Video depicts 2012 light rail expansion

Five locations shown

Steve Hawley, Apr 23, 09.

A two-and-a-half minute video (below) depicts five locations as they will look once Houston’s light rail system is expanded in 2012, as discovered by The Overhead Wire and pointed out by Christof Spieler in Intermodality.

Along with noting that the video emphasizes the need to get the details right, Spieler notes:

The video shows, in order:

* The Third Ward on the University Line.
* Edloe Station (in Greenway Plaza) on the University Line.
* Moody Park Station on the North Line.
* MacGregor Park Station on the Southeast Line.
* Lockwood Station on the East End Line.

The Third Ward footage seems to be out-of-date; it shows the old alignment crossing Dowling on Wheeler, not the new route that switches to Alabama. But other details are correct: the stations shown are the new prototype station design (by Rey De LA Reza architects), minus artwork.

The 2012 light rail expansion will add almost 30 miles to the existing seven-mile Main Street line. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) has a detailed map at its website. METRO signed a contract in early March for four of the five new lines, totaling almost $1.5 billion, while the University Line along Richmond will be the subject of a separate contract.

Houston METRO Light Rail from NC3D.com on Vimeo.

Comments

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Can hardly wait for the Richmond line but also hope that it is less disruptive in construction than the downtown line was.

Also, hope that there will be one to Bush Intercontinental within next 5 years!

Posted on Apr 28, 09 at 9:34 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

WHY WONT THEY JUST MAKE THE METRO RAIL UNDERGROUND LIKE IN WASHINGTON D.C. AND ATLANTA. THAT WAY IT WOULDN’T B ACCIDENTS ON THE STREETS WITH THE TRAINS AND VEHICLES. ALSO WOULD BE LESS TRAFFIC IN THE AREAS.

Posted on Oct 19, 09 at 3:43 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Desmond, they can’t because Houston has severe floods throughout the year.

Posted on Dec 08, 09 at 9:53 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

How will the Fulton line look like, will it disrupt business along the line during construction and after completion.

Posted on Dec 17, 09 at 8:08 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

I have heard that Mayor Parker may not like the light rail plan for downtown and that this may endanger those lines. Is there any truth to this?

Posted on Jan 05, 10 at 3:56 pm

Rahmatullah said:

I’d like to buy a business yet I do not know how close the metro railway will be at the location of the business at 7530 Harrisburg. Can you respond by sending me an e-mail or calling me at this number 832-364-2175.

Posted on Jan 10, 10 at 10:49 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Ern and Rahmatullah -

Check out Metro’s website about the plans for the next 5 lines here:
http://www.metrosolutions.org/go/site/1068/

Ern, you’ll want to click on the link for North line and Rahmatullah, you’re looking at the East line.

In terms of business interruption, we did a series of reports on ways that Metro and the City could mitigate business interruptions and / or catalyze economic development during and after construction. Metro announced that they would follow almost all of our suggestions and they have so far carried through with a comprehensive strategy to preserve small business in the rail corridors.

This article explains one part of their approach and has links to our studies:

http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livability/story/metro-devotes-5-million-to-assist-small-businesses/

Posted on Jan 11, 10 at 1:05 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Tom -

Mayor Parker has expressed frustration with the execution of Metro’s business, while I believe being explicit that she supports the plans for the 2014 light rail plan. Changing those plans at this time would be a major setback for transit development in the City and she has made it clear that she supports transit and wants to move faster in developing an efficient system for Houston.

Mayor Parker has made it clear that she is going to put in new leadership and try to “shake up” Metro’s administration, but hopefully that will not impact Metro’s excellent plans for the Metro Solutions phase of development.

Posted on Jan 11, 10 at 1:07 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

How will the METRO line affect the small businesses and homes that are along North Main St? How does METRO plan on constructing the rail so that it does not cause a hazard for the many children attending schools that are right alongside the area it will be built?

Posted on Apr 27, 10 at 2:02 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Hi Kristine,

As noted above in the comments, METRO is pursuing a comprehensive small business program to mitigate potential problems. See the link above for more on the business programs.

In terms of homes and schools, METRO has a community liaison for each line who is working with the community along with a Community Advisory Board to ensure safety and community goals are met during construction.

Here is a page about METRO’s School Safety programs during construction:

http://www.metrosolutions.org/go/doc/1068/194269/

Also, important to note, that any street where light rail is added should be a safer street for pedestrians (including children) than it was before. Although there is more room for communities to work with METRO and the City of Houston to put in safer sidewalks, narrower (safer) traffic lanes, and other improvements, especially around schools.

- Jay

Posted on May 04, 10 at 11:41 am

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Houston needs to pick up the pace on mass transit. Metro needs to think BIG and build lines that connect Pearland to The Woodlands and Galveston to Katy, it would be expensive but would surely pay off in the long run.

Posted on May 19, 10 at 3:22 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

Why not use a monorail style system. This would eliminate the traffic issues and flooding issues inherent with the current main street line. Also, the foot/bike paths could also be placed below them for pedestrian use.

Posted on May 21, 10 at 8:18 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

I believe monorail is much more expensive and we don’t need to think vertical quite yet, we are blessed with a lot of horizontal space to play with

Posted on Aug 26, 10 at 1:33 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

@ Desmond:

It couldn’t be built underground, because we are too close to sea-level. The tunnels would well up with water before we could ever begin to lay tracks.

Posted on Sep 29, 10 at 11:42 pm

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) said:

An effective mass transit system would put Houston on the global map. Lets get our heads out of the sands, every truly cool city (except L.A.) has good public transit.

Houston is only known as a business destination and sucks for tourism. Having a decent metro system would go a long way to connect our spread out city.

I’ve been on the Bay areas’ BART system, D.C.‘s underground metro, London’s “tube”, Paris’ Metro, NYC’s metro, New Delhi’s Metro, Budapests’ mass transit sytem.

Each and everyone of them kicks butt (Bart’s is probably the worst of the group). We should use New Delhi’s mass transit as a model actually because they started their system about the same time we started ours and they go to about 100x more places, far and wide, connect the burbs with the city and all in between. They have monorail connections too, which costs more and takes longer probably so there is no excuse as to why ours has been stuck at its 7km or whatever the heck it is.

I’ think we are tied with Austin’s redline now (in terms of length of rail), even though we are 5 x as much population.

PATHETIC.

Posted on Jul 07, 11 at 3:06 pm

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