METRORail University Line

[KinkaidAlum]

Google the "southern strategy" and then you'll understand the districting around Houston. It's been wildly successful outside of Gene Green continuing to win what the Republican Party saw as a Hispanic district.

 

For those of you too lazy to do so, here's the skinny. Richard Nixon's team had a plan to win the South completely built around race  (yeah, yeah, I know, racism is over). The goal was to eradicate the possibility of white men representing the Democratic Party by creating safe Republican Districts (see Culberson's district 7 or Poe's District 2) while carving out minority-majority districts to placate the Courts/Democrats. 

 

Our Democracy is seriously at risk if the SCOTUS doesn't get involved. The majority of races across the country are simply not competitive and people become more and more disengaged as they feel like the have no voice.

 

I am almost at that place. My Congressman is Ted Poe. My mom, who lives less than a mile from me, is represented by Culberson. Google Texas district two and Texas district seven and then please try and argue with a straight face that there's any reason for either of those districts to be drawn that way. There isn't.

 

 

 

 

[Houston19514]

^  History via Wikipedia and MSNBC.

 

The parties are at least equally culpable in the carving out of safe districts for their incumbents and the creation of majority minority districts.

[IronTiger]

^ History via Wikipedia and MSNBC.

The parties are at least equally culpable in the carving out of safe districts for their incumbents and the creation of majority minority districts.

Yes, and any "bipartisan committees" usually result in a mix of safe districts for both parties.

[KinkaidAlum]

Somebody doesn't know how redistricting works...

 

 

 

[trymahjong]

Or maybe someone is honing their skills at the gentle art of gerrymandering

[ADCS]

Partisan politics has little to do with this topic. Support for rail transit is neither a strictly Republican or Democrat idea, as evidenced by Ted Poe's support for the project, along with Culberson's opposition.

[arndthwrld82]

I feel like a masochist every time I open any transportation related thread on this site. Why do I bother?

 

I think to myself "updates on the University Line Thread, maybe it's going to start sooner rather than later" but nope it's always politics, straw men, bickering, and horrible stereo-typing!

 

Have I finally learned my lesson? Probably not.

 

Carry on.

[j_cuevas713]

I was checking out the route for the University Line and man it kills me how amazing this line would be! We would have some of the highest ridership in the nation! What can honestly be done to get this back on track? I am excited that our bus routes will be redone, which is great, because I believe every great city has a great bus system. These two rail lines would give Houston an awesome transportation system to build from. What about a new route in the Heights coming off of the Red Line? 

Edited April 27, 2015 by j_cuevas713

[cspwal]

Agreed - this line needs to happen.  How do we make our voices heard?? Mass Transit along this corridor is sorely needed

[cloud713]

not feeling a Heights line.. maybe one down Memorial, cutting through the south side of Memorial Park, and merge into the Post Oak line.

yeah its a bummer this isn't happening anytime soon. there was an article today about Gerald Hines saying major Houston developers need to get behind mass-transit.

[j_cuevas713]

Or maybe some sort of trolly line for the Heights that connects to the Red Line?

I think a city wide petition would help in regards to University Line getting funding. I know Metro takes a lot of crap, and some of it is well deserved, but I also don't find them completely incompetent. The plan in place would have great ridership and funding for the authority. I think the bew bus system is going to really be great.

[IronTiger]

Back when I first joined HAIF, I thought it would be a swell idea to put a light rail down on the MKT right of way in the Heights. In looking at the way the Heights has developed, it might've been an okay idea by now but it goes through a lot of residential areas.

[mfastx]

Highest ridership in the nation?  Not sure about that, but out of all the proposed lines, the University Line easily has the best ridership potential.  It's a shame that politics got in the way of this line. 

[BigFootsSocks]

Highest ridership in the nation?  Not sure about that, but out of all the proposed lines, the University Line easily has the best ridership potential.  It's a shame that politics got in the way of this line. 

I believe it's highest ridership per mile. But yeah, just a reminder for everyone, John Culberson lives out in Cypress everyone. He really should be representing a part of town 20+ miles away though...

[Luminare]

I believe it's highest ridership per mile. But yeah, just a reminder for everyone, John Culberson lives out in Cypress everyone. He really should be representing a part of town 20+ miles away though...

 

m e h, you can say that about a lot of congressional districts both state and federal.

[j_cuevas713]

Highest ridership in the nation?  Not sure about that, but out of all the proposed lines, the University Line easily has the best ridership potential.  It's a shame that politics got in the way of this line. 

Based upon where each stop would be, it would be top 5 for sure. 

[BigFootsSocks]

m e h, you can say that about a lot of congressional districts both state and federal.

True, but shouldn't that be more flurfed up to us? Not to start a political battle but conservatives love them some de Toqueville, and he goes on and on about the benefits of the small townships and communitties because it's easier for them to know the specific needs of the community than an over-arching federal government would.

Sorry for run-on sentence I just woke up

[Sparrow]

Maybe it's been mentioned somewhere along the way here, but why not just build the western half of this line on the Westpark ROW instead of Richmond so this can get going? Add some covered moving walkways from the line circulating thru Greenway Plaza (that'd be relatively low cost and awesome anyway). Construction for the line would be quicker. Once operational the line could move at higher speeds. And hey, maybe Culberson would finally line up federal funding for this project if METRO would bite the bullet and let him win.  

[cspwal]

The main issue with using the Westpark right of way is when to cross over to get to it.  The current plan that is on the gometrorail.org site has it going down the Westpark right of way starting at Cummins.  Cummins is a small street right now, and doesn't have a crossing over 59, but that means that a light rail construction would not impact the traffic too much.

The obvious place to go to the Westpark ROW would be Kirby, but removing 2 lanes + the turn lane from Kirby would never fly.  Trying to keep with the idea of not impacting a major road, I sent the new line on Wakeforest, before Richmond gets to Greenway. This reroute only effects the Edloe and Cummins stops; the Edloe stop I replaced with "Greenway Plaza", and a quarter mile walkway across the freeway (this means two bridges would be needed instead of just one, but the second would just be a pedestrian bridge).  I added the other Cummins station on the other side of the freeway, but realistically you would probably just lose that stop - and lose access to the movie theater by rail.  I'm not sure which area is opposed by Culberson, so I don't know if this would work or not.

 

Note - I oriented the image so that main street in downtown is straight up down to get the most of the line in the picture.

 

 

Edited April 28, 2015 by cspwal

[cloud713]

yeah Sparrow, the idea has been thrown around a lot. idk why METRO won't do it, other than they would have to resubmit a federal application or whatever for funding since they changed the route of the line. what i don't understand, is why they don't build the eastern half of the line in the mean time until the western half gets resolved? the eastern half is where most of the universities are anyways. sure it would be nice to get the west side lines going but until we can get them connected to the rest of the system, id probably rather work on the eastern half?

Culberson is stopping anything on Richmond west of Shepherd.

why not have the trains turn south and cross over 69 at Yoakum? i always though that was the logical cross over. its right after Montrose, which is where METROs ROW starts, so you get the most out of the ROW they own (without actually crossing over at Montrose which would be impossible), and Yoakum is a super wide blvd street with grassy median that dead ends right there anyways. just run the trains down the median of the street like most of our rail does anyways and you wouldn't have to lose any traffic lanes. obviously a new bridge would have to be built here too, but thats going to happen anywhere this potentially crosses over. just make it match the Montrose arch bridges, and maybe have the LEDs change colors or something every time the train rolls across?

[cspwal]

Wow I didn't realize he was blocking everything west of Shepard 0.o

I agree - why not just build the line to Montrose now (it's been approved and everything)?

 

I drew up going over the freeway at Yoakum.  I like the look of it, but I think you would want it to stop at Kirby, maybe Greenway plaza with that path, and otherwise be an express to Uptown from there.  Leave Richmond for another, infill line later.  Make this line be the main, fast one to get to Uptown, while the Richmond one would be more of a local.

 

[cloud713]

yeah you'd definitely still retain a stop at Kirby, and a Greenway Plaza stop with pedestrian bridge over 69 like you said earlier. and yeah. it would be more an express route. i didn't ever like the idea of having 11-12 stops on the University line. it would take forever. maybe a street car would be better down the western/originally planned stretch of Richmond for localized service? haven't really thought that one through.

[cspwal]

Would it be possible for Metro to build anything without the federal funding they were counting on for the University line?  They could still connect UH, TSU, etc to Montrose before getting to Culberson's territory.

 

Also, could they get him on their side if they promised to rename the line the Culberson line?

[j_cuevas713]

I think Metro has a plan to fund more of the line themselves. I think the refocus on the bus routes is an attempt to not only establish a great bus system but to also bring in more money with more ridership. I'm almost positive they still have plans to fund the line in some sort of way, whether federally or through private funds of their own.

[Highway6]

Univeristy Line on Richmond...  going strong since 2006.

 

New haifers.. same conversations.

[Sparrow]

Culberson is stopping anything on Richmond west of Shepherd.

why not have the trains turn south and cross over 69 at Yoakum? i always though that was the logical cross over. its right after Montrose, which is where METROs ROW starts, so you get the most out of the ROW they own (without actually crossing over at Montrose which would be impossible), and Yoakum is a super wide blvd street with grassy median that dead ends right there anyways. just run the trains down the median of the street like most of our rail does anyways and you wouldn't have to lose any traffic lanes. obviously a new bridge would have to be built here too, but thats going to happen anywhere this potentially crosses over. just make it match the Montrose arch bridges, and maybe have the LEDs change colors or something every time the train rolls across?

 

What about doing up to the limits of what would be permissible by Culberson? Run the line on Richmond all the way up until Shepherd and then veer south along Farnham to Greenbriar to connect with the METRO ROW. Crossing 59/69 under the freeway overpass would be significantly cheaper than a new bridge over the highway at any point.

 

Is METRO's gripe with using the ROW for the University Line that they have other future plans for it? Is the ROW intended to be used for heavy commuter rail trains? If so build stations with bypasses where ROW allows. The light rail can be used for the same commuter rail purpose with this linear ROW by running a local and an express route.

[mfastx]

I believe it's highest ridership per mile. But yeah, just a reminder for everyone, John Culberson lives out in Cypress everyone. He really should be representing a part of town 20+ miles away though...

 

For light rail systems, we currently have the 3rd highest ridership/mile, behind Boston and San Francisco.  Still very good ridership.  

 

Too bad we couldn't build heavy rail, that generates much more ridership than light rail. 

[august948]

For light rail systems, we currently have the 3rd highest ridership/mile, behind Boston and San Francisco.  Still very good ridership.  

 

Too bad we couldn't build heavy rail, that generates much more ridership than light rail. 

 

Can you post your reference?  The ones I found show Houston way further down the list.  It might also be relevant that Boston and SF have built out systems whereas we're still working on ours.  So, with lesser miles, the rider per mile stat goes up and might not be an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

[mfastx]

Can you post your reference?  The ones I found show Houston way further down the list.  It might also be relevant that Boston and SF have built out systems whereas we're still working on ours.  So, with lesser miles, the rider per mile stat goes up and might not be an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

 

Looked at ridership numbers sorted on a per mile bases here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_light_rail_systems_by_ridership

[WestUdweller]

If the University line is going to be such a hassle, I'd rather them just focus on other potential routes like putting one down Washington Ave from downtown and going to the NW transit center.