Maybe more. Most discussion of the Uptown Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone’s plan, which goes before City Council this week, has been about a proposal to annex Memorial Park into the zone and spend $100 million restoring the drought-stricken park. The centerpiece of the zone’s plan, however, is a $187.5 million vision to widen and rebuild [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Uptown line’
Mattress Mack’s Uptown rant
There’s a lot missing from Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale’s screed in the Sunday op-ed pages. When you get right down to it, the recent announcement that the Uptown Houston Management District wants to spend $177.5 million to “redesign and widen” Post Oak Boulevard and build a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system through the heart of [...]
The Uptown/Memorial TIRZ
Big projects, big plans, big funding mechanism. Transit and trees – things that make urban areas move quickly and look pretty – are the centerpieces of a $500 million project that would remake the Uptown area and reinvigorate Memorial Park. Mayor Annise Parker and other officials announced a plan Thursday that would fund construction of [...]
Metro’s bus strategy
We know that the 2012 Metro referendum was intended to help Metro boost ridership by improving and expanding its bus service. Metro Board member Christof Spieler explains what that means. First, in many cases, transit doesn’t go to the right places. Over time, Houston’s population has shifted as the urban core has redeveloped, older suburbs [...]
What comes after the Metro referendum
I hope you found my series of interviews on the Metro referendum to be useful. I think there’s plenty in those four interviews to bolster your support of or opposition to the referendum. The referendum question is simple – do we or do we not want to continue the General Mobility Program? but the issue [...]
Whither the University Line?
Is the University Line in doubt? Some people think so. Over the last decade, METRO spent $71 million of your dollars to build a rail line. But the agency recently took that project off the table for at least another decade and no work has been done. So where did all that money go? Ten [...]
Here come the GMP proposals
At Metro’s board meeting yesterday, trustees presented their proposed ballot referenda for the General Mobility Program. “I’m anxious to see the outcome just like everybody else,” said Chairman Gilbert Garcia, before anyone offered their specifics. As it turned out, city-appointee Garcia was one of only two trustees calling for a vote on capping the GMP [...]
Metro floats compromise on mobility funds
As we know, Metro is preparing for a referendum this fall on the status of the general mobility fund, which is one fourth of the sales tax revenue Metro collects and which goes to Metro member cities for road projects. Metro Board Chair Gilbert Garcia has suggested freezing the payments after 2014, with any future [...]
The Bellaire “urban transit village”
Very interesting. Nearly a year in the drafting, a sweeping change to Bellaire’s zoning laws creating an “urban transit village” where there is now a collection of nondescript warehouses will soon be before City Council. On Nov. 1, the city’s Planning & Zoning Commission unanimously voted to recommend Council approval of the zoning ordinance they’ve [...]
Metro signs Full Funding Grant Agreement
Full speed ahead. The head of the Federal Transit Administration on Monday signed $900 million in grant agreements to help pay for two Houston light-rail lines under construction by the Metropolitan Transit Authority. The grants, the first federal funds ever provided for rail in Houston, were formally approved in a ceremony attended by the FTA [...]
Hempstead commuter rail update
Here’s a look at how commuter rail along 290 might work. Commuter trains from Hempstead to Houston could start running by 2019 if the Gulf Coast Rail District can secure $300 million and if Union Pacific Railroad lets passenger cars use its track along Hempstead Highway. It would be the Houston area’s first commuter rail [...]
Metro approves study of Fort Bend commuter rail line
In the last act for several Metro board members, we get a step forward on another commuter rail line. Moving to extend Metro’s reach into Fort Bend County, the agency’s board agreed Thursday to spend up to $500,000 on environmental studies for a commuter rail line connecting southwestern suburbs with central Houston. During the last [...]
The transition team report on Metro
In addition to naming new Metro board members, today was the day for Mayor Parker’s transition team to give its report on Metro. Here’s the Chron story about their report. I’m going to focus on one piece of it: [James] Moncur, a former deputy city controller and former Metro finance employee, said the attorney general’s [...]
Parker reaffirms commitment to light rail
This is what I want to see. [Mayor Annise] Parker’s letter regarding this week’s Metro board meeting was sent on the eve of her trip to Washington, where she said she would reassure U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood that her administration wants to see five new light-rail lines built in Houston. “I just want them [...]
The Hempstead line
Here’s another story about progress on a proposed commuter rail line, this one out US 290. A study to determine ridership on the line, which would go as far west as Hempstead, will be done. The Houston-based engineering firm Klotz Associates will do the $715,000 study. The Gulf Coast Rail District got the money from [...]
More on Metro’s finances
The Chron takes a closer look at Metro’s finances and the recently expressed doubts about their ability to pay for the University and Uptown lines. Mayor Annise Parker said last week that she wasn’t convinced the Metropolitan Transit Authority would have the money to build its planned Uptown and University rail lines. Parker said she [...]
Parker expresses doubt about University and Uptown lines
This is not the sort of thing I want to see. Mayor Annise Parker cast doubt Wednesday on whether the Metropolitan Transit Authority has the money to pay for two planned light-rail lines that proponents say are critical to the success of the agency’s plans. Parker said members of her transition team have “drilled down” [...]
Interview with John Breeding
Last week, I noted that several business owners along Post Oak had gotten together with one of the local anti-Metro agitators to complain about what was going on with the Uptown Line and make claims about working to stop it from being built. Among other things, I noted that the story did not include any [...]
Uptown agitation
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A bunch of business owners along a proposed light rail corridor are upset with Metro. Business owners along Post Oak Boulevard met for about two hours Thursday in an effort learn about — and block — plans for a Metro light rail line that would run in [...]
Uptown line update
The River Oaks Examiner takes a look at what Metro is planning to do to prepare for the Uptown line. [A] Metropolitan Transit Authority street reclassification plan, dated March 13, 2009, [shows] total land needed for the project beyond the current rights of way along Post Oaks will involve 48 parcels of land and total [...]
A preview of the Uptown line
Swamplot has a preview of the Uptown line as currently envisioned by Metro. The main focus of the Examiner story that Swamplot cites is the potential effect on vehicular traffic. Following the construction of the Uptown light rail line, Post Oak Boulevard could feature 23 stop lights along the way north from Richmond Avenue to [...]
Metro light rail groundbreaking
Asa we know, today was groundbreaking day for Metro on the North and Southeast lines. Here’s the coverage I could find: an oddly negative story from KTRK, stories from Fox and KHOU, and a story from Texas Cable News that has something near and dear to my heart, namely numbers. Metro estimates that by 2030 [...]
Metro to break ground on North and Southeast lines
Woo hoo! The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County will be breaking ground July 13 on the next phase of the MetroRail. Metro will begin construction on the North rail corridor which will connect to the Red Line at the University of Houston-Downtown and end at the Northline Station on Fulton and Deerfield streets near [...]
Crosstown (rail) traffic
Approving the construction contract with Parsons is a big step forward for the long-awaited light rail expansion in Houston. But there’s still a lot more to be done. The Metropolitan Transit Authority will look to the Federal Transit Administration for help funding the University line. The FTA has yet to approve Metro’s environmental impact study [...]
Metro approves contract with Parsons
Good. The Metropolitan Transit Authority board of directors on Wednesday unanimously approved a $1.46 billion contract for four new light rail lines, which would add 20 miles to its lone seven-mile line along Main Street. Under the contract, which came after almost a year of negotiations, Parsons Transportation Group is responsible for designing, building, operating [...]
Metro to vote on rail contract
The good news: Metro is set to vote on the contract to build the next light rail lines. The bad news is that they’re doing is amid headlines like Metro refuses to discuss rail contract details before vote. The Metropolitan Transit Authority’s board is expected to vote on a multi-billion-dollar light rail contract tomorrow, but [...]
Metro vote on light rail contract delayed
Rats. Metro’s board Chairman David Wolff has called off [today]’s vote on a contract with the agency’s rail builder in favor of a special board meeting next month. The Metropolitan Transit Authority has been in negotiations with Parsons Transportation Group since last April to build four new rail lines: North, East End, Southeast and Uptown. [...]
Some action on the rail construction front
Finally. After two years of negotiations with two firms, the Metropolitan Transit Authority may be close to reaching a deal with a contractor to build and operate its next four light rail lines. “We’re in final negotiations,” said George Smalley, a Metro spokesman. “In a negotiation, though, you never know until it’s really over.” The [...]