Quote:
Originally Posted by 300zxtwinturbo
And they will be putting the transit system in beneath ground level trenches so it does not disrupt the road activity. It wont be a real subway in the sense of the word, but it will be a non-cover subway.
Really? were doing that, never heard of it but I believe you, where did you get this info? thats kinda neat.
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You can check out their concept of development right here through these slides:
http://www.sn22.org/download/SN22_Tr...res_042710.pdf
They are extending LRT (Light Rail) twice, Phase II presently is under construction and then Phase III will start after that, then they will add in CRT (Commuter Rail) and have it going to every point of the metro area and the most immediate and important suburbs and Galveston. Then they will add in Streetcar system for the downtown convenience and other popular inner loop areas. Then they will connect both major airports with LRT.
They will also expand the freight rail system, but that is because Port of Houston will see a 27% increase in activity in 2014 with the Panamax going through.
And finally they have already started adding in more bike trails and sidewalks. You should see some of the new projects for the bridges and stuff they are putting in for joggers.
This won't put Houston on like Chicago level, still far as hell from it, but this will add so much more convenience for those living in the Houston area. Like a lot of convenience when it comes to getting around.
Oh and also I looked up the history of public transit in Houston:
Intermodality » Blog Archive » Streetcars for Houston? (http://www.ctchouston.org/intermodality/2009/01/10/streetcars-for-houston/ - broken link)
Sad seeing how all the major Sunbelt cities scrapped their earlier systems for auto-mobiles... but they are catching up again.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 300zxtwinturbo
Yea that will be good, but I still dont see the need in commuter rail except between the 2 airports and on the the bayfront, Basicaly along I45. There are no walkable areas outside the triangle of downtown, uptown, and TMC. And in contrast, pretty much everything inside of that triangle is quite walkable. And yes it will add hugh amounts of convienience especialy the university line as I am a college student, and that will be perhaps the largest sector of uses. I mean 40 thousand students at UofH, 12K at TSU, and another 20K or so between rice and st. thomas. Most of which are from out of state and have no car. Plus it will connect uptown to the red line
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Commuter Rail will get more people off of the road. Have you seen the design for the Intermodal port? That thing has a VERY baller design, and is an architectural win for the city of Houston.
They're putting in a lot of cash for public transportation and have their renaissance to improve it going. DFW is working hard at it too, and so is Los Angeles. I have been following all three very closely and they are starting ti impress me more.
Houston's CRT is the most impressive part of their renaissance right now. They are linking key suburbs and Galveston together, it will greatly reduce traffic by a bit, and even a little bit goes far for Houston traffic.
Mehhh the one thing that still ticks me off about Houston's LRT is their extension for it, they have such a sloppy design for it, and its at an inconvenience, but its still sure to relieve quite a bit regardless. I hope they fix it up in Phase III and all other extensions afterwards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 300zxtwinturbo
Commuter Rail will get more people off of the road. Have you seen the design for the Intermodal port? That thing has a VERY baller design, and is an architectural win for the city of Houston.
No I actually havn't seen any of that stuff youre talking about, but thats what this board is all about, i'll look it up now. And the closeness of everything that matters in houston I think will play to its advantage perhaps even more than the other cities below the I-20. As in our city centers while not as dense as the oldest cities in this country their not as far apart as the other sunbelt cites, not that thats a good or bad thing, there just not as far apart. Which only makes it worse that we didnt build a good system in the past, this city could have long ago benefited from it at least in the inner city. But im gonna definately check out the things your talking about
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In all honesty for the next 5 years Houston's transit expansions are safe.
But the residents of Houston and the politicians are a hit and miss, those idiots will do anything to save like $1 even if that means scrapping Rail Transit for BRT (Bus transit) to save cash.
I just hope they don't mess around with Phase III, thats something I literally am looking forward to.
Yeah best part of Houston is that it only needs good CRT and the inner loop needs a good LRT connection, and then all the work is done, because nothing in the outer loop of the city is important besides Westchase.
Houston only has 96 miles of the inner loop area to worry about, and of course the CRT too, and thats about it for the moment, you're right, they do have it a bit easier than most sunbelt cities, seeing how everything and the heart of the city is in inner loop.
Quote:
Originally Posted by clean_polo
Because the system they have now doesn't seem to do it enough justice. Everybody always talks about how urban and how much Houston is growing, why not build a heavy rail system to get people from point A to point B faster than that light rail system they have now. They can expand the system out towards the burbs too.
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Well they are expanding it. They are also adding in Commuter Rail. Fully finctional CRT & Extended LRT on its way.
But the layout for the city of Houston just like Los Angeles, Jacksonville, Dallas, & Austin all are doomed. They have to pay extra to keep up with public transportation.
Houston is linking every core important neighborhood by public transportation but to those left out in the further areas on the edge of the metro area, it is still of no use since they can't utilize it.
Its costing Houston big bucks to do this (and they are annoyed by the costs), and they're paying for it, because they have no option, freeways have been extended so much, and this is the only choice left.
And they will be putting the transit system in beneath ground level trenches so it does not disrupt the road activity. It wont be a real subway in the sense of the word, but it will be a non-cover subway.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BPerone201
Los Angeles, Houston, Phoneix.
Not in any particular order.
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^ This.
Your list plus these, Dallas, Jacksonville, San Antonio, Seattle, & Austin.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BPerone201
It's much more costly to start building rails and such in sprawled out auto-centric cities and burbs. Walkability should be somewhat decent in sunbelt suburbs to incorporate a reliable rail system. That's not the case in the vast majority of the sunbelt suburbs- I don't think it's a problem that's fairly easy to fix TBO.
The residents should also start planning to pay higher taxes if it's what they really want.
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Kind of, you're right about half of it.
You're right, eventually the burden will come upon the people who live in these mega sprawled places in the sunbelt, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Austin, etc.. they will have to start paying their dues for the services, absolutely no denying that.
But no, walkability is something these cities don't have, neither do they have rail transit. All the new walkable spots will link one district to another in the inner loop, and all the other walkable places they're developing are in new development places. There is a building renaissance in Houston right now, West Avenue, River Oaks District, Regent Square, A second Medical Center, Memorial City City Centre, BLVD Place, Beachtown, all of these are master planned developments to add on to that density, and all of them will be constructed around the new rail transit system (Phase II). That is the appeal of inner loop and its massive population gains in the last decade, the centralization of Midtown, and other areas due to these developments in housing and retail, and other stuff.
So the walkability will be fine in the new development areas. The older areas like outer loop, yeah they're kind of screwed to be honest haha. Doesn't take a genius to know that, they are way to far out in the city of Houston. The suburbs like Sugar Land, Katy, Conroe, & The Woodlands have already started their own little renaissance to add more walkable friendly areas. Most of them were pretty good before anyways, the suburbs of Pasadena, Missouri City, Stafford, Clear Lake could use a lot of work though and they haven't shown interest just yet, but lets hope they do.
And yeah, the housing prices inside the inner loop are increasing too. They aren't maintaining that same "lower cost" inside the inner loop anymore, its been increasing quite a bit.
Oh and yeah haha, they are paying millions to get CRT to the suburbs. We'll see how successful that will be, mehhh I think it will be a bit of a hit or miss situation. But I don't know yet, I'm going to wait till its done to judge it!
But overall I do agree with you, sprawl is death to the cause, not in the essence that it is useless cause but that it is simply very hard to maneuver and very costly at that too.
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