Intermodality

Last week, the METRO board voted to build all five 2012 lines as light rail instead of bus rapid transit. That answers the people in the North Side, the East End, and the Third Ward who have been disappointed since 2004 that they would not be getting rail. It also means the system will have [...]

Another bit of Houston’s industrial history is coming down. The Hardy Yards were the Southern Pacific Railroad’s main locomotive shops in Texas. The first railroad here was the Houston And Texas Central in 1856; the shops were built sometime around the Civil War and were in continuous use (through many expansions and rebuildings) into the [...]

20 months since METRO started talking about the University Line, and nearly 4 years since voters approved light rail expansion, the map of our 2012 light rail system is set. And, as usual, the outcome was a bit surprising and driven by public comment.
In the morning, the METRO staff recommended the Westpark-Cummins-Richmond option west of [...]

Amidst all the noise about rail on Richmond, there’s been very little public attention paid to the University Line east of Main Street. That’s unfortunate, because what happens there matter a lot to the whole region.
The alignment matters because Elgin serves the Third Ward better, Elgin serves UH better, and Ennis-Elgin serves TSU better.
It [...]

The Chronicle reports on a Texas Transportation Institute study that measures the motorist time lost at railroad crossings and then determines a cost-benefit ratio for building grade separations at those crossings. That’s a valid measure. But it’s also a narrow one.
Railroad crossings aren’t just about congestion. Those people stuck on Westheimer in the photo that [...]