Jump to content

METRORail University Line


ricco67

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 4.3k
  • Created
  • Last Reply
After 41 pages of commentary, can someone answer the following questions for me?

1. Has the alignment for this line been determined yet?

2. Has a date certain been announced for the groundbreaking of this line?

1. No

2. No date certain. I think before the end of 2008 is the best we know at this time.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep getting emails from Richmondrail.org concerning their Tuesday Nights Out at various restaurants along Richmond... i never think to actually go when Tuesday night rolls around though.

I'm just curious if anyone here has been going to those and what the atmosphere and turnouts have been like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know how many people caught this article last week but Lampson didn't get a spot on the Appropriations Committee... so any thoughts of him somehow countering Culberson and getting federal funding for the University line despite Culberson are useless now.

Lampson instead got a spot on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.. which I'll leave for others here to give us their thoughts on if that helps the University line or has little effect.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Don't know how many people caught this article last week but Lampson didn't get a spot on the Appropriations Committee... so any thoughts of him somehow countering Culberson and getting federal funding for the University line despite Culberson are useless now.

Lampson instead got a spot on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.. which I'll leave for others here to give us their thoughts on if that helps the University line or has little effect.

My Condolences to all of you Lampson fans that predicted the demise of Culberson with Lampson's arrival on the Appropriations Committee - Thank your liberal friend Ms. Pelosi . . . .

P.S. The rumors of my demise were greatly exaggerated.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who started those rumors??? :unsure::unsure::unsure:

You have been gone for a month, what do you have to say about that, this thread has been covered in cobwebs since you left! :lol:

word on the street is that Aftonag and the Brass Maiden spent the last month counseling the grieving Martha Wong, who remains shocked...SHOCKED...that her decision to ignore her constituents in the precincts containing possible LRT alignments south of 59 contributed to over 70% of them voting against her.

the U Line will be back in the news bigtime in January.

in the meantime the Chron reported a new 4 story apt. building financed for the sw corner of Richmond and Dunleavy, a parking level + 3 stories. one anti-Richmond rail business owner reported this deal back in April and said it was the 1st of many to come along that stretch of Richmond (Main-Shepherd) that even Culberson seems to have agreed to for LRT.

the question is, given this development and the ones sure to follow, all much higher density than the apartments and duplexes that currently exist along that part of Richmond, what is the answer for the increased traffic volume this will bring to Richmond? LRT? more bus? more car lanes?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Who started those rumors??? :unsure::unsure::unsure:

You have been gone for a month, what do you have to say about that, this thread has been covered in cobwebs since you left! :lol:

LOL - Hopefully Mr. Twain will forgive me for plagirizing his quote. I have been traveling on an assignment for work and was unable to stay tuned to HAIF. I should be around for all of January - will be making a short trip to California - San Diego of course - the 27th to the 29th - GIG'em!

My watch has not worked properly since the 24th of November - it is stuck on 6:48. I may leave it like that until next November.

word on the street is that Aftonag and the Brass Maiden spent the last month counseling the grieving Martha Wong, who remains shocked...SHOCKED...that her decision to ignore her constituents in the precincts containing possible LRT alignments south of 59 contributed to over 70% of them voting against her.

the U Line will be back in the news bigtime in January.

As usual the "word on the street" is/was in error. I would rather have been in Houston than where I was but such is life. Glad to hear that the U-line will be back in the news next month - should blow the cobwebs off this topic. Especially when METRO announces their surrender to the other "Axis of Evil" - Afton Oaks . . . . .

Link to comment
Share on other sites

word on the street is that Aftonag and the Brass Maiden spent the last month counseling the grieving Martha Wong, who remains shocked...SHOCKED...that her decision to ignore her constituents in the precincts containing possible LRT alignments south of 59 contributed to over 70% of them voting against her.

the U Line will be back in the news bigtime in January.

in the meantime the Chron reported a new 4 story apt. building financed for the sw corner of Richmond and Dunleavy, a parking level + 3 stories. one anti-Richmond rail business owner reported this deal back in April and said it was the 1st of many to come along that stretch of Richmond (Main-Shepherd) that even Culberson seems to have agreed to for LRT.

the question is, given this development and the ones sure to follow, all much higher density than the apartments and duplexes that currently exist along that part of Richmond, what is the answer for the increased traffic volume this will bring to Richmond? LRT? more bus? more car lanes?

I too join the somewhat unhinged Brass Maiden in adding my condolences to the crushed Wong and emasculated Culberson.

Seeing how West Park Dr. or West Park or Westpark [take your pick] doesn't exist from Main to Kirby, I guess Culberson finally caught the clue that has so far eluded the tiny minority consisting of the 45 signatures on the Mobility Coalition's petition or the .27% of potential Culberson constituents [post #2036] opposing the U Line.

As far as new development goes, there is LRT, new lanes on Richmond-thus the taking of most if not all of the esplanade trees in AO, more busses or no action at all-except for the inevitable bridges over the tracks adjacent to AO. [notice the height and width of the Westpark bridge-now duplicate that on Westheimer and Richmond]

What do you know ?

It's been reported METRO will announce in March.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So what is this all saying? In a nutshell?

Does it look like a slim chance for light rail on Richmond? Yes or No

METRO board will meet 10AM this Thursday and the agenda includes voting on a "short list" of U Line alignment alternatives.

clever timing, with Christmas/New Years distractions, and that's why I think the biggest reaction to the decision will be in January. I think the METRO board is still on track to make a final decision in March.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

From the Chron..

I'm sure Metro, Christof, and Kuff will have up route maps soon enough.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4418526.html

The Afton Oaks neighborhood, where residents have objected vociferously to a light rail line on Richmond, is no longer on any of Metro's proposed routes for the line, the agency said today.

At Metro's regular monthly board meeting, officials unveiled three recommended routes for the western segment of the planned University Line, none of which include the segment of Richmond that runs through the neighborhood just inside the West Loop.

The recommendations, discussed at a packed meeting this morning, also include a route that bypasses Richmond almost entirely, as has been pushed by U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, a longtime rail critic.

All three routes on the western section of the line would begin at the Wheeler Station on the existing Main Street light rail, near where Richmond becomes Wheeler as it crosses Main Street south of downtown.

One of the three westward routes would divert south to Westpark at Greenway Plaza. Another makes a similar move at Cummins. The third would divert the line south at Montrose to the Southwest Freeway and then to Westpark. The latter option was a response to Culberson's objection to any significant rail presence on Richmond, Metro board chairman Davis Wolff said.

All would end at the Hillcroft Transit Center.

The top three recommendations came after a consulting firm considered the estimated construction costs and ridership projections. The Cummins option had the most effective ratio, according to the presentation.

Environmental impact studies will now be done on the three routes, and Metro could make a final decision in late spring.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard through "someone who knows" that models showed that the addition of the light rail line thorugh the Richmond/610 intersection would require a complete re-design of the interchange in order to avoid horrific traffic delays and that this will be METRO's "out" to avoid the appearance of having caved to the political circumstances.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've heard through "someone who knows" that models showed that the addition of the light rail line thorugh the Richmond/610 intersection would require a complete re-design of the interchange in order to avoid horrific traffic delays and that this will be METRO's "out" to avoid the appearance of having caved to the political circumstances.

They could have gone underground in that section, couldn't they?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a major disappointment.

The idea that this will not only MISS the Galleria and all of the offices, hotels, and high rise/high density residential buildings surrounding it but also potentially being directly connected to Greenway Plaza via Richmond is absurd. Why bother?

The light rail system needs to be built so that some day the commuter rail lines can hook up to the regions major employment and entertainment centers. The fact that UPTOWN will be missed on the second line is flat out stupid.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a major disappointment.

The idea that this will not only MISS the Galleria and all of the offices, hotels, and high rise/high density residential buildings surrounding it but also potentially being directly connected to Greenway Plaza via Richmond is absurd. Why bother?

The light rail system needs to be built so that some day the commuter rail lines can hook up to the regions major employment and entertainment centers. The fact that UPTOWN will be missed on the second line is flat out stupid.

I agree that Uptown should've been built in as a spur (while also providing service to Hillcroft), but this is old news. The line was always intended to go to the Hillcroft TC, not up Post Oak Blvd. As captivating as the AO controversy seems to have been in the media, I can't help but wonder whether it (which is really pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things) was engineered to cover for the legitimate backlash from more affluent voting blocks for not providing service to Uptown.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a major disappointment.

The idea that this will not only MISS the Galleria and all of the offices, hotels, and high rise/high density residential buildings surrounding it but also potentially being directly connected to Greenway Plaza via Richmond is absurd. Why bother?

The light rail system needs to be built so that some day the commuter rail lines can hook up to the regions major employment and entertainment centers. The fact that UPTOWN will be missed on the second line is flat out stupid.

My God, this town is so backward. Why for Christ's sake can't we plan anything worth a damn? Just another example of Houston's "leaders" being completely out of it. Face it, commuter rail will never happen in "hillbilly holler" (oh, I mean, Houston).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My God, this town is so backward. Why for Christ's sake can't we plan anything worth a damn? Just another example of Houston's "leaders" being completely out of it. Face it, commuter rail will never happen in "hillbilly holler" (oh, I mean, Houston).

Oh well, I guess you'd best get packing. <_<

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Why give such a typical response? That attitude is part of the problem with this town.

"Hillbilly holler"? That was a pretty typical response, in and of itself. Bad attitude on your part will do nothing to solve the problem, and only serves to further polarize political partisans.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


All of the HAIF
None of the ads!
HAIF+
Just
$5!


×
×
  • Create New...