Intermodality

I posted a week ago about where the employment density is along the University Line. Today, we’ll look at where the greatest population density is: Gulfton, the area south of 59 just outside the Loop. Here’s what you need to know about Gulfton and the University Line:

• Gulfton has the highest population density in the Houston region. East of Greenway Plaza, there are more people along Richmond than along Westpark. West of Greenway, there are more people along Westpark. A 1 mile circle around the corner of Westpark and Chimney Rock takes in 34,000 people. The same sized circle at Richmond and Chimney Rock takes in 24,000. Moreover, the population at Westpark is poorer — median income of 29,000 vs. median income of 40,000 at Richmond — so a larger percentage would use transit.

• All three options for the University Line west of Main run right alongside Gulfton, within walking distance of huge apartment complexes.
• METRO isn’t showing any stops in Gulfton.

The last point, obviously, makes little sense. But we can change it. Adding stations at Westpark/Chimney Rock and Westpark/Fountain View would serve 17,000 people within a 1/4 mile walk, increasing the population within 1/4 mile of the University Line by 42%. Here’s the map. We’re back to green for multi-family residential, red for offices, blue for institutional. The dashed grey circles are 1/4 mile (10 minute walk) around METRO’s proposed station locations; the dashed red circles are 1/4 mile around possible Chimney Rock and Fountain View stations. The Uline scorecard for Gulfton:

• Richmond-Montrose-59-Kirby-Westpark (”Culberson”): Would serve Gulfton well if stations were added.
• Richmond-Greenway-Westpark: ditto.
• Richmond-Cummins-Westpark: ditto.

Our forums aren’t dense, but they’re worth stopping at anyway.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 8th, 2007 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.