Houston Transit and Transportation Thread

[urbanactivist]

Did not see a thread for Houston, so figured it was time to start one. Lots of exciting developments going on with transit and transportation down here!!

[urbanactivist]

Metro rail lines open across Houston

Via the Houston Chronicle...

After years of construction and months of testing, riders began boarding Green Line trains headed from downtown east along Harrisburg and Purple Line trains toward the University of Houston and Palm Center Transit Center on Saturday morning.

The dual openings mark the end of a sometimes controversial six years for Metropolitan Transit Authority, which first approached voters and won approval for the lines in 2003, with the hopes of opening them in 2012. Numerous delays and setbacks pushed opening day farther away from those original plans, as anticipation grew in the neighborhoods.

With the lines open and shuttling thousands of people around, the communities turned out for various celebrations, where Metro and residents celebrated the end of construction and the beginning of what is predicted to be a major change in how people get around, especially those more dependent on transit for daily trips.

[jg6544]

Originally Posted by urbanactivist

Metro rail lines open across Houston

Via the Houston Chronicle...

Looks to me like they should start developing water taxis.

[Busy Bee]

Boo

[urbanactivist]

Originally Posted by jg6544

Looks to me like they should start developing water taxis.

Monday's flooding was definitely no joke, but to be clear it did not affect every part of the city. In the neighborhoods that got hit, the damage was often severe. But everywhere else (a good 80 percent of the city) the rain was a minor event.

The rail lines had to shut down on Tuesday, but were back running at full capacity by noon that day.

[N830MH]

whoops! Wrong post.

[urbanactivist]

How One City Will Change Its Entire Bus System Overnight

Via NextCity...

The last time Houston redesigned its bus system, gas cost less than $1 per gallon. Many of those dollars went to the city’s signature corporations. They subsequently flowed into Houstonians’ wallets and got turned into lifestyle choices like cars and suburban homes — by the hundreds of thousands.

To call Houston’s 1970s-era bus system obsolete, in what has become a bustling 21st-century metropolis, is an understatement. That’s why the buses that pull into the barn the night of Saturday, August 15th, will find themselves traveling entirely different routes and following entirely new timetables the next morning, August 16th.

After three decades, Houston is revamping its entire bus network — more than 80 routes, 1,200 buses and a quarter-million daily passengers — literally overnight.

“This is going to be one of the most transformative single changes in a transit network in a given city in a while,” says Jarrett Walker, a transportation planner who consulted for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority of Harris County (Metro).

[Urbannizer]

http://houston.culturemap.com/news/i...the-southwest/

Originally Posted by CultureMap

Bike across Houston: City's B-cycle set to become largest bike sharing program in the Southwest
By Elizabeth Rhodes 10.6.15 | 1:32 pm

After enjoying three years of success, the city's bike sharing program — Houston B-Cycle — is getting a big boost from the federal government, one that will enable the program to become the largest bike share program in Texas and the southwest.

B-Cycle was recently approved by the Houston-Galveston Area Council Transportation Policy Council for $3.48 million from the Transportation Improvement Program to expand the city's bike sharing program. The funds will allow Houston B-Cycle to triple in size over the next 18 to 24 months, expanding from 29 stations and 210 bikes to 100 stations and nearly 800 bikes.

Houston B-Cycle stations will stretch from south of the Texas Medical Center to the north up into the Heights and from the west to Memorial Park to the Greater East End.

[OhioGuy]

How was the complete redesign of Houston's bus system gone? Does it seem to be working as intended?

[redblock]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

How was the complete redesign of Houston's bus system gone? Does it seem to be working as intended?

Maybe yes.

http://video.pbs.org/viralplayer/2365581096/

Maybe no.

http://www.houstonpress.com/news/no-...pdated-7727049

[Urbannizer]

Originally Posted by OhioGuy

How was the complete redesign of Houston's bus system gone? Does it seem to be working as intended?

Working pretty well so far:



https://twitter.com/christofspieler/...77993448394752

[mousquet]

^ Ah yeah, that chart above is looking good.

Wondering whether Texas would be as mean as the cliché the Americans themselves (underlining on purpose) carefully spread worldwide through their too easy show business and cynical communication...

Shame on easy, ignorant stereotypes anyway.

[Urbannizer]

Montrose bridge lighting gets chance to shine

Montrose area officials have put the dark times behind them and likely solved a big funding gap to re-light seven bridges atop U.S. 59.

The Montrose Management District, Texas Department of Transportation and Houston-Galveston Area Council are poised to split the nearly $2 million cost overrun to replace lighting along Woodhead, Mandell, Dunlavy, Hazard, Graustark and Montrose - the latter actually two bridges. H-GAC's technical advisory council approved spending nearly $665,000 on Wednesday, sending the final approval on to the Transportation Policy Council that has the final say later this month.

If approved, and with a state approval also pending but expected, the project could start in a matter of months, with a contract awarded in February or March, officials said.

[Urbannizer]

New Houston Mayor to Texas DOT: Wider Roads Mean More Traffic

Count new Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner among the growing crowd of local transportation officials wary of road-expansion as a solution to traffic problems. Turner told the Texas Transportation Commission last week that it was time for a “paradigm shift” away from the ineffective approach of widening highways, according to prepared remarks posted by Streetsblog’s Angie Schmitt. That strategy, he said, only makes congestion worse.

To help his case, Turner pointed to the Katy Freeway in Houston, or Interstate 10. A few years ago it was expanded to 26 lanes in some segments at a cost of $2.8 billion—good enough to earn the title of the “world’s widest freeway.” Despite all that new road capacity, rush-hour travel times increased between 2011 and 2014; in 2015, Turner pointed out, one segment of the Katy was ranked among the most congested roads in Texas.

[Urbannizer]

Houston Could Be Closer To Getting Its First Commuter Rail Line

GAIL DELAUGHTER | POSTED ON JULY 22, 2016, 9:07 AM (LAST UPDATED: JULY 22, 2016, 11:48 AM)

The 90A rail project is a proposed commuter line that would come in from Missouri City. It would hook up with the existing Red Line near NRG Stadium. The distance is about nine miles.

That effort was put on hold about four years ago, but Metro says it’s now ready to take the first step toward reviving the project.

Metro’s board has voted to ask the Federal Transit Administration to consider the 90A rail line for federal funding. Chairman Carin Patman says it’s something they’re prepared to do right now.

“I think we will get a request to the FTA hopefully within the next few days or a week,” says Patman. “And then from there we wait to hear back from them and supply additional information that they need and see what the next steps they require are going to be.”

Metro has already done studies on the project and Patman says they’ll submit that material.

[Urbannizer]

Lights along the SW Freeway bridges are back online:


https://twitter.com/MontroseHTX/stat...45600053526529

[Wattleigh]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/new...g-17830013.php

Metro's big BRT line wins first $150M in federal funds in proposed Biden budget

Dug Begley,
Staff Writer
March 9, 2023
Updated: March 9, 2023 7:38 p.m.

Houston’s biggest bus rapid transit line, the planned University Corridor, is still on the drawing board, but already is drawing in federal funds.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, in a Thursday announcement, said the Metropolitan Transit Authority project will receive $150 million in the upcoming budget of the Federal Transit Administration, as part of the New Starts grant program for major transit projects. The approval, subject to Congress passing the overall budget, marks the first federal funds dedicated to the line, out of a potential $939.3 million of the $1.57 billion cost that could come from Washington.

“It is going to help people get where they need to go,” Buttigieg said of the project, one of nine chosen nationally for new funding, totaling $1.3 billion.

The line, when built, will stretch more than 25 miles from the Tidwell Transit Center to the area around the University of Houston, then westward through Midtown, Greenway Plaza, south of Uptown and eventually to Westchase. Buses will have their own dedicated lanes, either by taking existing lanes from local streets such as Lockwood and Richmond, or along its own route parallel to Westpark Drive.

Officials are wrapping up their second round of public meetings on plans for the route, with construction scheduled to start in late 2024. The buses could begin carrying riders in 2028. Current timelines, and all the federal funding, are contingent on the project being completely designed and Metro and federal officials agreeing on the project's specifics next year.

Transit agency CEO Tom Lambert called the award "great news," and credited staff for keeping the project on pace after voters approved the long-range plan in 2019, even as Metro maneuvered through a massive drop in ridership related to the COVID pandemic.

Metro’s board is set to consider, possibly later this month, the preferred route for the dedicated lanes.

Graphic from Houston Chronicle

[Wattleigh]

Had forgotten to mention the Inner Katy BRT line beforehand. It is currently in the design phase as of about 2 months ago.

https://communityimpact.com/houston/...-design-phase/

METRO’s Inner Katy Corridor project advances to design phase

By Renee Farmer | 1:00 PM Feb 1, 2023 CST
Updated 1:00 PM Feb 1, 2023 CST

The METRORapid Inner Katy Corridor project is now one step closer to construction.

The Federal Transit Administration has now approved the categorical exclusion for this project, said Tom Lambert, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County CEO, during a Jan. 26 board meeting.

“This milestone moves this regionally significant project forward into the design phase,” Lambert said.

The Inner Katy project would connect two of the biggest employment centers in Houston, maximize existing infrastructure and close the public transit gap along I-10, according to agenda documents. It will add three new transit stations along I-10, which will be located at Memorial Park, Shepherd and Durham drives, and Studemont Street. The project will also add two new transit stations in downtown Houston: one at Franklin and Bagby streets, and one at St. Emanuel Street/East Downtown.

Also worth mentioning - it would offer connections to the existing Silver Line BRT service through Uptown from the Northwest Transit Center to the Westpark/Lower Uptown Transit Center. On the other end, in Downtown, it would offer access to the Purple, Green & Red lines of METRORail. The BRT route seems to follow the Purple line pretty closely, with the terminus at a new station near the split between the rail lines at Shell Energy Stadium.

https://www.ridemetro.org/about/metr...rridor-project

[rml]

Originally Posted by urbanactivist

Did not see a thread for Houston, so figured it was time to start one. Lots of exciting developments going on with transit and transportation down here!!

is this thread dead?

[Wattleigh]

Originally Posted by rml

is this thread dead?

Given that it was updated 8 minutes prior to your comment- the smart money would be on "no".