2035 Regional Transportation Plan

Speaking of Tory, he's got a nice summary of the 2035 H-GAC Regional Transportation Plan (RTP). What caught my eye was this new stuff that Metro is considering:

* Guided Rapid Transit (GRT, probably BRT) along 3 new lines:

1. Along Bellaire (their busiest bus route) from Highway 6 all the way to what looks like the east end of the eastside BRT in the Ship Channel area
2. Along what looks like the 288 median from Brazoria into downtown. Not sure how that jives with the toll road plan down the middle (which is also on the map). The plans I saw way back said any rail that direction would be in the Almeda corridor, but that's not what this map shows.
3. West along I10 from downtown to Katy. Again, not sure about where the RoW is coming from here. They also still show the managed lanes along this corridor, so it's not coming out of them.

All of these make sense. Bellaire is very dense, and I think would be well served by a rail line. SH-288 is interesting. I don't know what it's like south of 610, but there's a lot of apartment/condo construction going on right next to the South Freeway inside the Loop. I'm not sure how it would fit in with the toll road plan, either, but if you can make it work, it would connect a fairly underserved part of town to downtown, as well as being a sort of back route to the Medical Center, Museum District, and Reliant Stadium. I'd love to see the specifics on that one.

Of most interest to me is the I-10 proposal, which would finally bring a rail line near my house. If such a line existed today, I'd have the option of not driving to work. It would take longer than driving, but not as much as you might think. I can't predict what my schedule and transportation needs might be by the time this thing gets built, assuming it does, but I'd sure love to have the choice. I'll be rooting for it to happen.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on May 08, 2007 to Planes, Trains, and Automobiles