mfastx

Fun while it lasted.  Does Lufthansa still use an A380? 

Really a nice building.  Only thing I can take away from it is how far back it is from the street, making it suburban in nature.  But guess I can't expect too much with it being on a feeder road. 

Damn, that looks pretty sweet.  Looks like something you'd see in DC. 

Soo much work to be done around Toyota Center but it's moving in the right direction for sure. 

23 hours ago, IronTiger said:

The 2003 referendum promised a lot that's undelivered (it included new bus routes, total coverage, and a lot more stuff). A good description, attributed to METRO board member Carol Lewis, would be that it's “a plan, not a commitment.”

 

I wrote a whole bit on this when I was engaging in battles with Slick on a near-regular basis. Probably not the best use of time in retrospect, but I learned a lot about mass transit in Houston during the process.

True, but Houstonians did approve those lines, so if the plans change, at least give them a chance to vote on those change of plans.  Personally I don't see the point in referendums, but Houston has already gone that route.  

That Hilton Americas has really aged well, beautiful building. 

52 minutes ago, Sunstar said:

They keep teasing that they'll build commuter rail, but it never happens. I think any future highway expansions should have to include right of way for rail to receive funding. We've already got some of the widest freeways in the world.

Commuter rail is different than what I referenced, and I think it would be a good idea, but it'd take a lot longer to see the returns on that than rapid transit heavy rail.  METRO has already have spent so much on the HOV network, I wonder if they should try to improve that service somehow. 

Oh it'd definitely be over 100,000 if just the voter approved University and Uptown lines were built.  Hell, maybe even just the University Line. 

Houston would get much better results if it went with grade separated heavy rail over a broader area as opposed to concentrated light rail, but that ship has long sailed I guess. It is unfortunate that Metro seemingly has no interest in rail expansion even though they owe the voters two more rail lines. 

Now THAT is what a development should look like. 

I actually kind of agree, especially when viewed at ground level.  I get why it's so prominently featured as there is a nice parkland and bayou running in the foreground, but the buildings are really spaced out and it just doesn't look dense. 

One of the reason I wish Houston did more to try and build heavy rail is that we have a lot of areas that would be great if connected by transit but are far away.  Light rail connecting both airports would be great, but heavy rail would achieve significantly more ridership, especially since IAH is so far away from where most people live. 

Knowing that we've gone ahead and built light rail, I would extend the red line north with limited stops in the less densely populated areas to speed up travel times as much as possible.  It's much too slow when being run in the middle of the street, so some grade separation would have to be involved. 

I think a light rail connection to Hobby would get more ridership, and we're already almost there. Just running it down Broadway to the airport would get decent ridership IMO. 

They're persistent, gotta give 'em that. 

20 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

Out of curiosity I wandered to the Metro website and saw that the FTA finalized the environmental study on this line which gives Metro the right to tweak the design. This is awesome news and I knew nothing about this. Even if it goes back to the ballot box, its clear by how packed the trains and busses are that people want public transportation. 

Are you talking about the Record of Decision?  If so that was like over five years ago, I don't think METRO is even close to concerned with constructing the University line at this point, unfortunately. 

Lol, that "NEADO" has to be a joke.  

Damn what a dead zone southeast of the Toyota Center, glad something is proposed for that area. 

They're just gonna leave that crappy wall up on the right side?? 

I mean I'd live there. 

Turner should focus on getting the damn University line built, TxDOT does the freeways and they never seem to have any shortage of money. 

If I had a somewhat unlimited check book I'd do:

 

Elevated light rail west of S. Rice st (at grade in certain spots if possible / if there are long stretches without lights). Keep it in the median as there is plenty of street capacity for cars.

 

Underground light rail east of Sage......something like Boston's system.

 

That would save "some" $. But we're talking bazillions of dollars here.

 

Pipe dreams.....

 

Heh, yea my fantasy system would likely cost like $25-30 billion, but it'd get amazing ridership.  Neither here nor there though. 

They are

 

 

I'm not sure when it is starting though.

 

Westheimer really needs some sort of heavier transit method - BRT, light rail, subway, elevated train, cable car - something

I've always thought a heavy rail subway under Westheimer from like Beltway 8 all the way into downtown would get great ridership. 

Looks interesting, TxDOT always seems to have a ton of money for stuff like this, so why not? 

10 mins to the galleria, 15 to downtown, 15 to the energy corridor. What pain?

610 from 290 to 59 is absolute and total suckage, c'mon man. 

Wow I love that, looks like something you'd see in Buenos Aires. 

But why does Houston have to settle? Houston needs to push this and fight a little harder to push this to it's core. Just like Dallas is.

 

Not trying to make this a Dallas/Houston thing, but it does seem like Dallas is very successful in bringing it's development to it's downtown area. Houston seems like its making some strides, but it isn't enough. It does get kind of flustering.

If Houston already had some form of commuter rail and had a suitable station downtown, then it would have had a better shot IMO.  Houston is just really behind in it's transit infrastructure, and has a joke of an Amshack station downtown.  

It really sucks, hopefully one day a better station is built downtown and the TCR line may be extended.  Hopefully. 

Nah...TCR made the right decision.  No need to jeopardize the whole project just to go a few more miles.  A downtown station isn't THAT important.  Maybe later there will be a good business case to be made for pushing through.  Or maybe not.

I think it was also about actually constructing a suitable station downtown, Dallas already has a station that could accommodate HSR.  They'd have to construct an entire station where real estate is most expensive. 

Maybe sometime in the future a new station will be constructed downtown and service will be extended, hopefully.