wilcal

It's a shame they can't do a tag-on flight like AIr China is doing with Panama City. I'm not exactly sure where else a market would exist. For 20 hours you could do just about anything though. Wasn't this flight previously doing LAX? Just add a IAH-LAX RT built in.

It said on the Westchase District website that all infrastructure improvement had to be approved by the CoH, so that would make sense if it was on the bike plan. Segment is kind of a no-brainer imho especially if they can get it to connect to the other trails in the area. There was another pic on the Westchase District website which shows a much different bike lane implementation, too:

5' width sidewalks are the minimum. 6' if they are on the curb face. The restrictions generally aren't for able-bodied people like the gentleman pictured, but those with disabilities. It's generally not possible to walk side-by-side with someone on 4' width so one person tends to walk in the street when walking in pairs. PS: Sidewalks aren't that expensive. HPW does them for about $40/sq. ft. The Westchase District effectively operates like a TIRZ where local businesses are the ones paying for these projects. The funds aren't coming from the CoH budget. Sidewalks are generally the responsibility of the landowners, so by all means ask your neighbors to put them in. You're in the Midtown TIRZ, so you could ask them to pay for it. If it has as much foot traffic as the street with hundreds of apartments and several active bus stops, it probably should be completed as well.

Well now y'all are getting me excited. Although no one tell Vinny's I may start cheating on them. They're new revised pepperoni is sooo goood

There's a guy in the Reddit thread that claims to be the rail system director for the project, so I asked him some questions. There's no proof of course, so take it with a grain of salt. I asked how JR Central is involved. He said: I asked who else is in the Japanese consortium and if JRC were funding. He replied: So, there might be some answers. That's more info on funding than I've ever seen reported.

If they are being rebuilt, then they're supposed to be built to modern standards. Also, almost the entire stretch of road are apartments and condos and there is a strip center on the north end of where the trail/reconstructed sidewalks are going to be. There are also a bunch of sections that have no sidewalk on one side of the street at all. I went on Google Street view and there's a pedestrian passing through one of those sections here:

Looks like they're only 4' wide, which is below current design standards.

From my understanding, the loans are from the Japanese government and are in a similar style as the Export-Import Bank of the United States, which is primarily used to buy Boeing Airplanes. The Japanese government would like to continue to export this technology, and they use these organizational loans to make it happen: http://www.join-future.co.jp/english/our-mission/purpose.html

The $300 mil from Japan was structured as a loan, but again, that's for planning and not construction. Whether it's a good investment is a whole different can of worms! I'm assuming that you are asking how I know that JR Central isn't the actual owner? Or providing funding? I don't know that. I was replying to Cougarpad who claimed that Texas Central had plenty of financial backing for construction and I was pointing out that there is no public proof unless I'm missing something tremendous. Cougarpad is also implying that one of the Japanese companies involved are the ones building this line and again, that isn't public info and would be news to the general public that a Japanese company is a part owner.

I think this is 1000000% fair, and of course you would never be expected to have all funds in place at the beginning of a 5ish year build. And you're right, they do have the right to a veil of secrecy. I guess we'll find out for sure in March when the environmental study is done and they can start construction. They've made a pretty big deal about the previous loans they received, and I would assume that they would want to trumpet any other significant investment. Imho, if their strategy is to wait, that would be a bold play. It's my understanding that the information is not public, but I do not know for certain.

Texas Central Partners, LLC.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/transportation/2019/09/17/346078/west-houston-street-project-includes-new-amenities-for-pedestrians-and-cyclists/

If they do beer/wine only with a BC license, then they can just let people take it to go and eat/drink wherever they want and have the complex put some tables up out there. That would be great. But also, no patio on that site plan?

Probably not. Landlord applied for patio space for Brass Tap and they A) didn't finish the permitting process for it and B ) didn't pay the fee (I think Brass Taps is like $1,400/year) to use the city ROW. I pointed this out to the city and they weren't penalized for what it's worth. They also made the sidewalk not ADA accessible because of the trees that were planted alongside. They were able to get city permission because they had custom grates installed for the tree planters, but they are trash and are just metal grates set on top of gravel, so they don't stay level. I also don't think that the required width is provided even after the grates are added, but it's within an inch or two so they likely let them slide instead of tearing down the patio or tearing out a tree. I don't see a way logistically for them to put in a patio in front of the other space unless they put it in the trees, which is what they should have done for Brass Tap as well

That's basically exactly what this is. Yes, they've hired a bunch of experts to help them, but this is a startup company. When you say "partner Japanese company" are you referencing JR Central, the company that operates the Shinkansen trains (in Japan, exclusively) or Hitachi/Kinki Sharyo who manufacture the trains? Yes, they are licensing the tech from a Japanese company, but that company isn't funding the construction of this project. The bulk of the funding so far for Texas Central is from the nation of Japan via the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corp. for Transport & Urban Development and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation who have provided a $300 million loan (about 2% of what they need). Texas Central has on their own website that they will be using private investors, but they have not announced anything more than the $300 million loan from the nation of Japan and and some initial funding of less than $100 million. Dallas Morning News reported that the $300 million loan from Japan (and again, I'm talking about the country) is the amount necessary to take them to the point where they can start construction. The nation of Japan could provide more funding, but no one has stated that publicly. I really wish that I'm wrong, but I have not seen a single piece of information anywhere that suggests that they have more than $500 million in funding from any source, and certainly not enough funding to complete the project, so if you can provide any information in regards to that I would actually be really overjoyed. Edit: I'll put this edit to say that yes, some Japanese corporation or the Japanese government, or who knows could have already agreed to fund this project behind closed doors. Nothing, to my knowledge, is public about any potential multi-billion dollar funding.