What is your ideal transit plan for Houston?

[Slick Vik]

Getting rid of parking lots for the sake of creating pedestrian "green space", especially if the parking lots are still very much in use, is not practical or cost effective.

Discovery green worked out

[JLWM8609]

OK, this is gonna seem a bit nuts, but I'm gonna go with it: upgrade one sidewalk of Almeda Road into a wide "two lane" bicycle path, integrating the Brays Bayou trail with Hermann Park with Midtown and Downtown. This is to close Columbia Tap Rail Trail, as that tends to go through rough neighborhoods, and some bicyclists have even been assaulted. The closed Columbia Tap Rail Trail will then be made into a bus-only route connecting 288 to Interstate 45. A transit center will be built at Leeland and Velasco. 

 

Also, extend Spur 5 down to 610, except modify the route slightly to spare the Fiesta and Mykawa Road, instead taking out the vacant Auchan. 

 

Finish up the connections of Buffalo Speedway between Orem and Willowbend.

 

Connect Kirby between Holmes and Airport Boulevard. Rename the west part of Reed Road and close off the railroad crossing there.

 

Instead of a bus lane which could easily be added to 288, that ROW would be good for a passenger rail line running from Pearland to downtown. The southern terminus would have a station at Broadway and FM 521 in Pearland or at Highway 6 in Arcola. There would be a station at Holcombe for those going to the Med Center, then a station at TSU, and the northern terminus would be near the soccer stadium at Walker and Dowling.

 

I would also extend Spur 5, but not just to 610, but all the way down to Alvin and re-designate it SH35.

 

[nate]

Ideally, everyone else would be required to use public transportation and I would be permitted to drive my car.

[livincinco]

Ideally, everyone else would be required to use public transportation and I would be permitted to drive my car.

 

http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-98-percent-of-us-commuters-favor-public-tra,1434/

[IronTiger]

Instead of a bus lane which could easily be added to 288, that ROW would be good for a passenger rail line running from Pearland to downtown. The southern terminus would have a station at Broadway and FM 521 in Pearland or at Highway 6 in Arcola. There would be a station at Holcombe for those going to the Med Center, then a station at TSU, and the northern terminus would be near the soccer stadium at Walker and Dowling.

 

I would also extend Spur 5, but not just to 610, but all the way down to Alvin and re-designate it SH35.

 

I actually thought about putting passenger rail in there, but realized that might have complications when getting back to downtown area, and that university along the stretch just wouldn't be right with a railroad blasting through. It's not a simple bus lane, it's more of a BRT, with even railroad crossing-like signals at road crossings. 288 could have instead dedicated HOV/toll lanes.

 

Oh, and I did make a mistake, the railroad's on the other side of Almeda Road. The revised plan would reconnect whatever's on the west side of Reed Road to Holmes, with Kirby taking over the existing Reed Road. Reed Road and Kirby would take part of those abandoned-looking parking lots between Almeda and 288. Kirby will ultimately extend to Anagnost and finally connecting to Beltway 8.

[zaphod]

I am not living in Houston so I can't really comment. This is just for fun, because that is what this site if for.

 

There is only one new place you can go with metro light rail that has not been really envisioned in any formal real life plan: Inner Northwest. I think in some alternate universe where I-10 did not completely consume the path left behind by the old MKT railroad, there could have been a very long DART-like line from Downtown to the Energy Corridor via the Heights, Memorial City, etc.

 

In another alternative universe, trains kept running on the set of tracks through the Heights and it was the line to the south that was discontinued instead, at least between the junction at the start of the hempstead highway to the west, and the other near Elysian in the east. Then you could have some kind of transit there.

Edited August 30, 2013 by zaphod

[cloud713]

Getting rid of parking lots for the sake of creating pedestrian "green space", especially if the parking lots are still very much in use, is not practical or cost effective.

Like someone pointed out, it worked great for discovery green. It could be cost effective if it attracts a large high rise or two to overlook the park, which would sit on land (part of the existing lots) they would sell to them and make money on. Theoretically the value of the piece of property they would sell would go up too if its next to/has access to a large nice park, one would think? So the incentive to do that would be even greater. Not to mention a great area for pre game activities at either stadium.

Edited September 3, 2013 by cloud713

[IronTiger]

Most of the Discovery Green lot was already greenspace, and demolishing SOME parking lots is preferable to demolishing MOST parking lots. 

 

Now, you will notice for most of the parking lots, it is painfully obvious that there are building foundations there. Perhaps a repaving and restriping would serve the area well.

 

Back on subject. Another thing that would probably help in terms of traffic flow is what I would call the Bellfort Tollway. Rather than route all west Houston-bound traffic through the Southwest Freeway, build a parallel road to Bellfort from the southwest tip of 610 to the 59/Beltway 8 stack. The Fort Bend Tollway would also extend north.

[kdog08]

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

[cloud713]

woahh.. my idea of getting rid of 45 elevated along the west side of downtown, and running it along the length of 59 and 10 is actually being considered by the city, along with various other designs, some of which look like they might consist of burying 59 past the GRB like i had implemented to build a deck park over it connecting downtown and the east end...

see Scheme B (relocate IH-45), though the others will probably be interesting too.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/54482015/CHI%20Breakfast%20Presentation%20for%20publication.pdf

[cloud713]

OMG SCHEME D... tunnels!!!

[Naviguessor]

So...I kind of like the tangle of highways and ramps on the West Side of downtown.  Its how most people get a look at downtown. I'd miss them if they were removed.  I also enjoy the paths and bayou underneth.  Dramatic. Pierce and 59 can be eliminated (Pierce anyway), sunk, decked, or just improved. 

 

Back to rail... Among other things...what I really feel is needed is two connections from Downtown to Uptown.  First: LRT all the way down Richmond! (not jumping over 59 to appease Afton Oaks). Dedidcated trains could run direct from DT and Switch to Richmond at Wheeler. Second: Connect an express line from Theater District down Memorial, with limited stops.  Perhaps just at Shepherd & Memorial Park... Then connet down to Post Oak and the Galleria. This line could really connect Downtown and Uptown in a fast, slick, efficient and Beautiful way. Would really connect the two districts, which, with out a doubt is needed.    

[cloud713]

Here's my inner city street car plans, with the light rail system drawn in as well. The East End streetcar system is drawn in, as is my doodles for a streetcar system serving the midtown region and beyond.

At the southern end the streetcar tracks make a loop around the medical center/through the museum district, down bissonnet-binz, almeda, halcombe, and back up greenbriar. From there continuing north across 59 where the streetcar line continues down Shepard, where it finally turns right on Gray, where it travels east through midtown before looping back around just before 288. I also have a streetcar line going down montrose, from the Sam houston statue turn around at the museum district, all the way north to Washington ave, where the line would run east/west down Washington ave, stretching east into downtown, ending by minute maid park. There is also a spur off of montrose going down westheimer/Elgin, and turning around at Baldwin park. Either that or have it go down Alabama and turn around at the 288/59 junction. Another route I just thought of would be a route down W Dallas street, traveling into downtown, following the road northeast as if turns into bagby street, and have that spur connect into the Washington Ave line.

I'm sure there are better routes, as I'm not very familiar with the midtown area, these are just some ideas I had after looking at a map of the area and finding roads that were at least 4 lanes, in popular developed areas.

it looks like my streetcar plans werent as unique as i thought.. Super Neighborhood 22 proposed streetcars for Washington Ave and Montrose Ave (two streets i had streetcar lines on in my midtown/4th ward sketch streetcar system), that go downtown by the ballpark like i envisioned. none the less im very excited others are considering the same ideas.. the commuter/heavy rail along the trenched stretch of the Hempstead railroad connecting the east end/southeast lines into the uptown light rail line is also very exciting for the future.

http://sn22.org/download/SN22_Transportation%20Pres_072810.pdf

Edited October 2, 2013 by cloud713

[cloud713]

in addition to my streetcar systems in midtown/Montrose/Washington/East End/Uptown, supporting the full fledged/built out light rail system, i would also have the commuter/heavy rail along the proposed trenched segment through the heights, stopping at the railroad intersection (northern terminus of my westside N/S express connector route) i mention later, then tying into an extended northern terminus of the Uptown line, before going out to the beltway/Jersey Village, Highway 6/1960, and finally Cypress (not all the way to Prairie View/Hempstead).
also commuter/heavy rail along the 90A route from South Fannin TC to Missouri City and finally Sugar Land.
(this one i think is genius, considering if you live in southwest Houston and you want to get to Uptown, you would be forced to ride the 90A rail to the south end of the red line, then ride the red line up to the university line, then ride the university line back over to the uptown line, then catch the uptown line to wherever your final destination is. that would probably take you an hour and a half (my guesstimate), to get somewhere thats maybe 10 miles away)
the solution to that problem? a west side N/S express commuter rail route from 90A, at Hiram Clarke, north along the rail road ROW thats half a mile to the east of the west loop, with a stop at Westpark, for transfers to the proposed Westpark commuter line, before continuing north again along the rail road tracks, past i10, terminating at the hempstead railroad/290 corridor commuter rail. you could get from southwest Houston to Northwest Houston in less than 30 minutes.
also the proposed commuter rail line from Wheeler Station in midtown out west along the Westpark corridor. i would have it feature an underground subway stop at Edloe (the train would have to go over or under at Edloe anyways since Westpark Dr curves across the ROW at that spot), with a walkway tunnel connecting under 59 into the underground tunnel system in Greenway/Upper Kirby, continue on to the intersection with the westside N/S connector, and then the Westpark/Hillcroft TC, Beltway 8, Highway 6, and finally the Grand Parkway. i would then bring back the Houston-Galveston passenger rail line for commuter rail, stops at Burnett Station/hopefully some new version of the Intramodal Terminal (with High Speed Rail coming into the hardy yards site from Dallas and Austin/SA), then the Magnolia Transit Center, Broadway Street (with a commuter rail spur running down the median of Broadway straight to the front entrance of Hobby International Airport), Webster/NASA, League City, Dickinson, Marque, and finally Galveston, ending at the Train Museum station on the strand, dumping passengers out onto Galvestons streetcar system.
I would also put commuter rail in the HOV lane on i45 North, and i10 West. 45N from downtown at the old Post Office site where the 290 commuter rail would start, up onto 45, along the HOV lane.. im not 100% sure on stops for this route so for now ill put the stations at 610, 249, Beltway 8, 1960, Springwoods Village Parkway/Hardy Tollroad, possibly Grogans Mill/Sawdust Road, terminating (for now, im sure it would continue onto Conroe with future funding and population growth) at an elevated station over the highway at Lake Dobbins Road (The Woodlands).
The commuter rail down i10 would also start from the downtown Post Office site, and it could go along the same trenched portion of tracks, parallel to Washington Ave, as the 290 commuter rail from downtown over to i10, stopping where Washington Ave crosses i10, near Memorial Park, (which will be a multi modal station, with commuter rail and streetcars, serving as the western terminus of the Washington streetcar line), and then continue onto the Northwest TC, connecting into the uptown light rail line, going on to Gessner/Memorial City, an elevated station at Town and Country Blvd/City Centre/Beltway 8, Highway 6, and ending at the Grand Parkway (or possibly Katy Mills, though im not sure KM is popular enough to warrant a stop). 
while i was looking at the satellite picture/map of the west side when trying to plan the stops out i noticed there was no way the commuter rail could serve the energy corridor without putting several stops in along i10 between the Grand Parkway and beltway 8, which would slow the train down a great deal, reducing the advantage of taking the train vs driving. i realized regional stops were needed along the energy corridor, so due to this, and the need for timely, efficient mass transportation in the EC, i decided light rail lines each direction down one of the lanes on the feeder roads along i10 would best serve the EC between Grand Parkway and the beltway, with the west terminus at a park and ride/transit center at the Grand Parkway, and the eastern terminus at CityCentre.

also, the Ft Bend Parkway needs to be connected into 610. and maybe build that tollroad from 45 down Spur 5 to old Pearland.

Edited January 3, 2014 by cloud713

[cloud713]

i mentioned this in the Mid Lane thread but liked the idea enough to sketch it out..

Since there is no room for ROW expansion on Westheimer, and quite a few developments going up/existing along a mile or so stretch of are between Westheimer and San Felipe, traffic is going to be even more of a nightmare in that area in the future. i figured an alternative route to link these developments was needed and this is what i came up with..

i call it the Bettis Line Streetcar.. (the name is a work in progress, lol..)

it originally started at the north side of Westcreek Ln, but i noticed the added potential of connecting it west down San Felipe to BLVD Place and the future uptown light rail line (there will be a stop just south of San Felipe, where the streetcar line terminates)..
so it goes from Post Oak, along the south side of San Felipe (they may have to eliminate the median and bump vehicular traffic over into that ROW for room for the streetcar to the south) to Westcreek Ln, turns south through the Westcreek development before turning east on Bettis Dr, running behind River Oaks District and on through the north side of Mid Lane, before turning south into the ROW on the west side of the rail road tracks, ending at Westheimer and Highland Village. 

[emanthehouseboy]

With me...I would revive the Galveston Passenger Rail route, bring bus transit back to the area [once the city gets its legal troubles with the proposed Intermodal Transit Center resolved], then I would improve the infrastructure [e.g., street improvements in East Harris county] and either have METRO or Harris County Transit [or both services] serve that area since it's severely underserved. As a bonus, add some more bicycle lanes on the major streets as well as new bike trails and linear parks on both sides of the area's bayous...and lastly, revive the boat transit system and use a stretch of Buffalo Bayou, San Jacinto River, and Galveston Bay as its main routes...

 

[citykid09]

My ideal would be a rail Heavy rail system like DC's METRO that goes all the way from The Woodland (or at least Bush Airport) all the way to Hobby (stopping through the Medical Center). There would be another line that went to Greenway Plaza, Uptown and maybe to the Westchase and Memorial City. Once the people got to those destinations light rail/street cars would take you where you needed to go from there. Many improvements would have to be made in these areas to improve the walkability of pedestrians once they have been let off the trains. For example storefronts could be built up to the streets in front of the buildings in Greenway if possible. Could you imagine hopping on a subway in The Woodlands or near Bush Airport taking it to Downtown, transferring trains to go to Uptown then going shopping, clubbing or whatever you would like  then hopping back on and going home without having to get in a car. If you guys have never experienced life in a city where this is possible you should visit one and try it. It’s a whole new way to look at a city. I mean the light rail lines that METRO is building is a great start, but it defiantly cannot be the end.

 

 

[editor]

My plan is very simple.  

 

Phase one: Everyone gets a small limo and a driver.  This has the side-effect of virtually wiping out unemployment overnight.

Phase two: Outlaw clocks. With all the roads jammed with limos, nobody will ever get anywhere "on time."  So we eliminate time, and because everyone's chilling in a limo, they don't care when they arrive.  

 

Easy peasy.

 

 

[editor]

Cloud's Washington Avenue Streetcar is a pretty good idea.  It reminds me of SLUT in Seattle.  Having that one trolley line tied into light rail, rapid bus, and downtown almost singlehandedly turned the South Lake Union neighborhood from a vast expanse of derelict warehouses into a hipster community so vibrant that both Amazon.com and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation moved their headquarters there.  

[cloud713]

i revised my downtown/surrounding area plans a bit.. 
along with the Washington Ave streetcar line both SN22 and I thought up, and the East Ends planned streetcar system, i would lengthen the East Ends downtown spur from ending at Fannin, to extending across Main Street, up to Milam St (i figured Chevron might not want mass transit running through the middle of their campus, for security reasons.. plus Louisiana is one way in the wrong direction for the steetcar to turn around). and also have two segments of track connecting the west side of the Washington and East End streetcar spurs in downtown, and the east side, by running tracks down Louisiana/Milam from Bell to Preston, and down Crawford/LaBranch from Congress to Leeland, it would form a square of streetcar tracks around downtown, serving everything from Market Square Park/Hines residential/possible International Tower, to Minute Maid, Marriott Marquis/Discovery Green/Hilton Americas, Toyota Center, the new park in southern downtown, the planned Camden residential highrises, Houston House/SkyHouse/Alliance residential apartments, to the skyline district, headed back to Preston.
after discussions about what to do with Westheimer since there is no room to expand the ROW, yet so many new developments, i would go with the subway option (which is highlighted further in the next sketch), branching left/north off of Westheimer at Bagby/the 527 spur, running past 45 on the western edge of downtown before turning east under/along Lamar into the skyline district, dumping out at Louisiana. this route avoids any of the existing underground tunnel segments in downtown (i realize may seem like a questionable route, especially dumping a busy subway line off at a streetcar line, but the only other options i could think of included running it through Chevrons campus [again, idk if they would go for that due to security reasons, and there are existing tunnels in the way that would have to be abandoned], or branching it south along Pierce terminating at the Metro Terminal).

i also question wether midtown and the 4th ward could use additional streetcar lines, like from W Gray down Taft, and right on W Dallas into downtown, serving more of the 4th ward, or a loop between Elgin and W Alabama in midtown.

-KEY (same for both sketches)
Blue - light rail
Black - highway
Maroon - streetcar line
orange - commuter rail
brown - subway




and then i went ahead and sketched some streetcar lines and subway lines through Greenway/Upper Kirby, and added a few routes to my Museum district/TMC system.
subways down Westheimer from at least Uptown (maybe as far west as the beltway), to downtown, and under Kirby from Fannin South station to San Felipe. also streetcars down Weslayan, as far south as Westpark and the future Weslayan/westpark LRT station, and north to San Felipe. a streetcar line running down Edloe from a future commuter rail station on Westpark serving the Greenway/Upper Kirby district, and going north to a subway station at Westheimer. also streetcars down W Alabama, from Weslayan to Kirby, and down Bissonette, from Edloe to the museum district. 
and then streetcars down Halcombe, Almeda, Binz, Cambridge, and 90A.

Edited January 9, 2014 by cloud713

[IronTiger]

What I think I would do in terms of highways, the downtown ones are usually the worst, so here's what I'd do in a way that would satisfy at least some people. US-59 is sunken up until around Leeland Street. What I would do is shift it to the right and build a new sunken US-59 underneath Old Chinatown and have it emerge just after Commerce Street.

The remaining highway (save a few lanes from 59 used for access) becomes the northbound Interstate 45. Pierce Elevated is reconfigured so that there's five lanes running southbound, an inner shoulder, an outer shoulder, and a bike lane, from the bayou near Allen Parkway to EaDo.

Also, the Columbia Tap Rail Trail becomes BRT from 288 to 45.

[Naviguessor]

Cloud - Love that you extended LR down Memorial. Would be awesome if this connected (and became) the Memorial/Uptown Line. 

[cloud713]

Cloud - Love that you extended LR down Memorial. Would be awesome if this connected (and became) the Memorial/Uptown Line.

Thanks. I was debating between LRT down memorial or Allen parkway, but decided to go with memorial in part because of all the curves on Allen, and because memorial is 6 lanes whereas Allen is only 4 main lanes. Additional pedestrian bridges from the Allen side of the bayou can be built over to the LRT stations along memorial.

I've even heard of proposals to bury memorial through memorial park, so memorial LRT would be a subway near uptown. I envision fewer stops and higher speeds for the trains on memorial, providing a better alternative from uptown to downtown than the university line, at least until subway could be built down westheimer.

[Naviguessor]

Yes. Memorial would be the speedies,t and most elegant, beautiful way to connect downtown and uptown/galleria. I think it'd be the perfect rail compliment to the university line. Imagine the Stadiums, Convention District, Downtown, Theater District, Buffalo Bayou, Memorial Park, Uptown and Galleria...all connected connected on ONE LINE! THIS is what is really needed to connect Houston together. It'd be spectacular.

[cloud713]

Imagine the Stadiums, Convention District, Downtown, Theater District, Buffalo Bayou, Memorial Park, Uptown and Galleria...all connected connected on ONE LINE! THIS is what is really needed to connect Houston together. It'd be spectacular.

That too.. The need to transfer from the university line to the Main Street line, before transferring again to the east end lines creates a hassle and wastes a lot of time.

[IronTiger]

On light rail, I'm a bit shaken on all the people who want to add light rail down any major road corridor that has those wide medians in them.

(artist's interpretation)

Street running has a lot of benefits, but it screws over everybody: cars have dramatically less space to move, traffic patterns are screwed up, businesses start to suffer, and the light rail can't even go very fast because they have to share the road. The first thing I want to do with light rail is take it to Pearland. While we have discussed the logistics of this, this is "ideal circumstances", so I'm going to throw a few of those things to the wind. An extension to the Red Line goes as follows: the light rail goes over the railroad and Holmes and runs in the median of Fannin. It crosses Reed at grade, curls and goes over Almeda, finally getting into the median of 288 and going to Pearland, ending at the Pearland Town Center. There should even be enough space leftover for HOV/HOT lanes, too.

This is a bit similar to the other plan that may have been drawn up already. This takes part of the Red line and the "Pearland expansion" (the southern part) except the light rail goes just to the south of the US-59/Spur 527 interchange, with ramps as to avoid mucking with the turn-off from 59 to Main Street. From there, it goes in the thin strip of ROW from what remains of the railroad, crossing Montrose, Graustark, Mandell, Dunlavy, etc. up until the former Magic Island, which becomes a new rail station and parking area. An overpass over Westpark and Edloe, and here is our Greenway Plaza/Edloe station, which has a long pedestrian overpass connecting to Greenway Plaza.

After going over the freight railroad, it goes into a tunnel area, under Newcastle, the dog park, and 610. If a tunnel area is completely impractical, it demolishes the "Bark Park", which moves to the southeast corner of Rice Avenue and Westpark Drive.

It re-emerges and goes over another long bridge, over 59 and Westpark Tollway, landing on Sage's median just past Rice Blvd., before going back underground (non-negotiable). There's a station at the Galleria, outside of what is currently Macy's at Sage, goes under Westheimer, re-emerges on Post Oak, goes a bit further, knocking down a few apartment buildings, then paralleling the railroad as it goes over Buffalo Bayou. At the current site of the Houston SPCA, a heavy rail (commuter rail to College Station, another thing) and light rail transfer point is built, then it goes to Northwest Transit Center (one track now) and ends.

[cloud713]

Agreed LRT isn't suitable for most roads. And it definitely screws with traffic.

I did however go out of my way to look for roads with medians in them for my streetcar system. You could eliminate the median and move traffic lanes over into the middle, so that a streetcar line can run unobstructed along side of the road without interfering with traffic.

I too wish they extended rail from Fannin South along 288 down to Pearland (I would have it continue on to Highway 6 given all the traffic/people that exit there). It would greatly serve the people who work in the medical center (which reminds me I forgot to describe my commuter rail extension/spur north of the South Fannin station, continuing along 288 before turning left at Macgregor (or Halcombe) before dumping out on Pressler St at the TMC transit center station).

I like running rail down the westpark ROW too, (I really hope they follow through with this and the university line LRT doesn't prevent future rail down westpark). but I would have it be commuter rail dumping out at the Wheeler station. I guess LRT works too, but that route only needs limited stops (Edloe/greenway, Westpark/uptown LRT station, and a couple others at like Beltway, Highway 6, and Grand Parkway), and commuter rail is faster (is it cheaper? Idk..).

[IronTiger]

Problem with the line I remember seeing that route go north over 59 to get closer to Greenway Plaza. My plan dispenses with that and adds just a pedestrian walkway to it.

[cloud713]

Problem with the line I remember seeing that route go north over 59 to get closer to Greenway Plaza. My plan dispenses with that and adds just a pedestrian walkway to it.

Ah, I haven't seen that route. That was why I extended my streetcar line down Edloe through the commuter rail stop across 59, and into Bissonett, to serve the same function as the pedestrian bridge. I wish city planners were on Haif jotting down all the good ideas.. Heh

[IronTiger]

For my commuter rail, notice that the Uptown/NW Line doesn't go toward downtown, but the commuter rail will, so it's not like if you were traveling from Cypress to get on the train, stop, get on the light rail, get on another light rail to transfer downtown, it's one route on the main rail line. I can also get on board with light rail (see what I did there?) taking over two HOV lanes (one eastbound/one westbound) on Katy Freeway as well, since it was kind of designed for that.