Transportation
Two events within the past year illustrate divergent options for the Houston region and its mobility solutions.
METRO celebrated its 20 millionth rail rider. Light rail now carries 40,000 passengers each weekday, a level METRO did not expect to achieve until 2020.
On the other hand, within a week of the opening of the Fort Bend County segment of the Westpark toll road, 10,000 commuters were using it daily. About 2.2 million motorists drive the Harris County segment of the Westpark toll road each month.
Both solutions may move forward in upcoming years.
The transportation bill Congress passed in 2005 gives states a higher share of federal gasoline taxes, with the result that Texas will receive nearly $14.5 billion in highway funds per year through 2009, an annual increase of 37%. How much will go to the region is uncertain, but an additional $100 million is earmarked for specific projects in the Houston area.
The bill also makes as much as $1 billion in funds available to METRO for mass transit over the next ten years, subject to approval of the projects.
Shortly after the transportation bill was passed, METRO announced a plan that drew immediate protest because of some differences between it and the plan presented in the 2003 referendum. On several routes, bus rapid transit rather than light rail will be used until ridership increases. Bus rapid transit uses a rubber-tired vehicle but operates in a dedicated lane.
Some of that furor has abated as the benefits of the program are explained. However, there is continued disagreement over the route of the light rail line that METRO is proposing to build between the Galleria and the University of Houston. At issue is whether the line will run adjacent to Westpark or along Richmond. METRO claims that Richmond will have the ridership needed for federal funding, but Westpark will not. Opposition to the Richmond line appears to be centered in the Afton Oaks neighborhood. Opponents claim that building the line along Richmond will bankrupt small businesses and lead to serious traffic congestion.
David Crossley, president of the Gulf Coast Institute, a local think tank focusing on transportation and smart growth issues, favors the Richmond route. He points out that Greenway Plaza, the Medical Center, Galleria, Greenspoint, and Westchase have as many jobs as downtown San Diego, Miami, or San Antonio and says that a mass transit line connecting these centers is needed.
Montgomery and Chambers County have each proposed substantial road construction projects that will use local funds, with the expectation that the state will reimburse the county based on the number of riders that use the new roads.
However, some of the mad rush to build more freeways may be subsiding. According to Crossley, studies show that the time that travelers lose as a result of freeway construction is never regained. He reports that the Katy Freeway expansion project is already more than $1.7 billion over budget.
Concerns about the cost of a 30-mile expansion of I-45 North, the health effects of freeway pollution on a nearby school, noise, and destruction of historic houses threatened the project, so the project has been delayed while options that are more neighborhood friendly are explored.
METRO is planning mixed-use developments at the Texas Medical Center Transit Center and at a new 23-acre Cypress Park & Ride on U.S. 290 at Skinner Road.
As population in the Houston region increases by several million more people, decisions about what kind of transportation system we need become more important. According to Crossley, our current plan is to build more than 11,000 new roads, which will directly pave 30 square miles of land and lead to the paving of many, many additional miles as development follows roads.
Crossley noted that Houston City Council member Pam Holm is pushing for a comprehensive transportation plan for the entire region. “Currently, freeway projects are done without considering the region as a whole,” Crossley explained.
He believes that the biggest transportation need in the region is for comprehensive thinking. “We need to see the region as a whole, and as 1,000 parts which are all different. We need to plan for any life style you can imagine, from rural to downtown, to be available in Houston, Texas, and we need to get over the fight between suburban and urban development and provide for both.”