METRORail University Line

[Luminare]

lol Going down Washington is a great idea but would be just as challenging! Yes it doesn't have the political barriers, but the make up of the people near it is so diverse meaning the issues of how it interacts with Washington Ave is going to be very complicated. Trust me though, I really want one down Washinton.

[j_cuevas713]

An elevated line down Washington would be awesome!

[cloud713]

Elevated, maybe. A surface based rail would never work on Washington.

[cspwal]

I think a surface based one would work, but with grade separation at major intersections similar to Holcome @ Fannin

[jackie21love]

Elevated, maybe. A surface based rail would never work on Washington.

Maybe, but all the cities I visited around the world with elevated transit, I don't think any of those have a good looking…

[Slick Vik]

Maybe, but all the cities I visited around the world with elevated transit, I don't think any of those have a good looking…

True but they're efficient and generally 65% cheaper than subways. Beats street level light rail without a doubt.

[cspwal]

Except street level light rail is cheaper, less visually imposing, and easier to make accessible per ADA (no elevators needed)

[mollusk]

Street rail on Washington would be an unholy mess.  However, one block to the north is Center Street...

[cspwal]

Street rail on Washington would be an unholy mess.  However, one block to the north is Center Street...

 

I liked that idea - it seemed a good way to bring transit in with minimal disruption to auto traffic.  First thing I noticed - Center street isn't 5 lanes wide like main was, so it would either have to be closed to traffic or trains would run with mixed traffic.  Maybe no through traffic?

 

I had the line be an extension of the southeast line, following the highway patterns of criss-crossing through downtown.  (The east end line could go down memorial or Allen parkway at some point).

I'm not super familiar with the western end of Washington, so the stations may not be in the best places, but you can get the idea of a split station style similar to the museum district or downtown.  That would be the only time that it would run on Washington, and it would interrupt turns.

 

I had it run out to the NW mall to connect to a high speed rail station (if we weren't getting one in downtown - would be the main reason to build the line anyway)

For fun, I added a park and ride on old Katy road.  I'm not sure if it could really work, but it was an idea.

 

 

Edit: Well that was as clear as mud.  I redrew most of it on top of Google maps

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2015 by cspwal

[Sparrow]

I liked that idea - it seemed a good way to bring transit in with minimal disruption to auto traffic.  First thing I noticed - Center street isn't 5 lanes wide like main was, so it would either have to be closed to traffic or trains would run with mixed traffic.  Maybe no through traffic?

 

I had the line be an extension of the southeast line, following the highway patterns of criss-crossing through downtown.  (The east end line could go down memorial or Allen parkway at some point).

 

This.

 

Purple line extension as the local on Center with limited auto access. Cut auto access entirely if an alternative is available.

Green line extension down Memorial as the Uptown-Downtown Express. No stops from Uptown BRT to Downtown. 

[cspwal]

Well maybe a stop at memorial park

 

The way Metro designed the west side stub of the lines, makes you wonder if they weren't at least considering extensions to them.

[mollusk]

With the upcoming reconstruction or demise of the HPD complex it'll even be easy to get the tracks over to Houston Ave., since that parking lot would be redundant once the Marsupial Municipal Courts move.

[Howard Huge]

I still dream of some sort of train going down Westheimer, from Elgin at UofH station all the way down to Hwy 6, West Oaks Mall station.

It would probably rank among the highest ridership lines in the nation.

If it were to be done, how would each of you do it?

Subway?

Light rail?

El?

Monorail?

[BigFootsSocks]

I think an El would be dope as fvk

[Howard Huge]

I think an El would be dope as fvk

Yea me too.

But with all the Whining Wendys in town you know someone would b!tch about the sun being blocked out, how ugly it is, how it costs too much (everything costs too much)

I would love it though. It would be like the 4 train from Manhattan to the Bronx, once you get into uptown, its elevated almost the whole way. And whats good is that the street underneath is still used, and full of retail

[Howard Huge]

My personal preference though would be a subway of course. Completely invisible, no interaction with vehicles whatsoever. The construction period would be a b!tch but, hey so is anything else you build.

[BigFootsSocks]

Yea me too.

But with all the Whining Wendys in town you know someone would b!tch about the sun being blocked out, how ugly it is, how it costs too much (everything costs too much)

I would love it though. It would be like the 4 train from Manhattan to the Bronx, once you get into uptown, its elevated almost the whole way. And whats good is that the street underneath is still used, and full of retail

Heaven forbid we add some sort of character to this city, right?

I like the idea of a subway too.

[samagon]

Westheimer would be nice.

 

In my mind it would be a combination of light rail, and subway.

 

Light rail from eastwood transit center out to the spur. Sub all the way from the spur to chimney rock. Light Rail the rest of the way.

 

Westheimer is just too narrow and curved between the west loop and where it turns into elgin, and certainly inside shepherd to be a surface light rail.

 

This is probably why the university line was drawn up to jog down to richmond from the eastwood transit center rather than just going straight down elgin.

 

No one is as sad as I am that this project is stalled at the gates for politics, the line was supposed to terminate a the eastwood TC, which is spitting distance from my house. I was planning car free trips all over the place.

[mfastx]

Westheimer is a low-hanging fruit for a heavy rail line, preferably a subway most of the way.  That's one of the few corridors in Houston that IMO justifies heavy rail. 

[cloud713]

I think we all agree on Westheimer. I would do a combination of El and Subway. El east of Kirby, and west of say Chimney Rock, with subway in between. No way they would let an El be built through the ritzier areas of Westheimer. Not unless it was the sexiest El in the world, designed by Calatrava or someone, with a bunch of chrome arches that scream luxury. Lol. And I don't see surface rail ever working down Kirby.

Edited May 14, 2015 by cloud713

[BigFootsSocks]

I think we all agree on Westheimer. I would do a combination of El and Subway. El east of Kirby, and west of say Chimney Rock, with subway in between. No way they would let an El be built through the ritzier areas of Westheimer. Not unless it was the sexiest El in the world, designed by Calatrava or someone, with a bunch of chrome arches that scream luxury. Lol. And I don't see surface rail ever working down Kirby.

And yet, I really wish this were somehow possible

[Montrose1100]

Heaven forbid we add some sort of character to this city, right?

I like the idea of a subway too.

Yeah some bare concrete columns down Westheimer would be the real icing on the character cake for this city.

[BigFootsSocks]

Yeah some bare concrete columns down Westheimer would be the real icing on the character cake for this city.

I can't think of anything else that screams "Houston" better than that

[Howard Huge]

I can't think of anything else that screams "Houston" better than that

Zing.

[Howard Huge]

Ok so I think we all agree a Westheimer line would be the biggest no brainer, grandaddy line of them all in Houston. (Albeit a pipe dream)

I think if it was done, it would be paramount to connect it to Memorial City somehow.

So if each of you could create a connection to the Westheimer line from Memorial City, how would you do it?

Would you put a train down Gessner? Where would the Memorial City station be?

The Mall?

The Office building cluster beside the mall?

City Centre??

[cloud713]

Gessner would be the only "direct" option really to getting from Westheimer to Memorial City. But I'd rather see a line along Beltway 8 (cutting through the Briar Forest tower cluster) from Westheimer up to i10, which in my perfect world would have Dallas-esque "light rail" along the southern feeder roads, that functions more like commuter rail between downtown and Memorial City (a couple sporadic stops maybe), and then runs like Houstons light rail between Memorial City and the west side of the Energy Corridor, with stops every half mile to a mile. That corridor will need it's own rail.

[Howard Huge]

Gessner would be the only "direct" option really to getting from Westheimer to Memorial City. But I'd rather see a line along Beltway 8 (cutting through the Briar Forest tower cluster) from Westheimer up to i10, which in my perfect world would have Dallas-esque "light rail" along the southern feeder roads, that functions more like commuter rail between downtown and Memorial City (a couple sporadic stops maybe), and then runs like Houstons light rail between Memorial City and the west side of the Energy Corridor, with stops every half mile to a mile. That corridor will need it's own rail.

Ahh, connecting Westchase with downtown, I like the way you think!

[Dakota79]

Quit sending our federal dollars to other cities!

http://www.houstontomorrow.org/livability/story/rep.-john-culberson-and-metro-reach-deal-on-university-line/#When:19:17:22Z

[BigFootsSocks]

Here me put on this. I'm going to try to stretch my imagination out here a bit. We know City Centre is still expanding and I'm not sure anyone doubts they won't stop once they've finished filling up their land use. That being said, office construction is pretty strong there on the edge of the Energy Corridor, and now that we know the Detention Basin off of Gessner is redeveloping into a remarkable hike/bike trail, along with Tritons confirmation of another tower/mixed use concept going up in the surrounding area, it's safe to say this stretch of Houston is going to, in the not-

too-distant future, be lined with up-ward development. The WestChase district is slowly creeping up north along the Beltway; a smaller off-shoot of the EC.

Obviously, in the not too distant future, along with this new high-rise development comes increased population density, which we know in Houston-speak translates to "More Lanes"

While it's not the oldest stretch, the Westenerm segment between Westpark Tollroad and 290 definitely sees the most use. We can assume it's going to need replacing eventually, and because of the heavily increased development, Houston will be at a point where bigger freeways can accurately handle the mass population.

Alternate forms of transportation will be desperately needed, but this is still Houston, the city that "embraces it's sprawl!" We can assume that there won't be some sudden halt in that part of our city's history. Light rail will be frankly too slow, and is best situated for short distance use, such as downtown or along Washington, Westhiemer, what have you. This connection is going to need a, dare I say, DART-level train...in that I mean, it needs to be a full-service commuter line. It will need quick transport between at least 3-4 "hubs" along this stretch to 290 to be able to connect with the future High Speed Rail station in Jersey Village.

So, thus I propose the overused colloquial phrased, why not kill two birds with one stone? Reconstruct the new Beltway with a commuter line directly between the the two sides. A continuous line, with very few street-level interaction, will result in a quick commute, which is what's desperately needed as this city continues to spread outward.

[BigFootsSocks]

TL;DR

COMMUTER LINE, MIDDLE OF BELTWAY, FUTURE.