Texas Transit Association

Houston’s new passenger rail system begins to move forward. In this article, public hearings are to be held on the southeast line.

Meetings to be held on proposed Southeast rail line
By LUCAS WALL Houston Chronicle March 29, 2004

Residents will have two opportunities to view and comment on the Metro’s proposed 7-mile light rail route from downtown to Griggs/South Loop.

Metro is holding public meetings Tuesday night and Thursday to gather comments on the proposed route for the first section of the Southeast light rail line.

Planners completed a two-year initial study last month, issuing a 204-page report detailing the alternatives considered for transit improvements from downtown to Hobby Airport. The recommended route, now to undergo a draft environmental impact statement, runs east-west across downtown, south on Scott Street past the University of Houston and Texas Southern University, and east on Griggs Road to the South Loop. An extension to Hobby will be built in future years.

The draft environmental impact statement is the second step in the process of planning a rail line that is eligible for federal matching funds. Houston-area voters approved the Southeast line as part of the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s November expansion referendum.

Metro Chairman David Wolff has been meeting with Third Ward leaders about the project.

“They see it as a catalyst for redevelopment of that area,” Wolff said. “They want it to be a way of strengthening the black community and hopefully attracting young black professionals back into that area.”

The Scott Street Coalition is drafting an ambitious vision for that blighted corridor. At the same time, community leaders are leery of the mt30gentrification rail could bring. Protests were held recently against solicitations from high-end developers seeking to purchase Third Ward properties, with many residents fearful that luxury townhouses and apartments could drive out those in need of affordable housing.

Downtown business groups have raised concern about the route’s western piece, envisioned to start at Bagby Street and run on Capitol and Rusk streets past Minute Maid Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center. Many are concerned about another at-grade rail line through the city center. The recently opened Main Street line has been plagued by collisions. Also, numerous Main Street businesses closed during the three-year construction.

Some groups are pushing Metro to construct the east-west downtown rail line in a subway. That would allow it to be built underneath Lamar or McKinney streets with stations below the convention center, Main Street Square, and City Hall.

The 1 1/2-mile downtown segment will be the subject of a public meeting this summer, said Metro spokesman Ken Connaughton.

“We are examining at-grade and subway alignments,” he said. “Costs are being developed but we don’t have them yet.”

Construction on the Southeast line is slated to start in 2007, with trains running in 2010.