One staggering step at a time.
After some uncertainty, fears about rail development in Uptown appear less likely to delay a planned express bus project along Post Oak.
Metropolitan Transit Authority’s board meets Thursday morning, and is scheduled to discuss progress on the Uptown plan. The addition to their regularly scheduled meeting comes after a letter last week from Texas Transportation Commissioner Jeff Moseley.
The letter lays out a path for officials to settle their differences and keep the $192.5 million project on track.
[…]
In the interim, the entire kerfuffle became pointless. Last month, federal lawmakers passed the fiscal 2015 spending plan, including language inserted by Rep. John Culberson, R-Houston, that forbids any federal money from going to rail projects along Post Oak north of Richmond, and Richmond west of Shepherd.
“I am keeping my word to my constituents on these two streets who overwhelmingly oppose light rail on Richmond and Post Oak,” Culberson said.
The same language was in the previous federal spending bill, enacted Jan. 17, 2014.
In a Jan. 22 letter, Moseley told Garcia that the federal prohibition satisfies TxDOT’s concerns.
See here, here, and here for the background. Culberson has been lying about the level of support for rail on Richmond, but at least in this case it had a somewhat positive effect. I know, my head is spinning, too. Anyway, Council has also approved its piece of this, so we should be on our way.