Texas Transit Association

Houston Metro’s rail plan is under review — and might be tweaked in order to address resident needs. Whatever happens, rail is quickly becoming the issue: a referendum on the issue is scheduled for the November 2003 elections that also coincide with the selection of a new mayor. Detail of several lines of discussion follows.

The Houston Chronicle May 22, 2003, Thursday

The near-capacity crowd that recently gathered at the Spring Branch Community Center offered opinions on how the Metropolitan Transit Authority could tweak its city-wide light-rail plan to benefit the entire Houston community.

A top priority for many of those west Houston residents was building a light rail-line extension on Interstate 10, from the West Loop to outlying suburbs, in conjunction with the state’s Katy Freeway reconstruction project.

That project is on Metro’s long-range light-rail radar, but is not part of the agency’s phase two construction projects that could be built in the next decade if voters approve a bond referendum in November.

“Why don’t you put a Katy Corridor light-rail proposal separately on that ballot and see how voters feel about it?” said Lisa Dawson, City of Spring Valley resident. “Then take the results and let our public officials know how voters feel about that project.”

Tom McKittrick, resident and former mayor of Hilshire Village, asked how Metro could put a light-rail line in the center of the Katy Freeway after a proposed toll road had been operating in those lanes for several years.

The Texas Department of Transportation and Harris County Toll Road Authority have proposed that four-lane toll road to speed up financing and construction of the 22-lane expansion project.

“Will Metro have to pay off that toll road project before it can put rail there?” McKittrick said.

Spring Valley City Councilmember Bruce Spain said he supported Metro’s effort to improve mobility in Houston but had a wait-and-see attitude about the agency being able to work with the state transportation department and toll road authority to build rail lines after road projects were already finished - like those proposed on the Katy Freeway and U.S. 290.

“The proof is in the pudding - especially on the Katy Freeway project,” Spain said. “I see this as a do-over given the fact that animosity between the various agencies is palpable. What will Metro do to ensure our tax dollars are spent wisely?”

Metro representatives said they did not have enough information to answer specific questions about a Katy Freeway line, but said the agency planned to build a line from Metro’s Northwest Transit Center at I-10 and the West Loop west to the Grand Parkway some time down the road.

“One of the things we have heard throughout the community is that people truly wish rail was being built there today,” said Mark McLaren, deputy project manager for the “Metro Solutions” project. “Many have said no more toll roads, no more roads. The problem is Metro was not in a position to expend money on a rail line when planning for the Katy project started.

“The community needs to continue demonstrating what it wants.”

Unless something happens in the interim, Metro officials said the Katy Freeway line would probably not be built in the next 20 years.

“Until then, we will have premium two-way commuter service in the toll roads in the center of the freeway,” McLaren said. “We will also modify our connections to park and ride and transit facilities and make sure the Katy Freeway structure can accommodate a future light-rail line.”

It’s all part of the $ 3.3 billion Metro Solutions plan being marketed to community groups throughout the Houston region.

As part of that plan, Metro would spend $ 800 million to enlarge its bus service on Houston’s major roads and neighborhood streets, and add new park and ride and transit centers around town, McLaren said.

The remaining $ 2.5 billion would go toward adding 41 miles of light-rail line to expand its system throughout the city.

As part of light-rail package, Metro proposes to build two west Houston-area segments in the next decade to connect its downtown light-rail line - under construction until early 2004 - to the Westpark Toll Road via the Uptown/Galleria area.

The 7.9-mile Inner Katy line - estimated to cost about $ 318 million - connects the Main Street line to Metro’s Northwest Transit Center at the I-10/West Loop interchange.

The line runs out of downtown north along Washington Avenue to Yale Street where it takes a turn and crosses I-10.

From there it runs along the north side of freeway to the transit center.

The Uptown/Galleria segment - estimated to cost about $ 236 million - runs from that transit center down North Post Oak Road to Memorial Drive, and then hops over to run in the middle of the West Loop until the Uptown Post Oak Boulevard intersection.

It then goes underground and under the Loop to the middle of Post Oak Boulevard where it runs in the center of that street to Westpark Toll Road and a proposed new transit center.

Cyndi Robinson, a Metro project manager on the Uptown/Galleria light-rail study, said the team has been working with the Uptown Houston District and area businesses to come up with a plan that fits their vision of how the area should look.

“Uptown has a master plan - they want to bring businesses closer to the street and eliminate a lot of the parking lots near the road so there is a more pedestrian-friendly environment,” Robinson said. “The district is acquiring additional right-of-way to help expand the road out so that the line can go in the center of Post Oak.”

Robinson said it is important to look at the Uptown/Galleria line as part of a system, not just a line on its own.

The opposite end of Metro’s downtown Main Street line joins up with another proposed light-rail segment running southeast out of downtown through the University of Houston and Texas Southern universities areas to Hobby Airport.

There also is a proposed extension north from the Northwest Transit center along Interstate 45 to the Greenspoint Mall area.

Garth Whittington, an inner-Loop resident, asked why Metro did not consider putting in guided bus systems - buses that run attached to overhead power systems but can drive independently also - in its Uptown/Galleria, North Interstate 45 and Southeast/Hobby studies.

“My calculation is that the light-rail lines will cost about $ 56 million per mile to build - that is incredible,” Whittington said. “The guided bus system costs only $ 3 to $ 5 million and has extreme flexibility. We need to think outside the box.”

McLaren said the study teams did consider a bus-rapid transit system as an alternative in each of the corridors, but that hundreds of residents that attended Metro public meetings in the past year said they overwhelmingly preferred a light-rail system.

Memorial-area resident Scott Brown said that Metro should provide a detailed analysis of proposed costs, as well as the bus versus rail scenario, for the public before the November election.

“It might allay a lot of people’s fears,” Brown said.

McLaren said Metro would finalize its system plan with a board vote this summer, pull all information together and distribute it to the public soon after.