Cy-Fair Pushes Passenger Rail

[mrfootball]

Cy-Fair pushes passenger rail

Local leaders say community supports project

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/cyf...ws/3915287.html

By JENNIFER LEAHY

Chronicle Correspondent

Cy-Fair commuters will have a new transportation option if local leaders get their way.

The 290 Passenger Rail Coalition, a coalition created by the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, is advocating the creation of a rail line that will travel between the Texas Medical Center and through Cy-Fair.

"This is something that we have made a top priority," said Darcy Mingoia, Cy-Fair Chamber of Commerce president.

"Mobility issues, however, are the slowest moving, most tedious issues," she said. "We are now seeing concrete results, though, and that's exciting."

The Houston-Galveston Area Council began a $750,000 study on the issue April 1, Mingoia said. The study's results will be released after Dec. 31.

Daily service would be provided from downtown Houston, Cy-Fair, Hempstead and Prairie View. Daily or weekly service would be offered from downtown Houston to College Station.

Proposed stops include downtown, Northwest Mall, Beltway 8/Gessner, FM 1960, Cypress, Waller, Prairie View, Hempstead, Navasota and Bryan/College Station.

Supporters said the project will enhance the quality of life for area residents and spur economic development along the route, increasing tax revenue.

"The research that we have done indicates that people whole-heartedly support the idea of rail," Mingoia said.

METRO representative Raequel Roberts said a timeline and cost for the rail project is undetermined.

[brijonmang]

we NEED this and yet so much more to help out 290

[JGraspo]

Other areas speeking up about rail is GREAT. It's nice to know that Metro and Houston is not alone.

Hopefully with enough communitties speaking up things will get done faster

[TAK]

please please please please please...

[citykid09]

"Proposed stops include downtown, Northwest Mall, Beltway 8/Gessner, FM 1960, Cypress, Waller, Prairie View, Hempstead, Navasota and Bryan/College Station."

Did you hear that, Bryan/College Station. That would be really nice. But I can't stand it when its just talk. I want to see action, they have been talking about this thing for years now. I will be an old man by the time it happens. If it happens.

[TAK]

hmmmm, wait.... a B/CS stop....

there must be an aggy planner on this... i can't imagine a stop in B/CS being able to pay for itself... but a stop in Austin would be allsome.

[TheNiche]

hmmmm, wait.... a B/CS stop....

there must be an aggy planner on this... i can't imagine a stop in B/CS being able to pay for itself... but a stop in Austin would be allsome.

I'd rather see College Station as the central hub for a statewide passenger rail system.

BCS to Houston

BCS to Dallas

BCS to Austin

Austin to San Antonio

Dallas to Fort Worth (existing)

Infrastructure and rights of way are already in place or could easily be expanded in most cases, and these routes would require the least amount of new trackage to create a starter system. Direct links, between San Antonio and Houston, for instance, would be added later as demand warrants.

Only problem: political contributions from airlines.

[klein]

Why does it seem like the people at txdot are aggies?

[TheNiche]

Why does it seem like the people at txdot are aggies?

TxDOT is heavy on engineers. Engineering is one of A&M's core strengths. Generally speaking, A&M tries to focus on developing high-level skill sets utilized for productive purposes in the workplace. UT is more of a liberal arts focus.

Also, A&M's Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is instrumental in creating traffic volume and congestion datasets as well as making projections. In theory, TxDOT utilizes these projections to design roadway capacity...in reality TxDOT has been known to overwrite TTI data with their own arbitrary data in order to force outcomes preferred by particular politicians and their more wealthy constituents.

[CDeb]

TxDOT is heavy on engineers. Engineering is one of A&M's core strengths.

And transportation engineering is one of the College of Engineering's core strengths.

[cnote]

And transportation engineering is one of the College of Engineering's core strengths.

Many in Houston would beg to differ....I remember a hybrid cloverleaf at 59 and FM 1960 in Humble being designed by Aggies...everyone hated it...many, many accidents...but agreed that the Aggies Engineering college is excellent.

Generally speaking, A&M tries to focus on developing high-level skill sets utilized for productive purposes in the workplace. UT is more of a liberal arts focus.

I wouldn't call UT a liberal arts focus...though perhaps moreso than aTm...UT is very strong in Business, Communications, Natural Sciences and Engineering...so maybe it is just more well rounded.

As to the idea of a large scale rail project...I will believe it when I see them build a station...I doubt it ever happens. You have to wonder if the developers in this area (i.e. General Growth and Caldwell) are pushing for this idea to be tossed around to help them sell homes telling people relief is around the corner...

Edit: Admission that this was written by UT grad...so take with salt grain....

[MyEvilTwin]

TxDOT is heavy on engineers. Engineering is one of A&M's core strengths. Generally speaking, A&M tries to focus on developing high-level skill sets utilized for productive purposes in the workplace. UT is more of a liberal arts focus.

Also, A&M's Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) is instrumental in creating traffic volume and congestion datasets as well as making projections. In theory, TxDOT utilizes these projections to design roadway capacity...in reality TxDOT has been known to overwrite TTI data with their own arbitrary data in order to force outcomes preferred by particular politicians and their more wealthy constituents.

Well I'll be. And all this time I thought I was joking when sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 290 thinking, "Must be Aggie traffic management."

In all seriousness, I would completely embrace efficient rail transportation to downtown from the 290 corridor. I'm just a leeeeeeettle bit skeptical about the notion of funneling everyone from this corridor -- and (presumably) others like I-45 and 249 too? -- onto the Main Street rail line. It does seem like a bit of a bottleneck. Anybody know how they expect to address this? (Or am I grossly underestimating the capacity of Main Street Rail?) Without a real solution there, I'm wondering if it would really take any less time to get to work than the Park & Ride, considering the Main Street Rail connection wait and the time to walk several blocks from Main to my building.

[cnote]

In all seriousness, I would completely embrace efficient rail transportation to downtown from the 290 corridor. I'm just a leeeeeeettle bit skeptical about the notion of funneling everyone from this corridor -- and (presumably) others like I-45 and 249 too? -- onto the Main Street rail line. It does seem like a bit of a bottleneck. Anybody know how they expect to address this? (Or am I grossly underestimating the capacity of Main Street Rail?) Without a real solution there, I'm wondering if it would really take any less time to get to work than the Park & Ride, considering the Main Street Rail connection wait and the time to walk several blocks from Main to my building.

That is one of the problems that needs solved...the rail will have to rely on a secondary transportation system to really get everyone where they need to go...most likely probably a combination of busses or non-cabled streetcars and the light rail...but I am just guessing...

[CDeb]

Many in Houston would beg to differ....I remember a hybrid cloverleaf at 59 and FM 1960 in Humble being designed by Aggies...everyone hated it...many, many accidents.

A couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, highway engineering is just like every other type of engineering: it is constantly evolving. Designs that were state of the art in the 1960's are now woefully obsolete at best, downright dangerous at worst.

Second, transportation engineering is unique in that the "medium" involved is human beings, giving roadway design an interesting challenge. Steel behaves in a generally predictable fashion. A W12 beam of 60 ksi steel will always have approximately the same ability to resist axial and flexural loads. A human being, on the other hand, has a wide range of driving ability and temperment, not to mention route choices. Designs that look good on paper and may work well in one part of the country don't work well in others.

Specifically, cloverleafs worked well for lower-to-moderate volume rural interchanges. The problem is that many of those areas eventually urbanize, increasing the volume and rendering the interchange obsolete. Cloverleafs are rarely built now unless they are truly in the middle of nowhere.

Well I'll be. And all this time I thought I was joking when sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic on 290 thinking, "Must be Aggie traffic management."

"Traffic management" or engineering isn't the reason you're sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic. Policy making is.

[cnote]

A couple of things to keep in mind. First of all, highway engineering is just like every other type of engineering: it is constantly evolving. Designs that were state of the art in the 1960's are now woefully obsolete at best, downright dangerous at worst.

Second, transportation engineering is unique in that the "medium" involved is human beings, giving roadway design an interesting challenge. Steel behaves in a generally predictable fashion. A W12 beam of 60 ksi steel will always have approximately the same ability to resist axial and flexural loads. A human being, on the other hand, has a wide range of driving ability and temperment, not to mention route choices. Designs that look good on paper and may work well in one part of the country don't work well in others.

Just giving the aggies a hard time...and it wasn't really a true cloverleaf, really don't know what to call that intersection but lets just say it had some interestingly placed 3 way stop signs....

Traffic management and road design has always fascinated me, when you think about the highway system in this country, built in about 60-70 years, it really is amazing. It is like the United States' circulatory system...

[WheelNut]

How long would it take to get from B/CS to the Med Center on this rail line? 3 - 4 hours?

[TheNiche]

How long would it take to get from B/CS to the Med Center on this rail line? 3 - 4 hours?

Given the propensity of pork transportation projects to be executed to low standards, probably yes. In order to upgrade it to the high-speed format that they would need to make such a route attractive, they'd have to build numerous sidings, grade seperations, soundwalls in urbanized areas, and fences to keep the tracks clear.

[jfre81]

How long would it take to get from B/CS to the Med Center on this rail line? 3 - 4 hours?

Probably. I don't think this would enable CS-Med Center commutes unless someone really likes riding on a train. But this could make a CS-Cypress commute possible while at the same time extending the options getting from Cypress to the Med Center.

Remember too that there will be more lightrail inside the loop (and outside in some places). I don't think we'll see any new lines by 2012, but this Cypress commuter rail line isn't going to show up overnight either. I hope it works and there are others going out to the suburbs. I'd really like to see a Houston-Galveston line before anything.