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Houston19514

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Everything posted by Houston19514

  1. Houston19514
    And at night it has some decorative colored lighting features.
  2. Houston19514
    Not likely. It looks like it will run down Capitol Street, intersecting with the Red Line, but not allowing rail cars to go from one to the other, but allowing for easy passenger transfers from one to the other.
  3. Houston19514
    It was there long before the stadium. I don't think it looks bad either. It is what it is, and they've done a decent job of dressing it up. It will be there until the land is valuable enough to make it worth moving and incorporating its replacement into a new structure.... does anyone know if that can be done? I presume so because I've never seen and electrical substation in Manhattan or downtown Chicago and they have to be somewhere...
  4. Houston19514
    Just ran across some interesting info in the Southeast Line FEIS: The LRT alternative they studied for the line ran in Capitol Street downtown (from Bagby to St. Emanuel). The BRT was slated to run in Capitol and Rusk. So, now that they have decided to go with LRT, presumably the line will run on Capitol only. Also read somewhere earlier today that the plan includes an additional station on the Red Line between the Main Street Square Station and Preston Station. That will provide much better connectivity for transfers between the Southeast/East End line and the Red Line.
  5. Houston19514
    That was indeed their intention, in general, for the BRT lines. But that intention did not apply to the downtown area.
  6. Houston19514
    Indeed they are. However, "before the BRT garbage came up two years ago" they had not even decided yet which streets the line would run on downtown, or even if it would be surface or subway, or for that matter, even if both the Harrisburg and Southeast lines would even enter downtown proper, or perhaps skirt the edge of downtown to go directly to the Intermodal Center. Quite unlikely that they had done detailed engineering drawings of any rail intersections at that point. All that being said, I would not expect them to offer single-car Southeast line-Red Line-University Line through service. Single car Red Line-University Line West-Uptown Line through service I think would be more likely. And they have already said they plan to offer U Line-Uptown Line single car through service. Clearly, the plans for the downtown portion will have to be totally re-worked with this new decision. I hope they do it in a way that will provide better connections between both the Southeast and Harrisburg lines and the Red Line. That would mean moving the lines off of their current planned placement on Rusk and Capital, is it? I would like to see them run the southeast line through the southern end of downtown, around Toyota Center area, connecting to the Bell Street station, perhaps, and run the Harrisburg line through the north end of downtown, near MMP, connecting to the Prairie station... It may be too late in the game for that scale of change... but it would provide better service throughout downtown.
  7. Houston19514
    In a word, no. They were NOT planning to lay the rails in the downtown portion. The BRT vehicles were going to run in diamond lanes in the downtown portion. It's all laid out in detail in the EISs on Metro's website.
  8. Houston19514
    That's odd, until yesterday, there was no plan for any tracks to be laid where the east side line intersects with the Red Line. It was going to be BRT with no rails laid in the downtown portion, just running in diamond lanes by the curb.
  9. Houston19514
    On any given day, on any given story, there is at least a 90% chance that the Chron got something wrong. And, yes, they seem to have gotten this wrong or written their story so poorly that it appears they got it wrong. Christof has a good explanation. (He makes his own share of factual errors from time to time, but given the choice between Rad Sallee and Christof, I'll put my money on Christof having this one right.) FWIW, I think Metro hit it out of the park with these decisions yesterday. Very exciting days ahead for Houston.
  10. Houston19514
    Not necessarily. Light rail is only slow (compared to commuter rail) in the inner city context where it is running in the streets making frequent stops. If it were to be extended out to Greenspoint/IAH and/or The Woodlands, there would probably be less frequent stops, it would probably be in a more-exclusive r-o-w. Houston's current light rail trains can go at least 60 MPH.
  11. Houston19514
    They renovated the main floor a few years ago and it's now a banquet hall/event facility. They are "talking" about renovating the rest of the building into apartments and a small hotel. The latest word is that renovations are to start in January, but they've made similar announcements before, so I would not be holding my breath in anticipation...
  12. Houston19514
    I'm pretty sure that the University Line is supposed to open by (or in) 2012. The other 4 are supposed to open by (or in) 2011.
  13. Houston19514
    Very exciting news. But it doesn't necessarily mean that a subway in the downtown portion is off the table. Obviously this news means their downtown plans have to be completely re-done, so...
  14. Houston19514
    Something just occurred to me yesterday regarding both this line and the East End or Harrisburg line. I believe both will run in diamond lanes downtown, meaning they won't be laying the rail and covering it up (and they will be sharing the lanes with buses etc). I wonder/hope if that means a subway is still a possibility for the downtown portions of these lines when they convert to light rail.
  15. Houston19514
    Where'd you get the number for Dallas? I am quite certain Dallas is not building 40 miles for $715 million or anything close to that. For example, here is Dallas news report that speaks of a 21 mile expansion of DART rail at a total cost exceeding TWO BILLION DOLLARS
  16. Houston19514
    Yes it is. I'm thinking 2011
  17. Houston19514
    ROFL
  18. Houston19514
    Because they desperately wanted something "iconic" and were willing to pay extra to get it. Houston already has numerous buildings designed by Pelli and other superstar architects; Tulsa.... not so much.
  19. Houston19514
    According to the Uptown District website, more than 7,000
  20. Houston19514
    When the building owners and management announced this earlier this year, they said it would include a "large water feature." Presumably, that is still the case.
  21. Houston19514
    Apparently, Houston has submitted a bid to host the C-USA Basketball Tournament starting in 2009. (Other cities bidding are Memphis (current host city), El Paso, Birmingham, and Tulsa. Anyone know anything about this?
  22. Houston19514
    I'm pretty sure only the ground floor will be converted to retail. The upper floors are to remain parking (at least for now...)
  23. Houston19514
    Wow! That is beautiful. Too bad about that water tower in the back yard. Is the house for sale?
  24. Houston19514
    What?
  25. Houston19514
    You are correct. Embassy Suites would not be a 5-star hotel. And the earlier news about a team planning to develop a 5-star hotel downtown was a different group than the group building the Embassy Suites. So there should be more hotel excitement in our future.
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