Intermodality

LIVABLE HOUSTON INITIATIVE Another View on Regional Commuter Rail Christof Spieler, Citizens’ Transportation Coalition Tory Gattis, Houston Strategies Christof Spieler and Tory Gattis recently got together to suggest a plan for the first step in pursuing regional commuter rail for the Houston region. They are reacting to several public statements made by Harris County Judge [...]

Tomorrow, the Harris County Commissioner’s Court is issuing contracts to proceed with design on Segment E of the Grand Parkway, the I-10 to 290 portion of a proposed 170-mile loop around the fringes of the Houston region. And I mean fringes: there’s nobody out there. Only 80,000 people live within 3 miles of Segment E, [...]

For 70 years, in a period where transit and railroads underwent massive change, one thing has remained constant: the propulsion of choice for any new American commuter rail line is diesel. But that was before $125 a barrel oil. If we build commuter rail in Houston, it’s worth asking how it ought to be powered. [...]

Of all the commuter rail lines being considered for Houston, the one to Fort Bend is the most studied. It was one of two lines proposed as part of a 1993 plan that failed to get federal funding. It was the only commuter rail line included in the 2003 METRO referendum. And, in 2003-2004, it [...]

A notice of a street being torn up is not usually considered good news. But this one was eagerly awaited by many: Construction crews began utility work this week in the first segment of the East End Corridor. On Monday (July 7) the shoulder lane on the north side of the street will be blocked [...]

Tuesdays’ public meeting on commuter rail showed two approaches to implementing commuter rail. The first is contained in the report itself, which lays out a five-line, $3 billion system with totally new lines inside the 610 loop and terminal stations and maintenance facilities designed to support even more lines. The second approach came from Harris [...]