Light Rail Progress (Houston, Dallas, Fort Worth: condos, how much, shopper)

[just4ivaylo]

There was one around the I-10 and BW8 intersection the other day. Cars were moving at 5 mph...

Light rail isn't THE only answer. A city needs to have varied modes of transportation. That is why many world-class cities have subways, buses, and light rail/trams in addition to cars. Houston's light rail system is so small that it really doesn't even begin to count for anything. The suburbs have no acceptable means of transportation except for cars. Is this what we want as many other cities and countries are moving away from promoting huge highways and cars?

[mm4]

Originally Posted by jfre81

There was a wreck that really slowed things down on 35E, so the results may be termed "not typical" but then again, it's not like wrecks on the freeway are that uncommon.

Only that people travel between Denton and Dallas is good news. There may be others.

[UHLatino]

Originally Posted by astrohip

Let's say the University line was built. Here's how you would use it to get from downtown to the Galleria:

Walk a few blocks from your office to Main St. Wait for train. Get on train, ride it down to Webster/Richmond transfer point. Wait for Univ train. Get on train, ride it along Richmond, then curve over to cross SW Fwy, then along Westpark*. Get off at Westpark/Post Oak transfer point, take stub train up Post Oak. Get off somewhere, walk to your destination.

Rough guess of time... somewhere between an hour and 1:15. Time to drive... 20 minutes.

Now, imagine it's August, and it's 98 outside, 110 in the sun, and you're walking to make all the connections. In your coat & tie. Yeah, you're gonna look all fresh and convincing when you stroll into your meeting looking like you took a shower in your clothes.

I'm not sure who WILL use these systems. Seriously, I have no idea who will put up with this to get somewhere, unless you have to (ie, current transit system users).


* Remember, the train stops every 2-3 minutes, and never goes much faster than 35-40. Plus, if you've ever driven next to it along Main (and I do every day), it doesn't get all green lights; it often sits and stops while it waits for the light to change in its favor.

It will take less than 30 mins on the Univ rail. Currently to get to the Galleria from DT you have to take Bus 25 and get dropped off on Richmond and post oak and walk to the Galleria it takes you 40 mins. Driving during rush hour and then finding parking will take you 30-40 mins. Getting from A to B in car is easy but you leave out parking and other variables.

I say less than 30 mins bc if you are smart you can take the bus 42 or walk to first Unvi line and take the train. Remember since this train is going through less dense areas it will have few stops and intersection to deal with. In car from downtown to the Med Center it is mostly stop and go driving. I think the Univ line will be better design than this line lol.

[DANNYY]

Some new updates.

An excerpt:

Greanias says METRO plans to rebid the light rail contract in January. CAF USA, a subsidiary of the Spanish company, will be able eligible to participate in the re-procurement process. Greanias says CAF USA will be treated like every other bidder. “We’re being very careful in putting together the re-procurement request that we have a very level playing field,” Greanias notes. ”And we have the Federal Transit Administration working with us to make sure that what we do creates a level playing field.”

As for the $900 million in federal funding, Greanias says he expects to get a definitive answer from the FTA in June or July. He’s confident METRO will receive the funding, but stresses that if it doesn’t, the agency has a backup plan to keep the rail expansion moving.

Source: Houston METRO Cancels Controversial Contract With Spanish Rail Car Company | Transportation Nation

[Trae713]

Good. Some progress on this thing.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by DANNYY

Some new updates.

An excerpt:

Source: Houston METRO Cancels Controversial Contract With Spanish Rail Car Company | Transportation Nation

Metro in Houston is about to learn a painful lesson that DART learned early on: One shouldn't expand in existing neighborhoods as they will tend to oppose every planned transit oriented development (Oh, you can build them in their neighborhoods). Unfortunately for Houston, as its starter light rail line exists between downtown Houston and the Texas Medical Center, which has helped it succeed, it has yet to learn this lesson.
In other words, it is always better to build where there exists fewer neighborhoods to oppose TOD developments. Look at a Metro map and tell me that the agency hasn't planned its system in a hornet's nest of Bohemian neighborhoods with these being the worst kind because they are dotted with homes with deep pockets.
The importance of building (t)ransit (o)riented (d)evelopments is to 1) help feed existing rail lines with passengers and 2) to help build a rail culture within the community.
Partly because of Metro's history of running roughshod over the community's interest, the city of Houston is about to fall flat on its face.

[mm4]

Nifty, new rail retrofitted into a metropolitan area has to hit as close to present activity commons as possible, where there's both residential and commercial already there. New growth is great, and naturally follows such nodes, but that new growth (TOD) sometimes doesn't even substantially begin to happen for over two decades. An example is DC Metro's Virginia Orange Line.

TOD costs in the tens of billions of dollars, comprehensively spread among hundreds or thousands of landowners and developers, and isn't pre-planned. You need population and activity centers that already lie roughly within the vicinities of ROW of least resistance (both physical landscape and political). For the most part, Dallas followed old railroad easement ROW on a budget. As it radiated away in all directions, it naturally hit established neighborhoods along the peripheries as well as freeway office concentrations. (Where it doesn't in Oak Lawn a road trolley is run on McKinney.)

Houston lacks old east/west railway easements where it needs to head to Post Oak et al. Houston doesn't have the $ to tunnel. It has to pass through western neighborhoods regardless of where it sites stations. A good thing, too, because that's what feeds the system.

[jfre81]

Hey, here's something we could do - run elevated (in whole or in part) trains over the few existing east-west railroad ROWs, like the one from north of downtown going west roughly parallel to Washington Avenue and north/westward. Then a partial loop from about Memorial Park to the South Loop and beyond that can connect with the SW burbs. Then there is another with the rails removed that runs down Westpark, which was going to be part of the University LRT line. Have it meet up with the existing LRT around Wheeler Station.

[Mister Nifty]

Originally Posted by mm4

Nifty, new rail retrofitted into a metropolitan area has to hit as close to present activity commons as possible, where there's both residential and commercial already there. New growth is great, and naturally follows such nodes, but that new growth (TOD) sometimes doesn't even substantially begin to happen for over two decades. An example is DC Metro's Virginia Orange Line.

TOD costs in the tens of billions of dollars, comprehensively spread among hundreds or thousands of landowners and developers, and isn't pre-planned. You need population and activity centers that already lie roughly within the vicinities of ROW of least resistance (both physical landscape and political). For the most part, Dallas followed old railroad easement ROW on a budget. As it radiated away in all directions, it naturally hit established neighborhoods along the peripheries as well as freeway office concentrations. (Where it doesn't in Oak Lawn a road trolley is run on McKinney.)

Houston lacks old east/west railway easements where it needs to head to Post Oak et al. Houston doesn't have the $ to tunnel. It has to pass through western neighborhoods regardless of where it sites stations. A good thing, too, because that's what feeds the system.

Washington DC should never be used in any comparison as it isn't a real city having to fend for itself in the real world.
In comparison, Real Estate developers in the Dallas area have to be described as tenacious. While skeptics continue faulting light rail transit and TOD development, these companies keep right on experimenting. Although they do fail a lot, on occasion they do get it right. In the cases where they fail on developments, they can then go back in and revision them.
Victory Park just outside of downtown Dallas is a case in point. Did you know that that project has already failed and been revisioned once? As they originally planned for the devlopment to become the premier area of the greater downtown Dallas area, one has to admire the audacity of the billionaires developing VP. As was determined recently, it is the area in and around the Dallas Arts District that won that designation (that is where the 41 story residential tower is going to be developed while, in resignation, VP cancelled their 41 story residential tower).
No problem. Now Victory Park can be revisioned into more of a TOD along the DART light rail line.
In other words, the DFW market isn't large enough for the Arts District and VP to both serve as prime as no market in the world would be.
The idea of developing retail around sport's arenas is an ideal that has never worked in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. It never worked around Texas Stadium. It never worked around Reunion Arena. And it isn't working in Glory Park in Arlington or in VP in downtown Dallas. The idea is a Micky Mouse scheme that works in much smaller markets.
Along Central Expressway, long dorment and underperforming properties are being utilized or have already been developed in the way of the Midtown Park and the Park Lane, both transit oriented developments, respectively. This is what I am speaking about. In the Dallas area, developers have vacuums of real estate to choose from along the areas in which DART chose wisely to run the rail lines.
If Metro does run its lines where planned, there will be two major obstacles opposing transit oriented developments: 1) The already high price of the real estate and 2) the long established Bohemian neighborhoods they will have to run through.

[Spade]

Originally Posted by Mister Nifty

Washington DC should never be used in any comparison as it isn't a real city having to fend for itself in the real world.

Oh sweet Lord, this is gold. This cannot be further from the truth. I wish we had a laughing emoticon.