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Thursday, August 20, 2009

Taking the “A” Streets: New Rules for Houston’s Rail Transit Corridors

August 20, 2009 – 12:56 pm
   

Does your street intersect one of the new light-rail lines within a quarter-mile of a proposed station? If so, it’s now called an “A” Street, and the Urban Corridors Ordinance, which City Council approved yesterday, has some new development restrictions and exemptions that affect it, effective immediately: “The ordinance will mandate six-foot sidewalks near stations while increasing the citywide sidewalk standard from four feet to five feet. The ordinance creates an incentive program to entice developers to build more livable, walkable, and urban places. In return, the developers will be exempted from the 25-foot setback required in the rest of the city, allowing them to build on a greater percentage of land.” [Houston Tomorrow]

12:56 pm | 6 Comments | Read more about Development Regulations, Quicklink, Transportation
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Art Deco Slaughter on Harrisburg: Is Metro Taking To the Cleaners?

August 20, 2009 – 10:46 am

This timely building at 4819 Harrisburg in Eastwood, built in 1935 for the Sterling Laundry & Cleaning Co., showed up in yesterday’s Daily Demolition Report. The architect was Sol R. Slaughter, who also designed a home on the bayou in Idylwood the same year.

The building faces Metro’s new East End Corridor light-rail line. Rice University project manager Spencer Howard writes in with a few details, but isn’t exactly sure what’s going on:

The building was renovated as an artist live/work/gallery just a few years ago.

METRO pledged to save the facade of the building with the clock on it, across from Eastwood Park. They preferred to have someone else buy it and move it, but if that didn’t happen, they were going to move it back on the property and reattach it behind the new setback. Yesterday they sent out the demolition list for next Monday and it was on it. The neighborhood has alerted their gov’t reps.

Another view:

Continue Reading This Story >

10:46 am | 11 Comments | Read more about Adaptive Reuse, Art, Historic Preservation, Houston Architects, Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Public Art, Transportation
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Comment of the Day: Where To Send That New Travel Trailer for Its Shakedown Cruise

August 18, 2009 – 4:21 pm
   

“The question I have is whether or not it’d survive the conditions at Burning Man.” ['stina, commenting on Faro Out Extra-Vehicle Activity: Cricket Trailer Prototype Hits the Streets]

4:21 pm | Add a Comment | Read more about Attractions, Comments, Quicklink, Transportation
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Monday, August 3, 2009

Where Commuter Rail Might Come From

August 3, 2009 – 12:04 pm
   

“We may have commuter rail to Galveston and Hempstead as early as 2012,” declares rail watcher Christof Spieler. So who’s gonna make it happen? How about . . . the Gulf Coast Freight Rail District? “The GCFRD just advertised for and received qualifications for firms to do $2 million in engineering studies, to be completed by June 2010, for 90 mph commuter rail lines sharing freight rail tracks along 290 from Hempstead to just inside 610 and from Galveston to just inside 610. This spring, the Texas Legislature expanded GCFRD’s mission to include intercity passenger rail; despite its name, the district has already been empowered to build commuter rail. Waller and Galveston counties are now joining the GCFRD, making the district the only entity short of TxDOT that covers both of those lines.” [Intermodality]

12:04 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Transportation
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Friday, July 31, 2009

Pierce Junction Barbecue Camp

July 31, 2009 – 9:22 am

Frankie Mandola and Bubba Butera, the former owners of the shuttered State Grille, tell Houston Business Journal reporter Jennifer Dawson they’re planning to open an large, outdoorish event space just southeast of the former AstroWorld site:

Bayou City Event Center Pavilion will occupy 11 acres at 9500 Almeda in a primarily industrial area. Mandola says the site is near his customer base — the Texas Medical Center, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, Rice University and University of Houston.

Darryl Schroeder and Robert Steele, who owned the vacant land, are joint venture partners on the development.

The project includes a 15,000-square-foot covered pavilion that will be able to accommodate up to 1,000 people for crawfish boils, fish frys, barbecue dinners and the like. The open-air facility is slated to be finished in November. Phase II will be a 40,000-square-foot banquet facility with multiple rooms that can hold 100 to 1,600 people. Construction will start in October and is scheduled for completion in May 2010.

Here’s a plan of the compound, from the website of Houston’s Andria Design:

Continue Reading This Story >

9:22 am | 13 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Pierce Junction, Proposed Developments, Transportation
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Thursday, July 23, 2009

Comment of the Day: Memorial Highway

July 23, 2009 – 11:06 pm
   

“I really like the memorials constructed at ‘death-sites’ along roadways: They honor the deceased and alert us to risks, causing us to reflect on how easy it is to die in traffic accidents. I first saw this memorial custom on Grand Cayman Island where signs were erected at the sites of traffic fatalities. Years ago there were only a few, and, the twisted, rusty car wreckages were left in-situ as well. It was vivid and effective: Like performance-art really; Printed in white on the circular, black signs: ‘Accident Black Spot.’” [movocelot, commenting on Comment of the Day: What To Expect on That First Night in Your New Funeral Home]

11:06 pm | 2 Comments | Read more about Comments, Freeways and Toll Roads, Hazards, Quicklink, Traffic, Transportation
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Thursday, July 16, 2009

Picking the Texas T-Bone: Not Number One with That Bullet

July 16, 2009 – 10:39 am
   

Texas may be way behind other states vying for chunks of the $8 billion in stimulus money the feds are handing out for high-speed rail projects, but it’s getting in line: “Texas is asking for $1.7 billion to speed development of a super-fast passenger train linking Dallas to Austin to San Antonio, and with a spur to Houston. Federal guidelines for the funds make it unlikely that such a big amount will be awarded to Texas, given how little preliminary work — such as environmental studies, feasibility reviews or right of way acquisition — has been done on the bullet train proposal. Still, TxDOT spokeswoman Karen Amacker said today, “it never hurts to ask,” and noted that the guidelines for the grants released in June are themselves in draft form. . . . [U.S. Secretary of Transportation Ray] LaHood said even states, like Texas, who have so far done little to advance high-speed passenger rail will be considered for the grants.” [Transportation Blog, via Off the Kuff]

10:39 am | 23 Comments | Read more about Proposed Developments, Quicklink, Transportation
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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Crossing That Thin Baby Blue Line

June 17, 2009 – 4:17 pm
   

Two Bellaire City Council members are upset about a very long, baby blue line Metro painted along Bellaire Blvd. last month: “‘We work hard in Bellaire to improve the look of our community, the planning commission is working hard on a comprehensive plan, and then some outside entity decides to paint a stripe down our street, and I don’t like it,’ said Councilmember Peggy Faulk at Monday night’s council meeting. ‘We are continually plagued by visual pollution,’ said Councilmember Pat McLaughlan, who also challenged signs posted at-will by government jurisdictions through Bellaire. Metro painted the blue line along the entire route of its Quickline Signature express service, which offers high-tech hybrid buses at peak hours down Bellaire/Holcombe Boulevard from west Houston to the Texas Medical Center.” [Bellaire Examiner]

4:17 pm | 79 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Bellaire, Quicklink, Streetscapes, Transportation
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Friday, June 5, 2009

Where the Cars Are Spewing CO2 and Other Maps of the Houston Region

June 5, 2009 – 1:03 pm

The Center for Neighborhood Technology has updated its interactive region-comparison website to show data comparing carbon dioxide emissions around the Houston region. The Housing + Transportation Affordability Index now allows you to compare CO2 emissions — from “household vehicle travel” only — on side-by-side zoomable maps.

The 2 new data sets available show CO2 emissions per acre (at the top above), and CO2 emissions per household (directly below that) from household auto use. The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria region is one of 55 U.S. metropolitan areas mapped on the website. The center’s point?

When measured on a per household basis, it found that the transportation-related emissions of people living in cities and compact neighborhoods can be nearly 70% less than those living in suburbs.

The center figures that transportation accounts for 28 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S.

Other H+T map tools focus on how affordable different locations are to live in — when you take transportation costs into account:

Continue Reading This Story >

1:03 pm | 20 Comments | Read more about Air Quality, Green Design and Development, Houston Data, Online Resources, Transportation
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Friday, May 29, 2009

Where the Dinosaur Bones Are Hiding in Houston

May 29, 2009 – 10:47 am

It doesn’t take long for Covenant Community Capital Corporation summer intern James M. Harrison to learn where Houston’s oldest secrets are buried:

. . . for having not known a soul in Houston 24 hours ago, I feel like maybe I’m doing decent. Part of why I feel this way is thanks to Leon, a homeless man at the Amtrak station who sat and talked to me for an hour while I waited for my ride to come.

Leon is a treasure-hunter, a “modern-day Indiana Jones.” He walked up to me and said, “I’m a rock collector, check these out” and proceeded to show me some of his latest finds. Rubies, emeralds, amethyst, and gold, so he claimed, all embedded in pieces of railroad track ballast. He didn’t want to sell them to me, because he knew that I couldn’t afford any of them. “I charge top dollar,” he said.

I asked him where the rocks came from. “The Rocky Mountain,” he said. “These stones just fall off the train when it rolls through.” He also told me about a secret mine in Colorado that he knew about called “The Gold Nugget,” and explained how he and his friend were going to go up there and excavate the largest piece of gold in the world. “It’ll fill up six railroad cars,” he said. I asked him how he was going to do it, and he replied, “I don’t know man, but two hands are better than one!”

Leon is also a hunter of dinosaur bones (”there’s a few down there in that parking lot,” he told me), 16th century books, and ancient coins, among other relics. He talked my ear off.

Leon the treasure hunter was the first person I met in Houston. I think he introduced me to the place pretty well. “Treasures are all over this city, you just have to look at what’s under your nose,” he said.

Photo of parking lot at Amtrak Station, 902 Washington Ave.: James M. Harrison

10:47 am | 9 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Downtown, Transportation
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Friday, May 22, 2009

Main St. Intermodal Transit Center Kiss-Off

May 22, 2009 – 10:44 am

That North Main St. Intermodal Terminal planned for just north of the UH-Downtown business school has been renamed a little more humbly as Burnett Plaza, according to a note on the Metro website. And . . . it’s going to be just a little simpler than the fancy rendering shown above.

Rail watcher Christof Spieler points to a few key sentences that describe the downgrade:

The initial phase will include a half-circle on the east side of Burnett Station. There will be vertical circulation down to a 4-bay transit center with access to a “kiss and ride.”

METRO intends to construct the facility in phases, commensurate with funding and environmental clearances. Phase I transportation services will include METRORail, and local bus service, along with shuttle vans and taxis.

Spieler translates:

What this means is Phase 1 is an elevated light rail station with an elevated half-circle plaza with stairs down to a small parking lot with 4 bus bays.

Rendering: Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects

10:44 am | 5 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Near Northside, Proposed Developments, Transportation
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Tuesday, May 19, 2009

On the Shelf: That Grand North Main Intermodal Center

May 19, 2009 – 5:19 pm

What’s the status of those plans for a big Intermodal Transit Center at North Main and Burnett just north of I-10 Downtown, meant to link commuter rail and bus lines to the coming northern reaches of Metro’s existing rail line?

L.A.’s Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects are now showing off this rendering of the terminal at the company’s website, along with the kind of encomium that usually accompanies abandoned or massively scaled-back projects. Rail-watcher Christof Spieler reported back in March that the terminal project on the North Line had been “shelved (for now, at least)”; plans to extend the new East End Line to that station were abandoned last year.

Rendering: Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects

5:19 pm | 13 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Near Northside, Proposed Developments, Transportation
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Monday, May 18, 2009

Getting Around the East Downtown Soccer Blockstopper

May 18, 2009 – 5:07 pm

Worried the Dynamo soccer stadium planned for the superblock between Texas, Dowling, Hutchens, and Walker is gonna block traffic between Downtown and the East End? Citizen rail designer Christof Spieler solves the tangle:

There are two parts to this idea. The first is to make Texas alongside the stadium a two-way street. Instead of two eastbound traffic lanes and two light rail tracks, Texas gets two eastbound traffic lanes, two westbound traffic lanes, and two light rail tracks. That all fits in the existing right of way. The second part is to use the “squiggle” in the light rail tracks for traffic lanes as well. This does two things: it gives the westbound traffic on Texas a way to go, and it cleans up those messy intersections.

So now, to get from the East End to Downtown, you simply follow Harrisburg, which flows right into Texas, and then you make a left turn onto Capitol. And you will not hit an awkward intersection or have to cross the rail line to do it.

Map: Christof Spieler

5:07 pm | 3 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: East Downtown, Streets, Traffic, Transportation
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Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Sub-Suburban SUV Adventure: Braving That Big Trip “Downtown”

May 12, 2009 – 7:50 pm

Spurred on by family members waiting patiently at the Carrabba’s on Kirby — and the promotional whizzes at GM and CBS Radio, who’ve furnished her with a brand-new vehicle to drive for 8 weeks — mommy blogger and new Chevy Traverse spokesmom Stephanie Click ventures out from her “own little world” in Katy to . . . the scary and purportedly trafficky Inner Loop!

Will she make it? How will her blogger-swag loaner car stand up to the rigors of multi-lane Houston driving?

7:50 pm | 44 Comments | Read more about Freeways and Toll Roads, Katy, Traffic, Transportation
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Monday, April 20, 2009

Metro Coming Attractions: Previewing Houston’s New Light Rail Lines

April 20, 2009 – 7:55 am

Here’s a whizzy reel showing what the new Metro trains and stations on 4 upcoming light-rail lines are supposed to look like. Dowling St. in the Third Ward, the Edloe Station in Greenway Plaza, the Moody Park Station on the North Line, MacGregor Park Station on the Southeast Line, and Lockwood Station on the East End Line each get about 30 seconds of CGI treatment, from a low-flying camera buzzing some extremely lifelike — though torpid — pedestrians.

Christof Spieler finds a few flaws:

The Third Ward footage seems to be out-of-date; it shows the old alignment crossing Dowling on Wheeler, not the new route that switches to Alabama. But other details are correct: the stations shown are the new prototype station design (by Rey de la Reza Architects), minus artwork.

It’s nice to be able to visualize what these lines might look like. But it’s also a reminder that it’s important to get the details right. At Edloe, for example, the trees integrated into the canopy are nice, but there’s no crosswalk at the west end of the station platform, which means a 500-foot detour for some riders. The Moody Park and MacGregor stations do show that crosswalk, and the sidewalks look pretty good, too. But in all the images, the overhead wires are suspended from their own poles in the middle of the street, not from the streetlight poles on either side, as on Main Street. That makes for more poles and a more cluttered streetscape.

Continue Reading This Story >

7:55 am | 27 Comments | Read more about Neighborhoods: Eastwood, Neighborhoods: Greenway Plaza, Neighborhoods: MacGregor Park, Neighborhoods: Moody Park, Neighborhoods: Third Ward, Proposed Developments, Transportation
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