ll love to show off their costume in our Costume Parade and dance to the “thrilling” music with our children’s DJ!

In an effort to be “green,” the zoo is asking children to bring their own trick-or-treat bag to the event.

Zoo Boo is FREE for Zoo Members. To read more about it head to
http://www.houstonzoo.org/zooboo/
 

Deadly Accident: Allen Pkwy

It’s an eerie feeling to hear about “follow up details” to any of the deadly accidents that you see me report on in the mornings. Sometimes I get emails from people wanting to know what happened or who was involved or why it occurred. Usually, I don’t have those details because police officers and investigators are busy on the scene. Plus, my job is to focus on your commute and help you get to where you are going in the shortest amount of time. Even if I know more details, on-air…I stick to the traffic information and leave “news details” to the anchors.

Hours after I left work this morning…I heard the story about what happened on Allen Parkway, near Montrose. (8:15am) To read about it, click here: http://www.click2houston.com/news/21463969/detail.html

It’s an unfortunate reminder for us all to be cautious with wet roads, to keep speeds at a decent pace and to always buckle up. We are encountering SEVERE WEATHER, so please be careful. See you in the morning. -Jen