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mfastx

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Everything posted by mfastx

  1. mfastx
    Holy cow that's ugly. Add another one to the list that turned out far worse than the latest rendering.
  2. mfastx
    itshappening.gif
  3. mfastx
    The California High Speed Rail. And that's optimistic, there's a ton of NIMBY pushback and opposition as always unfortunately. And I agree with everything else you said, a downtown transit center combining Amtrak, Greyhound, light rail and a METRO bus center would be really cool and a great opportunity to create a signature structure identifiable to Houston. Unfortunately there's just no money for something like that with METRO having to make those damn mobility payments. And if METRO can't fund it, then who would?
  4. mfastx
    Yea unfortunately since the HSR guys don't even wanna bring it to downtown there really isn't a chance for something like this. Unless you wanna build all of this for a three times a week Amtrak train. But on the flip side that probably won't get built for like 20 years at least, too expensive.
  5. mfastx
    That looks amazing.
  6. mfastx
    Almost reminds me of like a poor man's Quincy Market type thing in Boston.
  7. mfastx
    Yea.. sorry I wasn't reading enough in this thread. If the choice is to create a park out of it or just simply demolish it then I'd say demo it. With a cut and cover, you can really only put a park or some sort of public space on the surface though, which would be fine too.
  8. mfastx
    I was under the impression that one of the proposals was tearing down the Pierce and tunneling 45 along the same alignment.
  9. mfastx
    If we straight up tear it down fine, I was assuming that it would be tunneled roughly where it is now. It would be very difficult to construct buildings over a tunneled freeway. If we just tear it down and don't construct an underground highway in it's place, then yea I guess, although they would likely remain surface for the next 25-50 years at least.
  10. mfastx
    Well you can't have buildings on top of it unless it is super deep and built to support structures. In Boston the park isn't a barrier at all, it depends on how it's done.
  11. mfastx
    Can't believe it's gonna beat Astoria, lol.
  12. mfastx
    To play devil's advocate, while downtown is not directly under the "normal" pattern for HOU, I do recall being on a flight that came in really late and flew literally right over downtown. And the buildings were quite close to my recollection. That being said, I agree that there shouldn't be a height limit/restrictions at all downtown, it is hardly necessary to go over downtown to get to HOU.
  13. mfastx
    Those shots look like they could easily be in St. Louis or Philly or something. If you replaced the concrete street with asphalt that is.
  14. mfastx
    Haha, yeah, those were the days. Remember that Deyaar(sp?) Post Oak proposal? Like an 80 story tower right on Richmond/Post Oak? Man if only that thing went up, lol.
  15. mfastx
    It will happen, just not for another 100 years or so.
  16. mfastx
    THIS would be a game changer for this area. Whoa.
  17. mfastx
    I agree that that isn't going to happen, but you can get light rail wherever you want it, it is not restricted to being at-grade in the middle of a street.
  18. mfastx
    Honestly I think it's an improvement, I like the more modern look. Although saying "it's an improvement" isn't saying a lot.
  19. mfastx
    On TCR's website in the "Learn the Facts" section there is question saying "where will the stations be" and it says that the stations will be "convenient" to downtown Dallas and Houston. I guess depending on how you word that you could say that they are saying "downtown Dallas" and "Houston" by itself. BUT, they do make a point to mention that it will be convenient to Houston's METRO system, which the NW Mall site certainly will not accomplish.
  20. mfastx
    It's pretty clear a downtown site is superior to the NW mall site by every metric outside of cost. The only reason we are even discussing this is because TCR proposed NW Mall because it'd be a lot cheaper. Downtown is a lot more central and more accessible.
  21. mfastx
    Part of the advantage of HSR is that it gets you to the center, closer to your destination. A station near 290 accomplishes this decently, but downtown is much closer to the center of the population in Houston. If the station is on 290, many people will still opt for flying to Hobby as the drive from there to downtown is comparable. A downtown station would also be closer to Greenway and TMC. 610 West is one of our most congested freeways. While a 290 station would be closest to Uptown, it would require the majority of people to take 610/I10 to their final destination, further congesting an already congested area. A station connecting to the light rail system allows a traveler to not need a car if their destination is on a rail line, a huge benefit.
  22. mfastx
    I'd like to see the east side get filled in first but yea pretty much agree with this.
  23. mfastx
    Plenty of business travelers use transit when it is available and widespread. The idea to connect it to the transit system comes from thinking about the future. As the transit system expands over the next few decades people would look back and say what a mistake it was to not put the HSR station near transit.
  24. mfastx
    Awesome pic. Love the light rail going through that garage. The apartments look great.
  25. mfastx
    Burnett Plaza would be a decent location, direct connection to METRORail downtown is a plus, and you have some space for redevelopment and building parking facilities and such. Since downtown is the largest employment center in the urban area, it's a good idea to make it as accessible as possible for intercity infrastructure. Ideally you'd have two stops: 1 in/near downtown and 1 in/near uptown. Works really well, see Boston's setup with Union Station and Back Bay. The 290 area spot would be a lot better if there was a high capacity transit connection, but that probably won't happen anytime soon. The line would get more ridership if there were good connections at it's destinations to get people where they want to go easily. Otherwise, why not just fly? The advantages of HSR are downtown to downtown service with easy connections to public transit.
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