It’s all over ’cept the land speculating—and, of course, the lawsuits. The Metro Board has announced the alignments for the new light-rail University Line:
- Rail goes on Richmond, all the way to Cummins before zagging. No Culberson freeway cantilever freakout.
- To the east, a new route-combo twist: The line will run from Wheeler to Ennis to Alabama to Scott to Elgin. Then, somehow, maybe—to the Eastwood Transit Center. Third Ward: You’re toast!
Plus some other news:
- Light rail all the way, sez the board. That weird rail-on-rubber “bus rapid transit” thing? Not gonna happen.
- Which means, notes rail obsessive Christof Spieler, that you won’t have to switch cars to hop to the North Line from the existing Main Street Line. Soon you’ll be able to sit in the same train seat from the Northline Mall all the way to the Astroworld Sam’s Club without once adjusting your buns.
- Same goes for the University Line-Uptown Line link. If you’ve got nothing better to do—and maybe an afternoon to kill—you’ll be able to ride a single train car from the Eastwood Transit Center to the Northwest Transit Center, passing through Midtown, Greenway Plaza, the Galleria, and Memorial Park on the way. (Come to think of it, this last route sounds like a light-rail version of the 610 Loop—or at least half of one. To L with the missing North and East segments!)
- Houston, we have a map [Intermodality]
- Metro panel votes for light rail on all five planned lines [Houston Chronicle]
Houston 2012 Light Rail Map: Christof Spieler
