kdog08

Your statement really isn't relevant to the discussion at hand. Pearland is looking to establish P&R and is requesting federal funds to institute that program outside of METRO. They have every right to request those funds and they have no interest in supporting the objectives that you described above. Whether they will actually get those funds is an open question, but there's no question that they have the right to request them regardless of the perceived need inside the loop.

You're right it was off topic. However, don't misconstrue that statement as saying the outer loop doesn't need deserve or need funding. 

It's not just a suburb to Houston and back system that's needed, but one that also connects suburbs to suburbs.  Much of the employment is spread out around town and continues to expand outside the loop.  There is a tendency, though, for it to be closer to the freeways.  We can capitalize on that.  What we need is P&R service that runs along all the highways and tollroads.  That way you could go from the Woodlands to the Energy Corridor, etc. without having to go downtown.

 

Here's the thing, most of the employment in the suburbs aren't conductive to transit in 2013 and the present future. They simply aren't as dense, don't have as good of a street grid, lack existing mass transit and sidewalks are not continuous as our inner core employment centers. Next our freeway system is hub and spoke and has HOV/HOT lanes designed to deliver commuters into the city. We need to capitalize were we have already made the investment, the low hanging fruit of our inner core. When you add up DT, Med Center, Greenway Plaza, Uptown, UofH, Rice, and HCC/UHD that's quite a bit of jobs and students. 

I think expanding P&R to the outer employment centers and beginning to lay the ground is a good idea but the inner core should be the focus. It's where the job density is. 

Do they own the entire block? Could fit another apartment or some retail there if they sold the undeveloped part. 

Do we know the status of the park?

I know it will be unpopular but we will need a regional plan that would require bonds. It could be something as simple as increasing park&ride service in the suburbs into uptown, greenway plaza, DT, and Med Center. It would be great if we can do that along with the University Line plus adding some quickline service (why hasn't this happened on Westheimer?) and improving bus service.

If we could connect our suburbs with our densest, most walkable, and transit accessible employment/activity centers, then that would help mobility. 

This particular stretch of Eldridge is pretty nice and fairly dense. Lots of parks (Terry Hershey is great) and good public schools. 

That 7.5 miles of rail isn't going to get anyone from katy to tmc or downtown. And it's foolish to believe that ridership on additional lines, especially to the suburbs, is going to be anywhere near that of the red line. I'd like to see your backup on the dedicated cost on a similar length of the P&R system. I find it hard to believe that a P&R station and the required buses for a similar length route cost more than the red line and it's equipment.

As it is setup now, P&R feeds into DT Houston and makes up a nice chunk of ridership. It would be a great idea to expand P&R across METRO's area into our denser employment centers. 

Can I take a moment to point how ridiculous this whole discussion is? This is comparing two things that serve different functions and then arguing which one is better.

Oh wait, I just remembereds that most of the transportation conversations on this forum are ridiculous. Carry on.

The crux of the issue is the lack of balance of funding and vision for alternatives to solo commuting that has taken hold for greater than a half century when Houston began to take off. 

Thanks, good info.

Nothing to take away from this except another undeveloped lot bites the dust. 

Awesome, this one went under the radar. 

.... so that be high? 

believe it's listed at $125/sf

Pardon my ignorance, is that a very high asking price? 

Anyone know if they own they vacant lot south of this along Richmond and next to 24 hour fitness?

My ideal transit system is having the money to run more buses, "quickline" service, p&r, and build the rest of the light rail. 

Will be interesting to see how the rail line running to theater district and dynamo stadium fits in also.

I really think Houston will soon be a vastly underrated convention city/major sports events city by the time the Superbowl arrives in 2017. By the major sports events, I mean all star games, NCAA final 4, college bowl games, superbowls, soccer matches, world cups, and Olympics. 

In my personal opinion, the reason I even made this post is because if our downtown becomes a stable neighborhood for development, when investors decide to build something new, it will have a ripple effect for other neighborhoods such as Montrose, Midtown, the Heights, etc. And from there we can expect to see even more dense development throughout the city.

Hess 2.0?

Downtown will become an underestimated sports destination. We have 4 professional teams' stadiums along with UH building a new stadium all centrally located and connected by rail. We have almost 2000 hotel rooms that will be coming online by Superbowl. Critical mass is what is keeping downtown from being more than a 9-5 destination. 

Wow, so this will be across the way from the dreaded bus station. 

It's clean, but more glass would compliment HEB a bit more. I would certainly prefer a brick and with extra glass facade.

The problem with Metro is that it can't act regionally and can only afford to build major infrastructure projects at the expense of maintaining/expanding local routes. 

What would be ideal is for the light rail to go underground completely as to not disrupt surface automobile infrastructure. 

 

You could have the rail station underneath the baggage claim at Hobby.

I don't see how that would be ideal given the cost. A perfect compromise would be to submerge rail at a handful of key intersections. 

Westheimer would be perfect "Quickline" service from hwy 6 to I45. The Kirby and Montrose management district need work together to upgrade the woeful sidewalks and streetscapes, along with the city along the vast majority of the road. However, it is the Montrose part that needs to be a priority infrastructure wise. 

I would build the light rail as planned except have it go through Afton Oaks and have it submerged at the 4 most busy intersections. Furthermore, the light rail wouldn't be built at the expense of local bus and P&R bus; in fact they would be expanded. 

So is this taller than BG Main Place or whatever it is called?