Houston's tunnel system is a climate-controlled, underground, curb road network that links 95 city blocks full 20 feet (6 m) below the downtown streets of Houston. Its length is about 6 miles (9.7 km). There are similar systems in Chicago, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Montreal and Toronto. The first link was built in the 1930s by Ross Sterling to connect the two neighboring buildings he owned, inspired by the tunnel system at Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Soon afterwards, Will Horwitz, an entertainment entrepreneur, connects three from vaudeville and his cinema to save on air conditioning. Architectural historian Stephen Fox has stated that the idea for a tunnel system came when the Bank of the Southwest Building was "connected by tunnels to 1010 Garage and the Mellie Esperson Building" in 1961.
Video Houston tunnel system
Description
The Tunnel is a series of underground passages that, with skywalks on the ground, connect office towers to hotels, banks, corporate and government offices, restaurants, retail stores, and the Houston Theater District. Part of the tunnel contains a gift shop, newsstand, bank, technology center, florist, photocopy center, dry cleaners, and a food court similar to a large shopping center. They are widely and widely used by office workers and tourists. Only two buildings, Wells Fargo Plaza and McKinney Garage on Main, offer direct access from the road to the Tunnel; Other entry points are from the street level stairs, escalators, and elevators inside the building connected to the tunnel. Access is allowed to the general public to these buildings with little restrictions, during normal operating hours, to reach Tunnel.
Most of the Tunnel's retail areas are in the basements of these buildings, connected by alleys. While walking through it, one can determine which building it occupies with the unique nameplate and/or architectural design of the building, as well as the Houston Tunnel's direction and map system (for example shown on the right). Most of the Tunnels are in the western part of downtown Houston. Tunnels are generally open only during business hours on weekdays.
Tunnels have been criticized for many staircases, especially in the north, which makes traffic by wheelchairs skipped in multiple locations. Director Bob Eury of the Downtown Houston District, stated that, "These areas have not been made in accordance with the ADA because it will be difficult or impossible to install on sloping roads and still leaves enough headroom for pedestrians."
Maps Houston tunnel system
Halting
The Harris County tunnel on the north side away from the city center is not connected to the entire system by the tunnel or skywalk. It connects Harris County courts, prisons, and related buildings totaling 10 blocks. Six blocks from St. Medical Center Joseph connects through the skywalk in the southeast corner of downtown near the elevated Pierce.
The Houston Chronicle complex, in 801 North Texas, is connected to the Tunnel until the buildings are detonated in 2017; newspaper operations were moved to the Houston Post complex (from Southwest Freeway) in 2014.
Another section not connected to the main tunnel is the skywalk connection between Hilton-Americas Hotel and George R. Brown Convention Center, skywalk connections at Toyota Center, and at the Houston Public Library.
Connected building
This is a partial list.
- 1001 McKinney
- 1600 Smith
- 1400 Smith
- 1100 Louisiana
- 1500 Louisiana
- Esperson - 808 Travis/815 Walker
- Commerce Tower
- Calpine Center
- JPMorgan Chase Tower
- Bank of America Center
- Pennzoil Place
- One Shell Plaza
- The Esperson Building
- Wells Fargo Bank Plaza
- Centerpoint Energy Plaza
- Kinder Morgan Building
- Total Plaza
- One Houston Center
- First City Tower
- One Allen Center
- International Tower Wedge
- Place Group BG
References
External links
- Map in PDF format
- The Houston Tunnel Tunnel Detailed in Adobe Flash
- Mobile apps that provide offline maps of Houston Tunnels
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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