Posted on 09/04/2002 7:22:32 AM PDT by weegee
The Metropolitan Transit Authority will have space for a rail line in the middle of a widened Katy Freeway, officials involved in the $1 billion expansion project said Tuesday.
But Metro President and CEO Shirley DeLibero said such a rail line depends on two very big ifs -- voter approval and federal dollars. To date, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, has blocked federal funding to Metro for rail.
"Without federal funding, we can't build anything," DeLibero said.
Under a tentative agreement by the agencies involved, Metro would pay the state $5 million for reinforcements to support future trains, such as beefing up freeway overpasses, said Gary Trietsch, the Houston district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation.
The agreement also calls for Metro buses and vans, and carpools with three or more occupants, to get free use of the four toll lanes to be built initially down the median of the widened freeway.
The Transportation Department on Aug. 26 approved a preliminary "memorandum of understanding," which included some of the terms of the agreement. The Commissioners Court will consider the item next week and the Metro board at its next meeting.
The chronically congested freeway now has one reversible high-occupancy vehicle lane, three regular lanes in each direction and two two-lane frontage roads, making 11 through lanes in all, plus entrance and exit lanes at intersections.
The planned widening from the West Loop to Texas 6 calls for two toll lanes in each direction, plus four or five through lanes and three frontage lanes, making 18 or 20 through lanes plus the entrances and exits.
From Texas 6 to the county line at the city of Katy, the freeway would be widened to four lanes in each direction, plus three frontage lanes. The present diamond lanes would remain for buses and multi-occupant vehicles, said Transportation Department spokeswoman Janelle Gbur.
The idea of using toll lanes to speed the widening project was intended to plug any gaps in federal highway funding that might cause delays, cutting construction time from 10 years to six.
The Harris County Toll Road Authority will provide $250 million of the expansion cost, raising money through the sale of bonds, which will be paid off from revenues from the toll road system. The Federal Highway Administration will pay for the bulk of the remainder of the project.
Concerned that a possible future rail line might be squeezed out of the crowded corridor, DeLibero asked Trietsch in March to reserve space for rail in the median, where the toll lanes are planned. The Transportation Department is in charge of the widening project and owns the right of way.
It was unclear how much Metro might have to pay to move the toll lanes out of the median to make room for rail. Such details remain to be worked out, said DeLibero, County Judge Robert Eckels and Trietsch.
Gbur said that if the toll lanes were removed from the freeway before the revenue bonds were paid off, the state would repay the remaining principal to the county, "and there would then need to be a transaction between the state and Metro."
Metro consultants are studying the Katy Freeway corridor for some form of future high-capacity transit, which could include rail, buses on fixed guideways or bi-directional HOV lanes.
The recommendations are expected to go before voters in November 2003 as part of an area-wide transit referendum.
Commissioner Steve Radack, in whose precinct some of the expansion work will be done, has been adamant about limiting Metro's involvement in the project. But he said Tuesday he thought the proposed deal was a "step in the right direction," provided the transit agency makes a solid case for rail to voters.
"Metro isn't going to be able to come in and demand things for free," Radack said.
"If, in later years, they want rail to replace some of that toll road, you're talking about big dollars. That means they have to view it as a business decision and not charity.
"And I want to emphasize, when they do try to get voter approval for something like that after a toll road has been out there, they're going to have one tough chore."
(insert here: "gov't" has no money. it's taxpayers money)
Metro is a joke. A great fat pig that chews up tax dollars and then farts money back out on well connected contractors. Bob Lanier's legacy of pork lives on and on and on.
Approving this guarantees several more lousy years of construction congestion along I-10.
Keep my freeway free.
Nice twisting of words by the Comical to try to put pressure on Rep. Delay. Houston voters don't want this pork and certainly Rep. Delay doesn't want it.
Maybe we should set up a toy train set in front of the Metro offices as a protest. Add a sign next to it that says "Metro Wants a Train. Merry Christmas! - Santa."
I think I may have swung him in my direction (I don't know if I've ever won him over but he's at least seen my position and hasn't countered it).
I liked rail. The Whitmire plan (a mayor I did not like but did support against Mayor Bob and Sylvester Turner) was to have a line in from Intercontinental Airport (now Bush) into Houston's 3 downtown districts (Downtown proper, the Medical center, and the Galleria). It kept the visitors off the road.
I explained how our stadia are funded by car rental taxes. A cab in from Intercontinental is $50. They are actively fighting hotel shuttle vans to the airport. There is no plan to keep additional cars off of Houston roadways.
Add to this that Mayorbob opposed rail until late in his reign. Then the rail "had to" go to Union Station. When that did not pass, the stadium "had to" be located in Union Station. Mayorbob paying back his cronies.
The current rail implementation will not run in 3 inches of rain (not that uncommon). It will block traffic and there will be accidents. Also there will be ugly power lines tracing through the view of downtown (a "lightrail" system has the power above the cars so that there is no dangerous "third rail" to electrocute yourself on; a monorail or otherwise elevated system has the power source at the rail line).
The I-10 rail will only load at selected park and ride locations. On top of that, expect several years of traffic congestion from the construction.
One of my projects is to see if DeLibero and her cohorts use Metro to get to work. Wanna bet on it?
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Avoid this #3fan creature. He is mentally unsound and will respond to no end over every triviality imaginable.
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