Now that Metro has selected Fulton Street for its North Corridor route, the merchants along that street are acclimating to the idea of construction in their future.
After learning Metro had chosen the Fulton street alignment for the Metro Solutions North Corridor route, Linh Nguyen, owner of P&H Food at the corner of Fulton and Kelley streets, said the finished product would bring business for everyone.
“I think in the long run, this will look like downtown,” said Nguyen, who has owned the store for about two years.
But he wondered about the short run, questioning whether the Metropolitan Transit Authority will need to acquire any of the store property, and how customer access and parking would be affected during construction.
“It’s going to hurt. You have to wait three and four years,” Nguyen said. “I don’t think people can wait that long. I’m thinking about going somewhere else.”
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Under its current timeline, Metro expects to have the approval by year’s end and would begin acquiring rights of way by 2007.
Construction would begin some time next year. The line is expected to be operational by 2010.
According to the North Corridor draft environmental impact statement, which analyzes the impact proposed options would have on the area, 66 properties – a total of 7.9 acres of land – along the street will be affected by the Fulton alignment.
Thirty properties must be fully acquired. Only portions of the other 36 properties will need to be bought.
Juan Galvan, owner of Mirror Image Plus Paint & Body Shop, 5316 Fulton, has owned his business for seven years.
Galvan said he sees the potential for the area once the rail is complete. But now that Fulton has been chosen, he also wonders what will happen to his business.
“You got the dry cleaners, the church, the auto shops,” he said. “It’s going to be a real inconvenience for a lot of people.”
And yet the process has not been stopped. How about that.
Meanwhile, the route for the Southeast Corridor has not yet been determined.
The Southeast corridor is part of Metro’s plan to link destinations throughout the city to the existing Main Street rail line.
Two options
The draft statement analyzes two proposed routes for the corridor:
- One would turn on Scott Street from downtown before turning on Griggs and ending near the Palm Business Center; and
- Another would turn off Scott onto Wheeler and again onto Martin Luther King Boulevard, before ending somewhere near the Palm Center.
The Scott/Griggs alignment was the route chosen by southeast area voters in 2003, when they approved Metro’s plan for light rail line in the area, and some say the transit company ought to stick with that.
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Since 2003, the Wheeler/MLK alignment was offered to some in the community as an alternative to keeping the route on Scott all the way to Griggs. Their concern was that too many properties along Scott would be impacted.
“I believe that by making the turn on Wheeler to MLK, there will not be a significant loss in ridership,” said Nata Koerber, who said she lives on Southmore Street.
“It will still provide access and economic development, while preserving neighborhoods and not displacing residents.”
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Although they said they supported the general plans to expand public transportation routes, some representatives of the East Downtown Management District cited concerns about how residential and business development in its service area would be affected by the corridor.
They chided Metro for not discussing its plans for the route with the organization – especially since it comes through downtown, an area within its purview.
Several people, including state Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-147, suggested Metro look closer at connectivity issues and how the Southeast Corridor would interface with the University Corridor, another Metro Solutions route that would serve the Third Ward community.
Metro will accept comments for its final impact statement on the Southeast corridor until Sept. 11. Comments can be made online at www.ridemetro.org/contact/comment.asp, or through letters postmarked no later than Sept. 11 and mailed to Rhonda Boyer at Metro, Harris County, P.O.Box 61429, Houston, TX 77208.
Metro’s board could decide on an alignment for the corridor during its September meeting.
Make your voice heard now if you have an opinion on this.