wilcal

Revised combo green/purple extension to Hobby according to the Chronicle: Gulfgate stop is key. It's certainly the shopping hub for the area with Lowe's, HEB, etc. The stop right across 45 would serve the HCC Eastside campus, which would be awesome. They can make it free between Hobby and Rental Car Center. Still think that they should use Broadway, but I understand the resistance to not tear it up after it was recently redone. THERE'S JUST SO MANY PEOPLE. Sigh. New chron article: https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/transportation/article/Metro-leaders-optimistic-about-shared-13799310.php The key: Original Green and Purple extensions would cost $1.8 billion. Combined will be $1.1 billion.

I...... kind of love it? Although it does look like someone built it in MInecraft in those renderings.

Yeah, it'll be interesting to see what is announced. I would assume we are looking at: 1) Start of construction of a chunk of Third Ward network. 2) Start of construction of Austin Corridor. 3) Announcement of designs of remaining third ward network (Gray/Polk) 4) Start of construction of MLK portion. 5) The closing of the north side of Main Street and conversion to bike/pedestrian usage only a la Las Ramblas in Barcelona (ok maybe not this one, but a man can dream).

Connections suck and people don't like them. Going BRT to a train is not ideal.

And because I was curious to see what other projects the city itself applied for, they only received funding for 1 of the 11 (2 additional were withdrawn, including major Waugh reconstruction). The 1 that was funded is Antoine expansion from 4 to 6 lane from 290 to W. Mount Houston with bicycle path, turn lanes, blah blah blah for $80 mil in 2025. Rank: 31 Rejected: Rank 39: Widen Aldine Westfield from BW8 to Little York from 2 to 4 lanes. Rank 68: Uptown/Memorial Park connector path and bridge. Construct 10,000 feet of pathway. Rank 74: Lower Westheimer Corridor Rank 83: Fiber Optic Cable integration bnetween Transtar and Houston Emergency Center Rank 96: Reconstruct broadway from 45 to SH 3 with widened sidewalks, buffered bike lane, left turn lanes, etc Rank 100: West Fuqua city limit to Chimney Rock. Turn lines, intersection, relocated bus stops, etc. Rank 108: Construct 10' path from Richmond to San Felipe (extension of previously funded path?) Rank 113: Construct bike route from Northwest Transit Center to Memorial Park/Heights Rank 123: Reconstruct Gelhorn Dr from 610 to 10. Sidewalks, bike lane, crosswalks, etc. Rank 144: Reconstruct Memorial @ Gessner Withdrawn: Diary Ashford from I-10 to Westheimer reconstruction Withdrawn: Reconstruction of Waugh/heights/Yale

Here's the PDF: http://www.h-gac.com/2018-call-for-projects/documents/2018-call-for-project-tpc-rankings.pdf "Project limits: 'S. Main to Shepherd'" Description: "RECONSTRUCT AS 3 LANES WITH EXPANDED SIDEWALK WIDTH, INTERSECTION IMPROVEMENTS WITH DEDICATED TURN LANES, NEW TRAFFIC SIGNALS . ACCESS MANAGEMENT INCLUDING NEW BUS STOP AND ON-STREET PARKING" Requested funding was $45.7 million dollars, and it was requested for the 2026 fiscal. I'll bet that they have the partial funding, but if they were gonna get it from the feds, then use your own money elsewhere. The project was ranked 74/188 and only the top 34 were funded with separate special funding. It's pretty opaque, but they were ranked by a cost/benefit ratio (I'm sure a road diet fit into that formula REALLY well) and a "planning score" which I could not find any info at all on. It's actually surprising that even 34 were funded as I believe they only had funding for between 10 and 12 of these smaller projects. There was an "extra" $175 mil available because the county had requested hempstead highway to be reconstructed from 610 to Little York, but the city of Houston told them they weren't on board, so they nixxed those plans.

Note: City applied for federal funds for lower Westheimer reconstruction, and the final list came out and funding for the project was not granted.

Could easily be used for both. I received a memo when it opened to direct cruise passengers for pickup there if their cruise company didn't have a rep in the baggage claim area 🤷‍♂️ I thought UA shuttle picks up on the west side though? Again, they've changed a lot of that over the last few years. They've done a piss poor job, especially with Uber/Lyft. All of the signage for ride-sharing was labeled "TNC - Transportation Network Companies" No one knows what the hell that means Houston Airport System.

One of those old Chron articles about the train said that a train from Galveston would have to be split into Galveston to League City and League City to Houston sections anyway. I definitely think it could be successful.

It's this thing (may have to switch to street view if it doesn't drop you in immediately) Screenshot: People keep running into the existing bus shelter. I believe it's currently back to being a shelter again. I asked them to install a safetly bollard but they said that the "sidewalk" wasn't wide enough. JFC, it's freaking at level. There's no curb and no one is walking down the sidewalk. So dumb.

I don't think it would be anywhere near the majority, but there is a lot of potential commuter traffic from suburbs along 45. I volunteered at IAH for several years, and I would put the number that were flying into IAH for cruises in the several hundred range per weekend. Enough to where IAH built a bus shelter at terminal C to protect them from wind/rain while loading luggage/etc. I would imagine Hobby would have more than that because of how much closer it is. Private shuttle services like Island Breeze have popped up as well. So passengers would have to take the light rail into the far east end (15ish minutes) then take a 75ish minute train to Galveston. People would probably do that, but would need to be a bit cheaper than the $30-$35/person shuttle cost. Probably not gonna happen for IAH passengers. BRT to downtown, then get on greenline (possibly via red line?), then get on train.

I just dug this article out, from *groan* 12 years ago, that talks about utilizing rail to Galveston again: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-Galveston-passenger-train-could-roll-again-1827339.php Another article from 2012 says that they abandoned the Union Pacific plan and the revised one required laying a new set of rail on most segments for $650 mil: https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Houston-Galveston-passenger-rail-may-be-revived-3747946.php Looking at the map in the 2012 article, the train into downtown would use the track that goes over Broadway at Erath St. That's right in an area where the Green line would extend to. No idea how much land would be required to build a train station, but it seems like you could put it a few places in that area? Also, green line going underneath the train line on Broadway right there would be a big positive. Here is my option 2 from above with the 2012 recommended train line marked in blue: It's kind of futile to talk about this of course, since Metro has all of four months to finalize their plan 😕

Who would use the UH golf carts? They have a bunch of signs saying that the north half of the trail is for golf carts only, but whatever, just happy that the trail is there. It's still not fully connective there which again, is annoying.

Hrmm. That is certainly an interesting idea. It's currently listed as John R. Harris Park, but there are zero amenities developed. Could see that being good for Astros/Dynamo parking as well (with half of the astros giant lot potentially going away if 45N expansion happens). Dynamo already have a promo with Metro where the rail is free with a game ticket.

I believe Metro is handling this project, so maybe approach them? I'm not sure how much Midtown is a part of the project. My basis of thinking Metro is handling it is that is what I recall hearing during the Austin St bikeway meeting, but that's a minor detail I could have misheard.

I played with some possibilities of how to connect the green and purple lines before it made the run to Hobby. Not wonderful. I think I like 3 or 4 the best. 3 is only feasible if TxDOT right of way along 610 is possible to acquire, which I have absolutely no idea if that is feasible. The Metro board was hesitant to go down Broadway since it was just gussied up for the Super Bowl a few years ago, but there are SO MANY apartments that the density almost demands it instead of sticking to Telephone road. Option 3 would allow you to make the diverging point at Gulfgate, which I think would generate lots of local (non-airport) traffic. Option 1: Option 2: Option 3: Option 4:

Yup, that's a typo. Two way will be on Austin.

At the meeting in December, they said that they would have another public meeting this spring. I contacted them last week and they told me that it had not been scheduled yet. I would imagine design work is just about complete and that they'll show of finalized stuff. I wonder what prompted this story to come out. It's been months since we had any real updates.

I think it's going to take more time, too. City wanted to do a bike lane up Austin and down on Caroline, but due to the extended construction schedule on Caroline they are doing a two-way on Austin instead. Thought I heard a timeline of 2-3 more years for Caroline to be done.

Lets also be clear that those federal funds were our money to begin with. It's sad that we run the biggest negative in terms of receiving federal road funding. We send out about 110% of what we get back. Yes, that's how being in the federal government works, but still annoying. Brightline is 100% private (well, they almost just had an IPO after collaborating with Virgin), but getting to utilize some existing government/train ROW. I understand what you are saying, and I don't necessarily think the state should be paying for high-speed rail to connect cities (although I wouldn't be against it) but the funds should certainly be available for other transit projects. Just the option! But it's been designed so there is no option, and that is heartbreaking.

They administer $25 billion/year. I think they could figure it out if Brightline can. Isn't this why they changed their name from Texas Department of Highways? To be more all-encompassing? (an honest question here) As I showed above, it's the only path they have. Then you'll never have access to state funds or the federal funds that are given to the state, and that's a shame.

TN.222.001 requires that funds in the State Highway Fund must be used to improve the state highway system or mitigate environmental effects of such system. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/docs/TN/htm/TN.222.htm#222.001 The State Highway Fund takes constitutionally dedicated taxes and fees, Prop 1 Oil and Gas Taxes, Prop 7 taxes, and federal funds. Here is your breakdown on State Highway Fund Revenue: Only Special Vehicle Permits Fees, Sale of Publications/Advertising, Supplies/Equipment/Service, and Other Revenue are not dedicated purely to highways. Those total to just under 3% of state revenue. And both of you may know more than me, but it's certainly possible that not all of the federal dollars ($11.31B for next year) heading into the State Highway Fund don't have to be tied to road construction/maintenance, but TXDoT is not treating them that way to my knowledge. So no, there is nothing written into the state constitution that TXDoT must spend 97% of their revenue on highways, but they way that they have written constitutional amendments for funding via the props and other taxes have that effect. By all means, they could sell tens of billions in advertising and they could, at their discretion, choose how that money is used, but the other funds equal tied hands. I could be wrong, but to my knowledge, they are only administering federal funds, not their own (TASA stuff).

Sorry, you are right technically. It was texas voters who approved it, but it was placed there by the legislature via a legislatively referred constituional amendment. The most recent one was 2015 Prop 7 which diverted more billions specifically into the State Highway Fund. They could have put those funds at the discretion of TXDot entirely, but they were locked into highway usage.

The legislature wrote into the state constitution one or two sessions ago that 97% of TxDOT funds have to be spent on roads. So they can't even do public transit if they wanted to.

This may not be news, but Whole Foods is killing their 365 store label. Wasn't this location originally going to be one? Either way, it'll be just a normal Whole Foods now https://www.eater.com/2019/2/27/18243123/whole-foods-365-stores-rip