Bill Nye says trains are where it's at. When asked about his love for model trains on reddit: This effectively ends the conversation, right?
Major roads are surely necessary, but freeways to the extent that Houston has are not necessary at all. It is not "necessary" to have 10, 15, 20 lane freeways. In most major cities, 8 lanes does the job.
Do you even know why they were built? None of the reasons you listed above. And for a supporter of buses, do you know how much congestion buses cause? In 10 years when Houston becomes a gridlock like LA this city will be clamoring for rail. Just a matter of time.
Why would Houston become a gridlock in 10 years? You keep repeating that like it's fact. Just look at how much better the Katy Freeway is vs. 10 years ago! Reduced congestion. And 290 is about to be redone, as well as a toll road down 288 to relieve that congestion. If anything, congestion will be reduced in 10 years time. Houston has been innovative with their HOT lanes and building of toll roads (e.g., Westpark, Katy) which also have served to help.
I remember when they were starting the expansion of I-10 and they wanted to put the rail line down the middle. One of the local politicians was quoted in the paper saying the answer is not rail, it is more lanes of freeway. What do you do when the population continues to rise? Yes, Houston is very dependent on the automobile, which sucks.
The population density inside the loop is starting to get out of hand. How will folks get around if this continues?
All the rail fanboys here just want rail because they think it's cool. They cannot defend their points of view with logic, fact and reason. They cite "impending gridlock doom" and "every other city has it, why not us!" as their rallying cries. It's merely a copy-cat "me-too" strategy that is not right for Houston. Think outside the box. Bus rapid transit, high occupancy toll lanes, smarter flowing freeways, etc. Those are the cost-effective solutions for a spread out city that grew up in the automobile world.
Let's see, the population continues to increase, and we have a crappy public transport system. Freeways are already at a standstill for about 6 hours a day, and it's only going to get worse. Your idea is we should drive everywhere and on top of that pay tolls to use lanes that save us time. Wow. Rail is right for every big city, nothing makes Houston special. It's the stubborness of old timers like you that has held us back. Bus rapid transit is putting a band aid on a gaping wound.
Freeways are absolutely not at a standstill for 6 hours per day. You're exaggerating wildly. "Rail is right for every big city?" Then why can't you prove it logically for Houston?
You're in total denial. My ideal system would connect downtown, Greenspoint, medical center, greenway plaza, galleria, energy corridor, and westchase, in addition to the two airports. Those are 7 major employment centers plus two airports. That system would get huge ridership. And you live in River Oaks so you might not have to experience the traffic hell many other Houstonians go through every day, but it's true. Check a traffic map at 8 am or 530 pm and it's nothing but red and orange. 610, 45, 59, 288, 290, 10 all backed up and in gridlock. If you want to drive you might as well avoid 7-930 am and 4-7 pm. The whole world isn't stupid, you should take a look at yourself though.
That system would do very little to reduce congestion. Think about it -- where is the congestion coming from? Commuters from the suburbs. It's not people shuttling between major employment centers. Most people only have 1 job, so they don't need to shuttle from westchase to the med center every day. Your system doesn't even reach the suburbs!
The suburbs already have park and ride systems, which many of them voted for in lieu of rail and/or local buses. The system I just named would have ending stops at Northwest Transit Center, Hillcroft Transit Center, Eastwood Transit Center, Hobby Airport, Intercontinental Airport, Addicks Park and Ride, Westchase Park and Ride, in addition to the stops we already have for downtown, medical center, reliant stadium, toyota center, and minute maid park. All those park and rides already have commuter buses, so if you didn't want to go to downtown, you could simply take a bus to a transit center and switch to a train. For those in Addicks they could take a train and avoid the bus altogether. This would also reduce parking issues at the airports. A good system needs a good commuter system in connection to the city system. We have a decent commuter system but without connections to a good inner city system it's underutilized. Also the old Galveston-Houston rail wouldn't hurt either, that would be a good way for people to avoid taking 45.
How much is that going to cost? Do you care? Or would you build it no matter what? If we're creating a wish list unconstrained by funding limitations, I'd still prefer magic carpets over trains, by the way
here's a good diagram of some of the system I'm talking about, it's missing the airport extensions though
How much will it cost to fund 290 expansion (billions)? How much did it cost to fund katy freeway expansion ($2.8 billion ding ding ding ding ding). That money could be used to make a hell of a rail system, especially since we ALREADY HAD TRACKS GOING ALL THE WAY DOWN I-10 until that idiot tom delay ripped them out. Another fact you don't know is TXDOT has authority to use funding on road AND rail, and any form of transit really including pedestrian and bike trails, but they only use it on roads. The money is there if we had politicians willing to do the right thing. Instead we have people like bob lanier and their blind followers like you.
