ADCS

Says who? Each one of those schools are serving a certain niche. A&M wouldn't like that campus because both schools are serving similar niches - drawing from a large population base to drive high levels of research, and serving high-caliber students who for whatever reason weren't able to make it into an elite private university. UH doesn't serve that market, especially since Rice is next door - it's geared toward educating professionals who intend on staying in the Houston area. There's nothing wrong with this mission, as it allows for flexibility and innovation that wouldn't be available at the larger universities. I think we just have a tendency to act strangely when we think others are looking down on us.

It's all a power play to either get PUF access or Big 12 membership. Think the local leadership is shooting themselves in the foot here.

Tunnel would probably cost ~$3 billion itself. Not likely to happen up front when you're being funded through private investment.

1. Doesn't really help anything 2. Makes future, useful expansions more expensive 3. It's a pretty regressive design - reminds me of something out of the '80s 4. Reduces shoulder space in a congested area - will likely lead to more accidents 5. Bottlenecks inherent in the design may make West Loop traffic worse, due to the weaving/backpressure that will be introduced onto the mainlanes at the entrance/exit points The more I think about it, the less this particular project makes sense. Either double-deck the whole thing like LBJ in Dallas, or let the current design live out its service life and hope you have the political clout to take on the rich NIMBYs the next go-around.

Made it up, but it seems natural.

Never underestimate how powerful auto dealers are in local politics. They're responsible for half of GOP campaign funds, and often around 15-20% of Democratic funds.

So, sounds like they're going to leverage that to try and get some cash out of HCTRA/TxDOT for the corridor, to make sure that there is space for the Hempstead TR. I'd guess that it would go to drainage improvements in the area, to keep things quiet. Smart if that's the case.

It's mostly 30+ year old tilt-wall construction around there; i.e. already paid for. Land owners would jump at the opportunity to upgrade their facilities away from the traffic on TCR's dime. We'll know things are getting serious when we start hearing about an Upper Post Oak District TIRZ.

Agreed, I really don't see this as improving much at all. Looks like a bus lane that they've converted into a general express lane on account of the opposition to the Post Oak busway.

1. Untrue. 20/59 in MS/AL, 70/76 in PA, 80/90 in IN and OH, 90/94 in WI are all multiplexed over long distances. 75/85 in Atlanta are multiplexed in the manner proposed. 2. You can make ROW do whatever you want it to, the question is cost.

I can't see how this is a good idea unless you're a rural politician looking for jobs once the gas patch runs dry, or an Aggie with an inferiority complex over Austin having an Interstate while College Station does not.

Look, I like public transportation as much as the rest, but the West Loop needs more capacity. Not our fault that planners failed to design sufficient north-south arterial capacity in the area.

Who gets to be "Houston" in this case? In other words, the people who are opposed to this tend to be the sorts of people who have the kind of pull to determine what "Houston" wants to do.

I second El Real. Probably the best place if you have an out-of-towner to show them what Tex-Mex is supposed to taste like.

Perhaps it's more like GM's brand differentiation, where one is clearly supposed to be a prestige brand that appeals to higher-end customers, while the other is a more mid-market brand serving a wider audience at lower operating costs.

Eh, there are really only four - land developers, auto dealers, engineering departments and wealthy middle age to elderly residents with strong opinions and without jobs

Also, the folks in south and east Dallas aren't rich white folks with political connections and the means to litigate.

It will likely be nicer than you think. The model is for most of the money to be made off of retail to begin with. It wouldn't surprise me to see something like a CityCentre be developed beside the train station.

I'd like that too - but I'm not sure what the per mile cost would be.

I like the idea, except I would move the crosstown line from the politically-infeasible Richmond corridor and move it up to Westheimer. Heck, if the engineering requires it, I wouldn't be opposed to converting Lower Westheimer into one-way or pedestrian-only traffic.

Not only that, but it's as if taxis/towncars/Uber don't exist. As much as I'd like some sort of rail out that way, it's likely that the target consumer for TCR would prefer taxis or rideshares over public transportation, anyway.

Think it also has to do with procurement of funds and liquidity. They know it'll be easier to get funds freed up for actual construction than for legal defense. They likely have a strict budget for litigation, and Rice Military would exceed that number alone. I'm sure the original hope was that people would be wowed by the concept and NIMBY attitudes would be minimized, but, well, that's not how those folks work.

I think getting downtown long-term is possible, but first you've got to establish enough existing demand for the service to outweigh the significant financial and political costs of building those last five miles. From what I've seen, the NIMBYs have plenty of time and cash on their hands.

The biggest challenge in redeveloping the area is going to be moving all the state and municipal services out. If I were TCR, I'd be looking at buying up properties to the south and west of the site for redevelopment. The HISD administration building is a huge barrier to any sort of dense redevelopment to the north and east, along with the parole office that's in Brookhollow.

Now there's an idea... why not set up a TIRZ for the transformation of that area into the Brewery District or something like that (maybe the Texas Central District if they agree to an increased tax share)? Might also incentivize some of those industrial businesses to start moving outward on 290.