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JamesL

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Posts posted by JamesL

  1. There's obvious problems with the current station. I've never been inside, but I can only assume there are no waiting areas. There's way too many people sleeping outside of the building, getting into fights, harassing people walking by, etc. There's nothing wrong with taking the Greyhound, its a great way to travel, but this station needs to be cleaned up or moved out.  

     

    Did you think about doing some investigation before you made assumptions? Of course there are waiting areas inside for passengers. The people loitering outside aren't passengers. I live in the area and I'm pretty sure Greyhound isn't the cause of the issues you cite. In fact, they've been keeping their block under control lately. It's the combination of other things in the surrounding area (Pierce Elevated, McDonalds, convenience stores) that are the real draw for vagrants.

    • Like 3
  2. I was walking around yesterday and noticed that there appears to be a light rail track that goes along Holmes from the MetroRail depot for 1.7 miles.  The rails are rusted, and there's bushes growing into it, so it's not used very often if at all.  Any ideas what it is?

     

    Yes, it was used for testing the original LRVs. It's on UP property and either reverted to them or they won't let METRO use it anymore or something. I seem to recall a story about an LRV hitting at UP truck that had driven under a crossing gate.

    • Like 1
  3. One thing anyone should know is that parking lanes use less space than driving lanes. It's the same concept that makes driving down that one section of Westheimer east of Montrose so harrowing. A full driving lane could be converted to a parking lane and still leave enough space for a bike lane. I've seen it happen. As nice as it is, bikers don't need a full lane.

     

    Not usually. Taking a typical 12 foot traffic lane to a 9 foot parking lane frees up 3 feet - entirely in the door zone of the parked cars, a very unsafe place to ride.

  4. but I can't think of a good reason for why they couldn't have had the turnouts point west instead of east.  

     

    The same thing occurred to me. The answer, I think, is that at the time the lines were planned trains from the East End line were supposed to turn up Main Street to the intermodal terminal. So we're stuck with this as a legacy of poor planning past.

  5. The blocks between Main and Fannin have turnouts for the track connections to Main Street. A train on the diverging route will overhang to the outside, hitting the platform edge if one were built. ADA specifies very tight tolerances for gaps between the train and the platform so moving the platform edge away from the track wouldn't be possible.

    • Like 2
  6. Any project with multiple contractors is going to have coordination issues.  The trick is minimizing the potential problem.

     

    And don't forget the initial late change to an underpass was because the city belatedly decided to step up with some funding.

  7. I'm thrilled with how this project is turning out. If only it weren't sandwiched between two freeways. I think there's an opportunity to turn Allen Parkway into more of an urban boulevard and enhance access from the south. As it stands, there's almost a mile between safe crossing locations east of Montrose. That's not how a city capitalizes on a gem of an urban park.

  8. The whole point of dedicating a lane to transit is to gain speed and reliability. A grade crossing would ruin that. To spend that much money on a corridor with no reliability benefit would be...silly.

  9. The denser and more attractive Houston's core becomes, the more expensive. 

     

    I think you have this somewhat reversed. I would say:

     

    "The more attractive Houston becomes, the denser and more expensive."

     

    Its increasing attractiveness is due to a number of factors including a strong economy and a variety of quality of life improvements. Then the feedback loop kicks in and the denser, fancier developments make it even more attractive and so on.

     

    The first thing I'd say about the preponderance of "luxury" developments is that luxury is not a regulated term. Whatever the price point, developers call it "luxury" to make it sound more attractive.

     

    Secondly, developers aren't creating the demand for expensive apartments, they're responding to it. As long as there's demand for expensive apartments they might as well build expensive apartments since I'd imagine they're the most profitable.

     

    Escalation in overall rent prices and the negative impact on housing affordability are definite concerns, but I haven't seen where the "affordable unit" requirements you mention have solved the problem anywhere. Ultimately, housing prices are due to simple supply and demand. The market will respond to demand if it can. For the city to require affordable units while simultaneously stipulating excessive amounts of parking would be asinine.

     

    Right now, to build a one-bedroom apartment of, say, 800 square feet, a developer must build 1.33 parking spaces. Including aisle area, that's an additional 400 square feet or more. So very roughly speaking, that apartment will cost 50% more than if it didn't come with a parking space. Property managers could unbundle the rent for the unit from the rent for the parking space, but right now there's no incentive to do that when the regulations create an oversupply such that the free market price of a space is zero.

     

    Developers provide the exact number of windows, closets, toilets, cabinets, and treadmills they think they need to make a project viable. Government-mandated parking is unnecessary and leads to poor urban outcomes and decreased affordability.

  10. Here's how it was described in the Chronicle:  To create more "connectivity," landscapers will install midblock crossings on Fannin and San Jacinto using stone pavers, he said. Those streets will be raised to be level with the sidewalk. Cars will still cross those streets, so some safety features will be added, Boss said.

     

    I'm really surprised Public Works okayed that. Heck, they required HAWKs along Navigation to cross two lanes of one-way traffic to get the esplanade.

  11. I understand the above points, I was just expressing frustration at the current setup of the Red line where there are multiple places where the train slows to like 5 or 10 mph for a gentle curve, which seems like overkill.  

     

    Oh, don't get me started. For all but the sharpest curves (and maybe even those to some degree) the speed limits are set based on passenger comfort, not any safety criteria. Google unbalanced superelevation or cant deficiency if you're interested, but basically the speeds are set to keep lateral forces within an acceptable range. I don't know what maximum underbalance they've set (or even if they set speeds based on rigorous methods) but it seems absurdly low. It's really a double standard when you consider the lateral forces that are tolerated on buses. Greater underbalance and higher speeds can lead to accelerated rail wear, but I don't think this is as much an issue for light rail as it is for railroads.

     

    Then there's just the inconsistency with the rest of the line. A few years ago, an operator in training with no passengers took the Fannin-Braeswood curve too fast and derailed. The consultant they brought in to investigate said that speed limits in the area were too confusing and so now the entire segment between TMC TC and Smith Lands is a 15 zone. Meanwhile on the North Line, speed limits change dozens of times a mile and are sometimes different for each track. So are speed limit changes "too confusing" for operators or aren't they? Perception is reality for many people, and when they ride or see the train crawling down Braeswood and being passed by cars going 25 they perceive it to be slow. That's not good for METRORail's image. Plus, running this segment at its former 25 or 30 mph could probably squeeze a minute or two out of a round trip which adds up to huge savings in operation costs over hundreds of trips per day.

     

    While we're at it, let's talk about train horns. At intersections protected only by red traffic lights, the trains glide through noiselessly unless the operator sees a hazard and sounds the bell or horn. But, in the spirit of the FRA horn rule, light rail trains blast their horns at all intersections with gates, bells, and flashers. But wait, these gates provide complete closure of all lanes and the bells make plenty of noise. This is enough for FRA quiet zones along the Terminal Sub here in town. Still, METRO blasts trackside properties with horns 21 hours a day whether or not there's a soul or a vehicle in sight. This seems like a deterrent to development along the rail line. I sure wouldn't want to live in those apartments at Braeswood & Greenbriar or those townhomes at North Main & Boundary.

    • Like 2
  12. If by angle you mean superelevation (banking) then the answer is two parts.

     

    1. They are superelevated, at least slightly. That curve will be good for 10-20 mph I'd guess; I haven't looked that closely.

     

    2. Where they aren't supervelevated, or only have 1/2 inch or so, it's because they are crossing traffic lanes and the city doesn't like the unevenness. Seems silly given how uneven those roads were before (e.g. North Main) but that's Public Works for ya.

  13.  If METRO were to purchase the ROW to build a parallel track, that line could potentially be quite inexpensive. 

     

    Yeah, except for those hundreds of million of dollars they don't have it would hardly cost a thing.

    • Like 1
  14. I think if Houston winds up with no more than 8 major light rail lines (wouldn't that be something), giving each line a color name would work just fine. After all my first box of Crayola crayons had 8 different colors.

     

    Believe it or not, they thought of that. North, East End, and Southeast are the project names. They will be operated as the Red, Green, and Purple Lines.

    • Like 1
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