Highway 290 Commuter Train

[CDeb]

Worked well in 1970, but why have one lane where two or three will easily fit? Texas, California and other states are clearly moving toward HOT lanes (to make money) and diamond lanes (to move more people).

Back to the original topic, I know lots of people that drive in to downtown along 290. I can't say statistically what the numbers would look like, but I think we'd be surprised how many people actually work downtown and live along the 290 corridor. The problem is how many people would even use the commuter rail? We have a deeply entrenched car culture here in Houston that won't change over night.

HOT lanes are merely the next evolution of HOV lanes. Same setup, different rules is all.

Barrier separated lanes are more operationally efficient (operational efficiency being their raison d'etre) than diamond lanes. You premise that diamond lanes are better merely because other cities are building them ignores other factors that may be at work. Other cities have less experience with managed lanes, therefore the public reacts differently to them. Other cities have more costly ROW, so space is a bigger issue for them. Context. Don't ignore context.

There are plenty of us civil engineers who would disagree with you

[urbancowboy]

I took the bus from the NW Station P&R. The busses left every 5 minutes at one point in the morning and they were always packed. So I am sure that commuter rail will work on this route. However, 18 months....I wouldn't hold my breath.

[jt16]

HOT lanes are merely the next evolution of HOV lanes. Same setup, different rules is all.

Barrier separated lanes are more operationally efficient (operational efficiency being their raison d'etre) than diamond lanes. You premise that diamond lanes are better merely because other cities are building them ignores other factors that may be at work. Other cities have less experience with managed lanes, therefore the public reacts differently to them. Other cities have more costly ROW, so space is a bigger issue for them. Context. Don't ignore context.

There are plenty of us civil engineers who would disagree with you

I can't match your engineering expertise, as I'm not an engineer.

But back at you. Context. My premise is not based strictly on other cities, but California and Texas (including Houston) moving to diamond lanes as originally stated. These were my main examples in the earlier post, and both are experienced in traffic management.

I'm sure like all discussions, there are civil engineers that can make good arguments in favor of both approaches.

I agree with JT that HOT lanes and Diamond lanes are the way to go.

As for commuter rail, I believe there would be demand. A good comparison might be to look at rail ridership from the North Dallas suburbs. I agree that I don't think Cypress residents want buses running around here, but I do think they'd be receptive to commuter rail.

Me, I have degrees from UT and Tech. Love them both. Great schools.

Ethan what about you?

People that attended one of the major universities in Texas generally have a great deal of respect for each other and their universities. It's usually the lesser known schools that have some sort of inferiority complex in regards to schools. I attended Texas A&M and have lots of friends that attended UT, Tech, Rice, TCU, etc. There's good natured ribbing, but not one of them actually believe the baseless drivel that some of these posters truly believe.

Edited June 28, 2007 by jt16

[MidtownCoog]

As someone who now drives the HOV daily I have no desire to see them changed.

It's one of the perks you get for working downtown. Don't mess up a good thing.