Here’s a little handy graphic from Mayor Parker’s Metro transition task force, identifying what the team considers “major unresolved design issues” in the planned East End, Southeast, University, and Uptown light-rail lines. Attempts to resolve all 6 of them appear to be “bogged down” at the Metro staff level, according to the task force committee. Each problem might delay construction or increase cost, and each has already been “actively discussed” for at least a year.
What are they?
- the Downtown alignments of the East End Line and Southeast Line on Capital and Rusk streets as they cross the Main Street Line;
- how the East End and Southeast Lines and car traffic will flow around the proposed Dynamo Stadium site in East Downtown;
- how grade separation will work with a freight-rail crossing on the East End Line on Harrisburg near Hughes St.;
- details of the Southeast and University Lines near the University of Houston along Scott St.;
- how the University Line will cross and interact with Main Street Line at the Wheeler station in Midtown; and
- the design of the Uptown Line north of San Felipe, along the 610 West Loop.
Oh, and then there’s this little bit about finding the money to build it all:
Comment of the Day: Makes It Easier To Crush Those Communards, Too
“Parisian city planners were met with similar narrow-minded criticism when they decided to construct grand boulevards in medieval Paris. The result was the Champs-Elysees and other notable conduits. The visionaries at METRO must ignore similar insuferable fools and carry on the worthy goal of bringing automobile independent mass transportation to Houston. The University line is the lynch pin of the ongoing expansion and these plans should be approved with all deliberate speed.” [Landed Gent, commenting on Metro’s University Line Acquisition Line-Up: What Stays and What Goes Along Richmond Ave.]